The tomb of Saint Peter: A church built on the tomb of a poor fisherman

A modest burial site on which, a hundred years after the Apostle's martyrdom, a small funerary aedicule was built, commemorated by the presbyter Gaius at the end of the second century, as the historian Eusebius of Caesarea (Ecclesiastical History, 2, 25, 6-7) precisely reports. That aedicule, generally referred to as the 'Trophy of Gaius', indicated to early Christians the tomb of Peter, which, even before Constantine, was the destination of devout pilgrimages.

 

Basilica of Saint Peter

Ep. 1

27 February 2024