Did This Maintenance Worker Really Just Accidentally Discover the Apostle Peter’s Bones?

Did This Maintenance Worker Really Just Accidentally Discover the Apostle Peter’s Bones?
Sep 14, 2017 | 0 |
Did This Maintenance Worker Really Just Accidentally Discover the Apostle Peter’s Bones?
A plethora of archeological finds have already confirmed biblical accounts and, as a result, have excited the faithful, but the situation surrounding human bones found at a 1,000-year-old church in Rome is quite different. The bones, which were discovered on accident, weren’t part of any archeological quest. According to The Telegraph, the bones, which could belong to Peter, one of Jesus’ apostles, were found inside of clay pots “by chance” at the Church of Santa Maria in Cappella when a maintenance worker

lifted up a marble slab near the church altar. The building has been closed for more than three decades due to structural issues; the worker was reportedly performing routine maintenance when he stumbled upon the pots, the outlet reported. After discovering the bones, he reportedly notified church deacon Massimiliano Floridi of the findings, which had long been believed to exist, but hadn’t been found — until now. The clay pots reportedly had inscriptions noting that they contained Peter’s bones as well as the bones from three early popes and four Christian martyrs.
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Did This Maintenance Worker Really Just Accidentally Discover the Apostle Peter’s Bones?

Sean Gallup/Getty Images
By Billy Hallowell
3 hours ago
A plethora of archeological finds have already confirmed biblical accounts and, as a result, have excited the faithful, but the situation surrounding human bones found at a 1,000-year-old church in Rome is quite different.

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The bones, which were discovered on accident, weren’t part of any archeological quest. According to The Telegraph, the bones, which could belong to Peter, one of Jesus’ apostles, were found inside of clay pots “by chance” at the Church of Santa Maria in Cappella when a maintenance worker lifted up a marble slab near the church altar.

The building has been closed for more than three decades due to structural issues; the worker was reportedly performing routine maintenance when he stumbled upon the pots, the outlet reported.

After discovering the bones, he reportedly notified church deacon Massimiliano Floridi of the findings, which had long been believed to exist, but hadn’t been found — until now. The clay pots reportedly had inscriptions noting that they contained Peter’s bones as well as the bones from three early popes and four Christian martyrs.

“I’m not an archaeologist but I understood immediately that they were very old,” Floridi told Italian TV outlet Rai Uno. “Looking at them, I felt very emotional.”

The bones have been turned over to the Vatican for further analysis.

It should be noted that this isn’t the first time that Peter’s remains have been the subject of speculation. In fact, the Vatican already has long had bone fragments in its possession that some believe could potentially belong to Peter.

And, in 2013, Pope Francis unveiled those fragments to the public for the first time. It’s important to note that no pope has definitively said that the pieces of bone belong to Peter, though Pope Paul VI said in 1968 that the bones were “convincing.”

Unlike the latest bone discovery, the other set of fragments were found decades ago in 1942 during excavations of St. Peter’s Basilica. Additionally, a monument and casket attributed to Peter were found along with an engraving that read, “Peter is here” (or “Peter is within”), according to The Guardian.

CNN has more about the bone fragments that were found back in 1942:

Unfortunately, the fragments turned out to belong to several people. It took a couple decades before experts singled out a set of bones belonging to a man who had been 5ft 7in tall, of heavy build, and who was aged between 60 and 70 at the time of his death, all of which were consistent with traditional depictions of Peter.

Stains suggested the bones had been wrapped in a purplish, gold-threaded cloth, symbolizing a person of importance. Most intriguing, an inscription was found near the cavity that linguists reconstructed as Petros eni, which in ancient Greek could mean, “Peter is within.”
Perhaps the two sets of bones will be compared to one another using DNA technology. You can read more about that
here. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/24/vatican-st-peters-bones-display-pope-francis
Vatican displays Saint Peter's bones for the first time
Pope Francis holds relics thought to belong to the apostle during mass at St Peter's Square
Pope Francis holds the relics of the Peter o
Pope Francis holds the relics of Saint Peter on the altar during a mass at St Peter's Square at the Vatican. Photograph: Stefano Rellandini/Reuters
This article is 3 years old
Associated Press in Vatican City
Sunday 24 November 2013 12.46 GMT First published on Sunday 24 November 2013 12.46 GMT
The Vatican has publicly unveiled bone fragments purportedly belonging to Saint Peter, reviving the scientific debate and tantalising mystery over whether the relics found in a shoe box truly belong to the first pope.

The nine pieces of bone sat nestled like rings in a jewel box inside a bronze display case on the side of the altar during a mass commemorating the end of the Vatican's year-long celebration of the Christian faith. It was the first time they had ever been exhibited in public.

Pope Francis prayed before the fragments at the start of Sunday's service and clutched the case in his arms for several minutes after his homily.

No pope has ever definitively declared the fragments to belong to the apostle Peter, but 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".

Some archaeologists dispute the finding.

The relics were discovered during excavations begun under St Peter's Basilica in the years following the death in 1939 of Pope Pius XI, who had asked to be buried in the grottoes where dozens of popes are buried, according to the 2012 book by veteran Vatican correspondent Bruno Bartoloni, The Ears of the Vatican.

During the excavations, archaeologists discovered a funerary monument with a casket built in honour of Peter and an engraving in Greek that read "Petros eni", or "Peter is here".

The scholar of Greek antiquities Margherita Guarducci, who had deciphered the engraving, continued to investigate and learned that one of the basilica workers had been given the remains found inside the casket and stored them in a shoe box kept in a cupboard. She reported her findings to Paul VI, who later proclaimed there was a convincing argument that the bones belonged to Peter.

Leading Vatican Jesuits and other archaeologists strongly denied the claim, but had little recourse.

"No pope had ever permitted an exhaustive study, partly because a 1,000-year-old curse attested by secret and apocalyptic documents, threatened anyone who disturbed the peace of Peter's tomb with the worst possible misfortune," Bartoloni wrote.

The Vatican newspaper, l'Osservatore Romano, published excerpts of the book last year, giving his account a degree of official sanction.

In 1971, Paul VI was given an urn containing the relics, which were kept inside the private papal chapel inside the apostolic palace and exhibited for the pope's private veneration every 29 June, for the feast of saints Peter and Paul. Sunday marked the first time they were shown in public.
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