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Vindicator ago

I'll stop there for now. But y'all have heard about the thousands of bones found buried in the Vatican City, right? Wonder what that's all about.

It's somewhat suspect that the media is reporting bones under the Vatican as some strange and suspicious discovery. In Roman times, Vatican Hill was the site of a necropolis outside the walls of Rome (an above ground cemetery). Peter, the first pope, was interred there after his crucifixion by Nero in AD 67. It was not originally the site of a church, though Christians did gather there and at the graves of other early matyrs like Saint Sebastian to pray for their martyred heroes.

Vatican Hill didn't become the site of a church until over two centuries later, when Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Catholicism and made it the religion of the Roman Empire. He decided to build the first St. Peter's Basilica over the grave of the original Keeper of the Keys, which involved partially leveling Vatican Hill to fill the necropolis so the church could be built on top. Wikipedia has a pretty good article on the topic, which includes diagrams showing the construction. Their entry on the Tomb of St. Peter says

Between 320 and 327, Constantine built a five-aisled basilica atop the early Christian necropolis that was purported to be Peter's resting place.[17] Much of the Vatican Hill was leveled to provide a firm foundation for the first St. Peter's Basilica. The altar of the Basilica was planned to be located directly over the tomb. The matter was complicated by the upper chamber or memoria above the vault. This upper chamber had become endeared to the Romans during the ages of persecution, and they were unwilling that it should be destroyed.[16] The memoria was turned into the Chapel of the Confession. Above that was the main floor of the Basilica, with the raised altar directly over the Chapel of the Confession.

Following the discovery of bones that had been transferred from a second tomb under the monument, on June 26, 1968, Pope Paul VI claimed that the relics of Saint Peter had been identified in a manner considered convincing.[3]

The grave claimed by the Church to be that of Saint Peter lies at the foot of the aedicula beneath the floor. The remains of four individuals and several farm animals were found in this grave.[4] In 1953, after the initial archeological efforts had been completed, another set of bones were found that were said to have been removed without the archeologists' knowledge from a niche (loculus) in the north side of a wall (the graffiti wall) that abuts the red wall on the right of the aedicula. Subsequent testing indicated that these were the bones of a 60- to 70-year-old man.[5] Margherita Guarducci argued that these were the remains of Saint Peter and that they had been moved into a niche in the graffiti wall from the grave under the aedicula "at the time of Constantine, after the peace of the church" (313).[6]

There are literally thousands of bones under the Vatican from Roman times. More are uncovered every time any major construction is undertaken.

Verite1 ago

Thank you for this.