Habemus Papam V – Archeological Evidence

A five man team was given the task of leading the now inevitable dig. Four were members of the Papal Institute for Christian Archeology: Antonio Ferrua and Engelbert Kirschbaum were archeologists by training; Bruno Appolonj-Ghetti was the Vatican architect, and Enrico Josi was the Inspector of the Catacombs. The nominal chief was Monsignor Ludwig Kaas, the Administrator of St. Peter's Basilica. Kirshbaum was the accepted head of the dig as the senior archeologist.

Two feet beneath the marble flooring they discovered walls filled with tightly packed earth. The dirt was removed slowly, giving way to first a room, then a whole series of rooms. Each was a crypt. They had discovered an ancient Roman cemetery laid out as a series of small rooms joined together, with an alley running down the middle. They had discovered a small necropolis, a city of the dead.

The first tombs discovered were from a family named Valerius and dated was in use from 130 to AD 230. There were two Christian graves among those of the Valerius family. One was marked as Flavius Statilius Olympius, with the inscription, “He had a joke for everyone and he never quarreled.” The necropolis itself extends to about 150 feet from the modern alter of St. Peter's. The Valerius tombs were about 50 feet from the area beneath the high alter.

The Valerius tomb had two chambers, and in the second was discovered a man, a woman and a young boy of about four. Here the walls were covered with plaster. On one wall, sketched in red lead and outlined in charcoal, were the images of two men. The first, above the other, was identifiable as Christ. The second depicted an older man with a wrinkled brow, beard and bald head. The second figure was not directly identified, but beneath it in Latin ran the words, “Peter pray Christ Jesus for the holy...”. The rest of the inscription was missing. The sketches were by an “untrained hand”, someone that was not an artist. This was a Christian symbol in the midst of a mainly pagan burial site. It matched perfectly with old legends that Peter had been buried amongst pagans.

The excavation continued, moving ever closer to the space beneath the high alter. Another tomb, larger than that of the Valerius family, was discovered about 30 feet from the high alter. This tomb belonged to a family named Matucius. The stucco walls were adorned with red and white roses.

As they moved closer to the high alter, another fact became clear: they were moving uphill. The original land upon which this cemetery was set had been a hill that sloped down toward the river from the area of Nero's stables. It's an important point to keep in mind that the whole area was packed with earth, while a few hundred feet to the south was level ground. In addition, as they drew closer to the high alter it became clear that they were moving back in time; the closer to the high alter, the older the tombs.

By the orders of Pius XII, they were to go no closer to the high alter for fear of disturbing the ground beneath it. The diggers then turned their attention to a room a bit further away that had not been excavated yet. They dug out the hard packed earth quickly. The grave within was unremarkable. But they did discover a circular hole in the floor that lead to a chamber beneath the tomb itself.

This new chamber was small – eight feet to a side and eight feet in height – with the bottom three feet filled with earth. Kirshbaum himself dropped into the chamber with a lantern. Each wall was covered with a mosaic, each depicting a very Christian theme. On the north wall, the wall heading toward the high alter, the mosaic showed a large fisherman standing on a rock. The fisherman's line had caught one fish, while another swam away. After excavating the rest of the room it was determined that the small chamber had been built for a young child whose family had converted to Christianity.

The digging continued on the Matucius tomb and was eventually dated as AD 125.

Pius XII admitted to being personally fascinated by the discovery of the mosaic depicting the fisherman, and eventually permitted a full excavation under the high alter. The intent was to find out, once and for all, if the grave of St. Peter was truly beneath the modern altar. He did, however, have one condition. The five men in charge of the dig were sworn to secrecy so as not to divulge half a story that might contain error. The oath of secrecy would bind them for many, many years.

Constantine's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica is not the first such structure to stand on Vatican Hill. In fact, the first basilica built in that very spot was constructed by Constantine himself.

The structure was built around AD 330. It was big for its day, covering about half the area that the modern St. Peter's covers (which is 400 feet from the entrance to the altar). The altar of this ancient basilica was directly beneath the modern day high altar of St. Peter's.

The focal point of the basilica was, in fact, the altar. It was built big; large enough to accommodate the constant flow of visitors. An eyewitness observed: “To this tomb countless crowds come from all parts of the Roman Empire, as to a great sanctuary and temple of God.”

