Bones of Saint Peter

In the year A.D. 68, St. Peter was put to death in Rome as an enemy of the state. Roman law forbade him a proper burial and denied his friends even the right to recover his body, so few souls were able to learn his final resting place.

For centuries, tradition held that to honor and preserve the mortal remains of this true Prince of the Apostles, St. Peter’s Basilica had been built right over St. Peter’s grave.

Not, however, until 1939, did researchers, scholars, and scientists begin sustaine...