A MYSTERY OF ST. PETER'S.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10242, 3 September 1909, Page 1

A MYSTERY OF ST. PETER'S.

Pope Pius X. has on his desk a see* tional plan of St. Peter's tomb in St. Peter's Church. According to this plan the tomb could be reached from the underground crypts of the basilica, the greater part of which preserve the original floor of the old church intact. There is a small chapel in the old crypts named for San Salvatorino, through which archaeologists are convinced the original steps leading down into the tomb could be reached. Such an exploration could be easily undertaken secretly if the Pope consented to have removed the doubt as to whether the body of St. Peter has escaped desecration* . , '-i * This doubt has now existed for centuries. The fact that Piits X, keeps the plan of St. Peter's tomb on his desk is considered evidence that he has at least given consideration to the proposal to allow a thorough exploration of it to be undertaken. , it . . Every year on the eve or the teast of St. Peter and St. Paul, June 29, when the Vatican Basilica is closed tor the night and everything is dark and quiet, the Pope, accompanied by his secretary and four of the Noble Guards with drawn swords, leaves his private apartment and crossing many halls and corridors of the great palace descends by a private staircase to the silent and empty church, where he kneels in prayer before the tomb of him whose successor he is. For nearly 2000 years every Pope has knelt and prayed before the shrine of St. Peter, the most sacred spot in Rome, and even in the whole Catholic world outside of Palestine. A great many doubts have arisen concerning the history of this tomb. One of them relates to'the exact locality where St. Peter suffered martyrdom. . . . Ancient authorities are in complete agreement that the place of erucifixion was in the Vatican and close to the tomb where the Apostle is buried, but owing to a mistake of antiquarians of the fourteenth century the scene of the martyrdom has beeri transferred to the Church of San Pietro in Montono on the Janiculum. As a result for some time the true tradition became obscured and no clear knowledge r<3» mained in Rome as to the locality m which the murtyrdom actually took place'; la recent years "the doubt on this point has been greatly diminished and it is now generally admitted that the martyrdom was on the Vatican kill* i The records of the story of the burial ; of the saint and the history of his relics are scanty and sometimes even contradictory. Historians and antiquarians have discussed them at great length for many centuries but with imperfect results. The undisputed facts are the following: After the martyrdom the body of the Apostle, together with that of St. Paul, who was beheaded on the same day, June 28, in either A.D. 66or 67, under the persecution of Nero, was taken down by some holy people, who, having washed it, embalmed it, wrapped it in fine linen, placed it in a marble urn and buried it in the Via Cornelia, near the Circus of Nero. The place was marked by an inscription. St. Anacletus, who had been ordained by St. Peter and who succeeded St. Linus on the papal throne, built a memorial chapel, memoria or oratory on the Apostle's tomb. The bodies of the two saints were not left long undisturbed in thenoriginal tomb. In 258 they were removed to the catacombs of St. Sebas- ] tian, on the Appiah Way, under the Valerian persecutions. After a short time the body of St. Peter was taken back and again laid in the old tomb at the Vatican, while that of St. Paul was buried close to the place where ho was beheaded and where his church, • San Paolo fuori le Mura, now stands. There is evidence of a second or a previous translation of St. Peter's remains. It seems certain that the tomb was oh the point of being destroyed or desecrated on several occasions, notably during the third centiiry under the Emperor Heliogabalus, who enlarged the Circus of Nero. Evidence that it was spared is found in the fact that for two centuries the successors of St. Peter in the papacy were buried near his tomb, which from very early times was known as St. Peter's Confession and was regarded as the very heart of the Church. It is said in the "Liber Poiitificahs (Chronicle of the Popes) that the Emperor Constantine, alter his conversion, caused, about the year 323, the body of the Apostle to be exhumed in the presence of Pope Sylvester and placed in a case of silver enclosed within a sarcophagus of brass. Over this he placed a large cross of pure gold weighing 150 pounds and an inscription recording his name and that of his mother, Helena Augusta. The body was then restored to the original tomb, over which he erected an altar and a vaulted chamber faced inside with plates of gold. He further decorated the tomb with candelabra, silver lamps and plates of gold and silver studded with jewels. The erection of the great basilica, commonly known now as Old St. Peter's, was begun by the Emperor, and two years later it was consecrated by St. Sylvester. The great crisis in the history of St. Peter's tomb was during the invasion by the Saracens in the year 847. They carried off all the ornaments and treasures, together tajh the actual altar raised above the tomb, but the body of the apostle does not seem to have been interfered with. In 1527 the Imperial troops under the Constable of Bourbon sacked Rome and pillaged the basilica of St. Peter. A letter written June 17, 1527, says: "The urn or tomb in which the bones of the holy Peter and Paul were laid, they (the Imperial troops) broke and profaned the very relics."The testimony of this letter is unsupported: hence the old historians and archaeologists refused to accept it. It is known on the evidence of a certain priest named Torrigo that in'ls94, when the old basilica was being demolished and the present basilica irailt, the architect, Delia Porta, opened a hole in the pavement of the confession through which the tomb of St. Peter .became visible. Pope Clement VIII. is said to have seen by torchlight the urn in which the apostle's body -was placed by Constantine and on it the gold cross. This would constitute positive, proof that the tomb was still intact, were it not that by some persons the conduct of Clement VIII. is considered suspicious. He ordered the hole to be closed at once, made Delia Porta fill the opening with rubbish and caused the whole matter to be kept secret. Is it not likely, say those who doubt that the tomb is still intact, that Clement VIII. saw that the urn was empty and, horrified, had the hole closed and the matter hushed up? In 1892 Father Grisar, with the Pope's permission, investigated the tomb. ' He ascertained that the hole opened by Delia Porta was a passage known as the Cataract communicating between the floor of the confession in the church and the tomb below, through which it was the custom in the Middle Ages for pilgrims to lower handkerchiefs and other objects and cause them to touch the body of St. Peter. Father Grisar measured the Cataract and found it partly filled with rubbish, .consequently he could not explore the tomb, but he is convinced that it is still intact. The same opening investigated by Father Grisar was partially" explored on three previous occasions, in 1749, 1799, and 1859, but always with imperfect results.