It seems that little is recorded about the appearance and structure of the original basilica. It was changed and renovated several times over the 1200 years it stood. The high alters themselves were changed and renovated several times as well. In the 16th century it was demolished and rebuilt.

Beneath the High Alter

Rome burned for six days in the summer of AD 64, and Nero blamed the cities Christians for having set the fire. As a result, he let loose a purge so violent that even Rome's pagan citizens were shocked. Further archaeological evidence now suggests that Peter died sometime between late 64 and mid-68.

Within 20 years of Peter’s death, a monument was constructed. Gaius, a priest from Rome writing around the year 200, mentions a “Tropaion” of Peter and says that it stands on what is now Vatican Hill. Tropaion is apparently a rather unusual word. It's not a normal Greek or Latin word for grave or monument. The closest English equivalent is “trophy,” but it doesn't really capture the meaning of the Greek. In reality, a Tropaion is closer to a shrine. Therefore, a monument would be expected at the site of Peter's grave, and the team set out to determine if it was really there.

It wasn't long before the diggers and archeologists approached the area directly beneath the current high altar. When they reached it, they encountered something unexpected and unusual: a wall.

The wall was unusual in its size and construction. It was made of red bricks and was definitely Roman in its construction. But to be buried in this particular spot struck the team as unusual. The reason was its size. The wall itself was eight feet high and fifteen feet wide. Later examination proved that it was a full two feet thick. It came to be known simply as “the red wall”. The entire site came to be known as the “red wall complex.”

The red wall blocked their path entirely. They began trying to go around it by probing its length in both directions. It was at this point that the team discovered another surprise: a second wall, this one covered from top to bottom with graffiti. This came to be known as “the graffiti wall,” and intersected the red wall at right angles.

The graffiti wall was an enigma that would not yield its secrets for many more years. At this point the archeologists were able to establish that there were many letters and combinations of letters, many connected with a maze of seemingly random lines, and none of which made any sense whatsoever.

At the bottom of the graffiti wall was an opening that led to a small chamber behind the graffiti wall. It was a small marble repository. It was here that a great violation of archaeological practice took place.

Monsignor Kaas, one of the non-archeologist of the group, made a habit of wandering around the site with a worker after everyone had gone for the day. It was he who discovered the opening at the bottom of the graffiti wall on one such after-hours stroll. At Kaas’ instruction, a worker reached into the crack and took out the bones of a human skeleton. The bones were then locked in a lead-lined wooden box, labeled, and taken away to a laboratory for study.

The archeology team continued their dig, and with papal permission worked their way around the graffiti wall. It was here that they discovered the Tropaion.

The Tropaion was behind the Niche of the Pallia (where new bishops' vestments lie overnight before their investiture). It was cleverly designed to look like a pagan monument, but it had no pagan markings and referred to no pagan gods. It also had niches of its own designed to hold statues or urns, but the niches were empty and showed no signs of ever having been used. It had pillars in front but, unlike other ancient pagan monuments, it did not mention the names of the person interned there. A crack in the base of the tropaion indicated that there was a space beneath it; a crypt or another grave.

They determined that the best way to approach what lay beneath the Tropion was by going under the red wall itself. The workers went down more than four feet before they discovered the bottom of the red wall. There they found a small opening, into which Kirshbaum worked his hand. He felt something embedded in the dirt, but managed to pry it loose and pull it out. It was a piece of bone about five inches long. He managed to get his light in and work around to see inside opening. There were more bones, many of them, all fixed in the packed earth.

Pius XII was summoned and he gave permission to unearth the bones. In the next hours, 250 bones were recovered and placed in three lead lined boxes.

The Bones

The space beneath the Tropion, the one approached by Kirschbaum and the others from beneath the red wall, was thought to be the final resting place of St. Peter. In time, there was an examination performed on the bones found there. The task of making a complete anthropological survey of the bone fell to Professor Venerando Correnti. He took the bones out of the three boxes and began separating them. What he found surprised him. The grave contained the remains of three people. Even more, before Correnti could classify all the human bones, he also found several nonhuman bones as well. They were primarily cows, horses, sheep and goats – all domesticated animals that might have been found nearby in Nero's stables.

