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Pilgrims at the Tomb of Peter. As in Ancient Rome from: from chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it, June 3, 2008. Italian translation on StoriaLibera.it http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/204721 Ten meters beneath the Vatican basilica, it is possible to walk the same path that led to the tomb of the apostle, among rows of Roman tombs that have emerged, intact, from the excavations. The latest restoration was presented just a few days ago. A marvel of art, history, faith Imagine that it is night. We're walking down a little path flanked by Roman tombs of the second and third century after Christ. We're at the bottom slope of the Vatican Hill. A short distance away is the imposing obelisk that stood at the center of the stadium of Caligula and Nero. That's where the apostle Peter was martyred. And along the path stands the monument marking the place where he was buried. It's all there. The only difference is that it's not night time. The dark sky is actually the floor of St. Peter's basilica, beneath which we are walking. When the emperor Constantine built the basilica, in the fourth century, he wanted the apse to be set right above the tomb of the apostle. And to bring the nave up to the same level, he had covered with earth all of the tombs that, after Peter's, sloped gently down toward the Tiber river. In the 16th century, a larger basilica, the current one, was built in place of Constantine's, and at a higher level. In any case, for sixteen centuries no one excavated beneath the floor of the basilica. It was Pius XII, in 1939, who began the archaeological exploration. And in a few years the digging uncovered not only the tomb of Peter, beneath the main altar of the basilica, but also 22 other tombs lined up along the ancient road, for a stretch of about 70 meters, about 10 meters beneath the central nave of the church. In 1998, the Vatican authorities ordered an assessment and restoration of the necropolis uncovered beneath St. Peter's basilica. The latest tomb to be restored was unveiled a few days ago, on Wednesday, May 28. It is the largest and most sumptuous of those that have been unearthed. It was built early in the second half of the second century, during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, by the prominent Valerii family of Rome. In addition to statues of family members, philosophers, and divinities, there is a bust of a pretty young girl and another, in gilded plaster, of a boy wearing the headdress typical of the devotees of Isis. Almost all of the 22 tombs of the necropolis are pagan, with traces of oriental cults. The only completely Christian one is that of the Iulii family. Its vault boasts a marvelous mosaic depicting Christ as the Sun, in the manner of Apollo, ascending to heaven on a chariot drawn by white horses, holding the earth in his left hand. On the walls are images of the Good Shepherd, of Jonah being swallowed by the sea monster, and of a fisherman throwing into the waves a hook that one fish is swallowing while another swims away, a symbol of the souls that accept or reject salvation. The most astonishing thing about this necropolis is that it is almost intact. Just as it was shortly before Constantine had it buried. In walking through it, one retraces the steps of the citizens of ancient Rome, but also those of the pilgrims who have come to pray at the tomb of the apostle Peter. The prehistory of the basilica of Saint Peter is in its bricks, its marble, it statues, its lettering, in the decorations of this ancient road that leads through the tombs to the burial place of the fishermen of Galilee who became the apostle of Christ and died as a martyr in the capital of the greatest empire in the world. Back above ground, in the basilica and outside in the piazza, the pilgrim will see that this path from ancient Rome to Christianity is uninterrupted. The new empire is that of the forgiveness of Jesus, extended to all men through the Church. From the summit of the facade of St. Peter's basilica, as from a seat of judgment, the Savior and the saints look out upon the oval of the new arena delimited by Bernini's colonnade, centered around the same obelisk near which the apostle was crucified. An arena open "urbi et orbi," to the city and to the entire world. Publishing date:
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