http://www.ucatholic.com/news/relics-of-st-peter/ To mark the end of the Year of Faith, the Vatican has for the first time publicly displayed the bones of St. Peter. While no pope has ever definitively declared the fragments to belong to the apostle Peter, Pope Paul VI in 1968 said fragments found in the necropolis under St Peter’s Basilica were “identified in a way that we can consider convincing”. The bones were discovered in 1939 in an excavation of the Vatican Necropolis below the main altar at Saint Peter’s Basilica, which has been the consistent traditional burial place of the first Pope since antiquity. The excavation, ordered by Pope Pius XII, found the bones in a first century funerary wall creche, with a Greek inscription of ”Petros eni”, or “Peter is here”. The bones were found wrapped in purple and gold threaded cloth. Scientific study of the bones showed them to be of a “robust” man in his 60′s-70′s at the time of death. The relics, normally kept in the private chapel of the Pope’s Vatican apartments, were presented to tens of thousands of pilgrims who gathered to catch a glimpse of the relics. The eight fragments of bone between two and three centimetres (around one inch) long were displayed on an ivory bed within a bronze chest on a pedestal in St. Peter’s Square. Reflecting upon the relics of St. Peter, whose very name means “Rock”, and their location below the Main Altar of St. Peter’s Basilica on the Vatican Hill, one can not help but meditate on Peter’s confession in the Gospel of Matthew , and Our Lord’s words to him in Matthew 16:18: “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church View attachment 1512
In 1996, I had the enormous blessings of meeting Pope John Paul II in person , and the next day was granted the blessing of visiting Saint Peter's tomb under the Vatican. Talk about 2 humbling days. View attachment 1518
Wonderful series of pictures above. I wonder if anybody else shares my immediate thought: when I heard the relics of St Peter going on display for the first time, The phrase "Petrus Romanus" passed through my mind.
There is something very prophetic and apt about displaying Peter's bones right now and for the first time ever. I have no doubt that these are the bones of St Peter. Matthew 16 18 So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my community. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it. Apt, I believe in that Satan's power will soon be crushed but one final giant push is needed from both us, the living and those like St Peter who are working for God even after death. The Church in many places is suffering badly and on its knees, but it will not fall, this is a sign it will not fall, it will arise in triumph. This like consecrating the Vatican to St Michael is a sure sign that defeat for evil will happen.
I think the casket which encloses the bones is just gorgeous. When they do it right in Rome they do it so very Right. Ahh the Italians; they know all about good design.
It sure is gorgeous and its amazing to think in it lies the bones of the man who was a best friend to Christ, with him during his passion, met him after his resurrection, started his Church and died for our Lord. They are just some of the highlights we all know about, what an amazing apostle and saint.