Two of the human skeletons were in their fifties at the time of their deaths. One, however, was in their seventies. This might still be Peter. The two in their fifties turned out to be male – one of modest build, one robust. Correnti was disappointed to discover that the third, the elderly person, was certainly female.

The animal bones were actually of no great concern given the proximity to the stables. There was also a circus in the area as well. In fact, it's possible that the original basilica was built partially atop the old circus itself. Animal bones were later found in other graves nearby as well. That there would be bones of domesticated animals in the area was no great surprise.

There was however a problem - none of the bones found in Peter's tomb fit the description of the Prince of the Apostles. Correnti was then taken away from the project for many months as he worked on a previously agreed to project. In October of 1962, Correnti returned to the Vatican to examine the bones taken out of the graffiti wall repository by Monsignor Kaas.

Correnti expected to find another box full of bones from several individuals and animals. He was surprised to find that the graffiti wall repository held the remains of one man, between sixty and seventy years old at the time of death, of a “robust constitution, and five feet seven inches tall.” The bones also had two curious features. First was the fact that gains of dirt had been embedded in the bones themselves. Correnti determined that this was caused by the body being buried directly in the soil, rather than in a sarcophagus or a coffin. Second, there was an odd discoloration of the bones in some places. There were traces of red and reddish-brown on the bones themselves. He also noticed that there were threads stuck to the bones as well. For the most part, these threads matched in color with the discoloration in the bones. But amongst these threads were thin strands of gold, threads once woven into the reddish-brown cloth. Correnti surmised that the bones had been moved at some point, and placed in a once purple cloth that had been woven with gold threads, the purple changing color with age. The gold threads weren't just gold in color; they were real gold and manufactured with the greatest skill.

The bones in the graffiti wall repository fit the description of Peter in life. Purple was the royal color in Rome, and was a difficult dye to make in ancient times. It was naturally expensive; so much so that only the very rich could afford it. So important was the color that the state actually took control of the production of the dye, and later outlawed its use by non-royal or non-senatorial citizens. The fact that the bones were once held in the royal color, and adorned with the finest gold thread, lead to the idea that this was a very special person indeed.

The Words

Dr. Margherita Guarducci was a renowned professor of Greek epigraphy from the University of Rome. In 1952 she was allowed access to the site beneath St. Peter's; first at the Valerius tomb, eventually at all the others. Her job was to decipher all the inscriptions and eventually to make some sense of the graffiti wall.

Her first discovery in the Valerius tomb pointed directly at Peter. It read, in Latin, PETRUS ROGA CHRISTUS JESU. This fragment translates as “Peter pray Christ Jesus” What followed was difficult to decipher. The letters were faded, the size of the letters varied and the lines wandered. Eventually, she made out the words PRO SANC S. The missing letters were faded beyond recognition, but it makes sense to read it as PETRUS ROGA CHRISTUS JESU PRO SANCTIS; “Peter pray Christ Jesus for the holy...”. After several weeks she was able to find the remaining words: “HOM BUS CRESTIANUS D CO POSTUUMSEP”. To make it simple, and to fill in the gaps, the final text would read:

Petrus roga Christus Jesu pro sanctis hominibus Crestianus ad corpus tuum secpultis.

Which translates:

Peter pray Christ Jesus for the holy souls of the Christian men buried near your body.

It was dated to somewhere between 290 and 330. It was not an independent proof of what lay in the grave nearby, but does act as a matter of corroboration and denies one of the main Protestant claims that the grottos were devoid of mention of Peter.

Dr. Guarducci next approached the graffiti wall. This was extremely complicated work that took years to complete. The graffiti wall was coded with Christian symbols and names. MARIA was easily detected, as was the Chi Rho symbol used since Constantine's time. The final piece of the puzzle fell, literally, into place with two words.

ΠΕΤΡΟΣ ΕÎ?Ι

ΠΕΤΡΟΣ is the Greek for Peter, pronounced PETROS in English. ENI was something else, but was also easily explained.

Dr. Guarducci knew that ENI was a contraction seen often in Greek poetry. It was short for ΕÎ?ΕΟΤΙ (pronounced as it looks), and is Greek for “is within”. ΠΕΤΡΟΣ ΕÎ?ΕΟΤΙ would literally mean “Peter is within.” Now, keep in mind that this was on the graffiti wall, just outside the marble lined repository where the remains of a single robust elderly man was found. The bones within were once held in a royal purple wrapping with gold threads interwoven. Dr. Guarducci determined that this was scratched into the plaster of the graffiti wall very early, perhaps in the second century.

