The emperor Constantine, most probably, laid them down in the place where they lied for centuries. They were discovered at the height of the war, under extraordinary circumstances ... and quietly moved. How was it possible to find some of the most precious relics of Christianity again and could we have lost them forever?
Archaeological work carried out from 1940 in front of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican was not publicized. Pius XII, who commissioned them, secretly wishing to find the tomb of the first pope, announced that it was a simple renovation. He entrusted the supervision of the excavations to the prelate Ludwig Kaas. At that time, he was the administrator of the Venerable St. Peter's Factory, the office for keeping the Vatican basilica in good condition.
Evening walks of Monsignor Kaas
The role of the clergyman was obviously not of a scientific nature, but only - as Professor Margherita Guarducci emphasized - "administrative and moral". The actual search for the resting place of one of the Apostles was carried out by specialists. However, as he tells in the book "The Fisherman's Tomb" Paweł Lisicki:
A group of archaeologists did not know that Monsignor Kaas was regularly visiting the site in the evening and at night when they were interrupting the excavation work. As is known, he had no archaeological knowledge. Feeling his moral responsibility to supervise the works, he cared especially for human bones and remains, which he believed belonged to Christians who had died centuries ago, perhaps even popes, martyrs and saints.
And it was during one of such evening celebrations, most likely in November 1941, that Monsignor Kaas or a worker accompanying him noticed a transverse opening in one of the walls. Researchers found this cache a few days earlier and left it for a later close inspection. Meanwhile, the clergyman and his assistant noticed that there were bones inside the hole.
"Without suspecting or sensing anything, the prelate and sampietrino [Segoni - ed. A.W.] removed the leftover mortar and placed the bones in a wooden box, ”reports Lisicki. The box was placed in a warehouse in the Vatican Grottoes, where similar finds were kept. The evening guests did not inform the archaeologists about their discovery. And the latter, having found an empty hiding place a few days later, moved on to the agenda. They had no idea that what they were looking for so intensely had already been found ... and disregarded.
Prelate Kaas (left) was a close associate of Pope Pius XII. Photo from 1933.
Professor Guarducci asks
It took twelve years - until 1953 - for Professor Margherita Guarducci to take an interest in the mysterious hole in the wall. Inscriptions that indicated that Saint Peter's resting place might be nearby, caught her attention. Kaas Monsignor had already been dead for a year then; until the end of his days he did not share with anyone the information about the found and carried away remains .
The case came to light almost by accident in a conversation between the researcher and Segoni, who was still employed in the excavations. "Giovanni, you took part in the excavation from the very beginning, do you remember if anything was found inside, other than what was in the official report?" She asked. And the assistant of the deceased clergyman remembered his night visit. He was even able to locate the box with the bones pulled out of the glove box at the time.
Even at that time the professor was far from thinking that he had the bones of the Apostle himself before her. This suspicion only became stronger after the next few years. The remains were examined and revealed that they belonged to a "sturdy man" who died between the ages of sixty and seventy. They were wrapped in purple cloth woven with gold threads. In Rome, such a burial was reserved for emperors and some senators . This clearly indicated that the deceased was highly revered among his contemporaries.
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These and other clues led many to consider the remains as relics of Saint Peter. Guarducci herself was among them. At the same time, it terrified her how imminent the prospect of losing them was. As Paweł Lisicki comments in the book "The Tomb of the Fisherman" :
And what if not only Monsignor Kaas died during this time, as it actually happened, but also the worker Segoni? Or if he found another job outside of the Vatican? A dozen or so years is a long time. If they were missing, Piotr's bones would never have been recovered . Either they would eventually fall apart in a damp warehouse, or they would end up in a mass grave.
The researcher - and many others who learned the history of the discovery of the bones recognized today as Peter's - could not understand the recklessness of the deceased prelate. As Lisicki writes, she blamed everything on his inexperience. The journalist himself is a bit less harsh. "In those months it was like Hitler would win the war," he recalls. No wonder the Pope's henchman was busy with big politics, not archeology…
Source:
- Paweł Lisicki, The fisherman's grave , Fronda 2019 publishing house.
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