Could these have been the bones of the Prince of the Apostles? Were his remains actually moved, wrapped in purple, and the re-inturred in the marble repository? If so, why?

The Voice of Science

Four scientific tests were conducted on the bones and fabrics found in the graffiti wall repository. A soil analysis was conducted, as was an analysis of the threads found with the bones, a further examination of the animal bones found in the central grave, and finally a comparison was made with a skull at the Lateran.

The bones from the graffiti wall had soil adhering to them from the very beginning. Soil samples were taken from the bones themselves, the central grave – now thought to be Peter's original resting place - and from another location within the site as a control. The soil was examined microscopically and chemically. The soil found on the bones was a perfect match with that found in the central grave, but slightly different than that found in the Valerius tomb. The general soil around Rome was of a different type altogether.

The gold threads were also examined. They proved to be made in one of two ways. First, there were threads of fine wool with a metallic gold overlay. The second method was to use a core of cotton or linen covered with copper acetate, and then delicately plated with gold. The threads themselves displayed a workmanship that was amazing for the ancient world. Someone went to a great deal of trouble and expense to make these fine threads. The reddish-brown fibers were also tested to see if they were really Roman purple. The color used by the ancient Romans was made from a particular shellfish. Once processed, it had peculiar chemical properties that could be verified with a simple experiment. Roman purple would react in a specific way when exposed to hydrochloric acid followed by hydrosulfite; it would turn bright yellow until re-exposed to air. It would go back to the dull reddish-brown it was originally. If it wasn't real Roman purple dye, it would remain yellow. This is considered a sure test of the royal Roman purple. The threads with the graffiti wall skeleton passed this test and proved to be genuine Roman purple.

For over a thousand years, the skull of St. Peter was said to be in the Church of St. John Lateran in Rome. The fragments of skull found in the graffiti wall, there were a few, were anatomically compared with the skull from the Lateran. The bones available from the Lateran were too few to determine gender or age. However, Dr. Correnti was able to determine that there was no specific contradiction between the skull at the Lateran and the fragments from the graffiti wall repository. This doesn't prove that they are from the same person – only that neither excludes the other.

Finally, another test was made of the building techniques used to make the graffiti wall repository itself. It was determined that they were built in Constantine's day, and had remained sealed since then, never having been opened until Monsignor Kaas did so in the early twentieth century.

Packed Earth & Rome’s Law

Another element of the puzzle was the state in which the whole necropolis was found. All the tombs were constructed before Constantine built his basilica. When the basilica was built, the tombs were filled with earth that was then packed down. Some of the tombs themselves had their roofs shorn off to make way for the floor of the new basilica.

All this would have required nothing short of an imperial edict to carry out. It was strictly against Roman law to desecrate a Roman grave. Anyone doing so would have faced huge legal problems that would likely lead to their imprisonment or a long term tour of service in the galleys. The only person that might have been able to bury an entire graveyard was the emperor himself. To do so would have cost Constantine a great deal of political capitol.

There is also a physical aspect to this part of the story. Constantine moved more than a million cubic feet of earth to level this particular part of Vatican Hill. He did this in spite of the fact that there was level ground just a few hundred feet away.

Why would Constantine have gone to such extreme measures as burying an entire grave yard under a million cubic feet of earth? Because there was one thing there that he couldn't move – the grave itself. Constantine built the basilica, altered the landscape, and violated Roman law all to build around the grave of St. Peter.

Moving Bones & Thundering Silence

If Peter's first resting place was the main tomb, why was he moved to the graffiti wall repository? Why were the remains of three other people found in the main tomb? The answer to these questions lies in the thundering silence of antiquity regarding Peter's later life.

Peter plays a primary part in the Acts of the Apostles. But then, at a certain point, he simply fades away. The Bible doesn't mention him again chronologically. As we’ve seen, historical documentation is also thin on Peter after he fades from Acts. The key goes back to someone mentioned in the previous post: Constantine's nephew, Julian the Apostate.

Julian says that in the 20 or 30 years after Peter's martyrdom, his grave was already being venerated by the faithful - “secretly, it is true.” Secretly. Everything about Peter's later years was held in great secrecy, and his burial site was one of the greatest of secrets.

Peter vanishes in Acts for the same reason. Why go to the capital of the empire to establish Christ's church on earth? Why go to the place most likely to persecute you and your followers? He did this because of Rome’s ability to communicate with the world. Most people today think of Rome as an empire and nothing more, as a nation that held its power with the might of its many swords. It's true that the Legions maintained order and expanded the frontiers, but Rome survived as a republic and an empire for almost a thousand years because of trade. The Romans were masters of commerce. Rome was the absolute perfect place to build a church intended to make disciples of all nations. But Peter would have gone in secrecy because of the Empire's animosity toward Christianity. It was, after all, the best place to influence the world, but it was also the place that would be hardest on him and his followers.

Peter died as a convicted criminal, and as such he had no right to a burial. Rome's convicted criminals were often fed to their abundant population of stray dogs, or simply tossed into the Tiber. His followers, in retrieving his body and burying him, were taking a great risk. They would not have wanted to draw attention to their actions for fear of sharing their leader’s fate.

At times, between the death of Christ and the arrival of Constantine, it was Roman law to desecrate the graves of anyone who followed gods other than those of Rome – Christians especially. The graffiti wall and the repository were eventually added to give a hiding place for the bones of the great Saint. When the inevitable waves of persecution were at their peak, Peter's remains would be moved and kept hidden for a time. At some point the remains of others were placed in his tomb to throw off those that might seek the true owner.

Secrecy also explains why the Tropaion had no mention of the person it was built for. Not to mark a grave was unusual, even for the ancients. Every other grave in the necropolis was marked. Why not the one that held Peter? If it had been some other Christian, or even a Christian leader, the grave would have been marked as the others were, including the other popes buried near Peter.

It eventually became necessary for a pope to tell an emperor where Peter was buried. This task fell to Pope Sylvester, a prudent man who understood how the world worked and the odds of a Roman emperor, or future Roman emperors, remaining docile toward Christianity. Sylvester told Constantine of Peter’s grave, and Constantine immediately went to have a look through a crack in the marble. There is no historical indication that Sylvester told Constantine of Peter's real resting place. But given the overall secrecy surrounding the grave, it's likely that Sylvester chose discretion as the better part of valor, and only told Constantine what was safe at the time. He may well have had Peter’s bones moved before he told Constantine, and other bones placed in the grave to convince a potentially prying eye.

Constantine died in 337 and was succeeded by many weak men. By the time Julian the Apostate came to power, Sylvester's prudence proved its worth. Julian restored the pagan gods and pressed the Christians to the point of despair. When Julian died, his last words were, “Galilean, you have conquered.” All the while Peter was safe behind the graffiti wall and beneath the ΠΕΤΡΟΣ ΕÎ?Ι inscription. By the time of Julian's death, Peter's bones may have been in the graffiti wall repository for 50 or 60 years. Over time, perhaps hundreds of years, his actual location was simply forgotten.

The First Church

One of the things Peter is supposed to have done was found a Church. The red wall complex may have been just that. It would have been, quite literally, the earliest church building built for the express purpose of being a church.

The room with the graffiti wall looks remarkably like a church sanctuary, with a high shelf for an altar directly above Peter's original grave. Nearby is another room that houses the graves of other early popes. There is a room with a cistern that could have been a baptistery. All this was connected with a central hall.

The last paragraph of John Evangelist Walsh's The Bones of St. Peter, vividly supports this idea.

With its high altar positioned over the relics of Peter, its walled-in area for a congregation of worshippers, it's baptistery, and its actual burial ground, the red wall complex in reality was the first actual church building in Rome, in the world. More than that, this whole deceptive clutter of brick and tile and marble was nothing less than the first true cathedral, an anticipation in miniature of the great guardian structure which still today soars, exuberantly, indestructibly, above its cherished ruins.

Acknowledgements

This is a ten page rendering of a 180 page book, so there are a great many wonderful details that I've been forced to leave out. The Bones of St. Peter is a great read, and the world owes John Evangelist Walsh a huge thanks, as do I.