Anyone who decides to visit St. Peter’s Basilica at this time of year will encounter the imposing scaffolding erected for the restoration of Bernini’s baldachin.
Below, perpendicular to the altar, is the tomb of the apostle to whom Jesus gave the order to confirm his brothers in the faith.
June 29 is the solemnity which commemorates the two princes of the Church, Peter, the humble fisherman from Galilee who became vicar of Christ, and Paul, the learned Pharisee, originally from Cilicia, who grew up in the school of Gamaliel and transformed himself from a relentless persecutor of the nascent Church into a tireless apostle of the pagans.
The two patron saints of the Eternal City are commemorated together and this year they will be celebrated with a series of initiatives promoted by the Vicariates of the Dioceses of Rome and Vatican City, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Rome and Panathlon International.
In particular, on Saturday June 29 “Quo Vadis” is planned, a walk that addresses the historical stages of the presence of the two apostles in the capital of the empire; on Sunday June 30, on the other hand, “Peter and Paul in Rome” is planned, a theatrical show by and with Michele La Ginestra.
The Quo Vadis brand
Of particular note is the Quo Vadis march which, according to the intentions of the organizers, should become a regular annual event. According to tradition, while Peter was fleeing Nero’s persecution in Rome, Jesus appeared to him on the Appian Way. The apostle asked him where he was going (“Quo vadis Domine?”) and Christ replied: “I am going to Rome, to be crucified there again”. It was then that Peter returned, to be martyred in the circus of Nero, crucified upside down and buried in the nearby necropolis of the Ager Vaticanus.
The tomb immediately became a place of pilgrimage, even before the construction of the primitive basilica of Constantinople. But it was not until the 20th century that Peter’s tomb was identified with certainty, thanks to excavations ordered by Pius XII between 1939 and 1958 and the research of the famous archaeologist Margherita Guarducci.
If the tomb was identified with certainty thanks to the famous trophy of Gaius and the red wall decorated with graffiti, including the famous “Petros eni” (presumably “Peter is here” in Greek), doubts remain as to the exact location of the tombs. bones. However, faith can more than compensate for the uncertainties of science.
The crossroads between Peter and Paul
Today, on the Via Appia – the “Regina Viarum” of the ancient Romans – near the catacombs of St Callistus, there is a small church commemorating the “Regina Viarum”.Where are you going master ?It was also visited by Saint John Paul II in 1983. This same road “crosses” the path of Peter and Paul, who left here for Rome, were imprisoned there and found martyrdom, according to tradition, in the place where the Abbey of Tre Fontane now stands.
Fra Agnello Stoia, parish priest of Saint-Pierre, explains that the basic idea of these initiatives is to “restore to Rome the permanence of its patrons, who give a character of universality to this city”.
The house arrest of Saint-Pierre
The human stories of Peter and Paul, in Rome, intersect, intertwine, separate, unite, in the streets of Rome and like the streets of Rome”. The urban walk will approach all the places linked to the two apostles.
In addition to the basilicas of Saint Paul Outside the Walls and Saint Peter in the Vatican, we can cite Saint Sebastian Outside the Walls, where the relics of Peter and Paul were transferred in 258 before returning in the Vatican, and in Ostiense, one of the seven churches traditionally visited by pilgrims on the occasion of the Jubilee; Santa Prisca, the splendid basilica on the Aventine, dedicated to the martyred daughter of Aquila and Priscilla, Paul’s friends who lived here; the Carcere Mamertino, where the two apostles were imprisoned; and again Santa Maria in Via Lata, where Paul would have spent his two years of “house arrest”.
The itinerary includes two paths, one longer and one shorter, at the end of which you will receive a “pietruzza”, a small stone symbolizing the path traveled. It is precisely the “sanpietrino”, evoked in the “Quo Vadis” logo, which connects Peter, Rome and its streets.
It is an opportunity for citizens, tourists, families and the faithful to rediscover or visit for the first time many places – including the Colosseum archaeological park, the visit of which is free and reserved for participants – churches , artistic treasures and a fascinating story. The program is available at the following address https://sanpietroquovadis.it/
As for St. Peter’s, it is interesting to recall an ancient custom. In the central nave of the Vatican Basilica, on the right, before the transept, there is a large bronze statue of the first pope. “Peter at the Chair” is a work attributed to the 13th century sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio (although some scholars date it to the 5th century, commissioned by St. Leo the Great, who had had a statue of Jupiter cast).
It was Paul V Borghese, pontiff between 1605 and 1621, who ordered the statue to be placed in the basilica, although it had been in the cloister of San Martino for a long time. The statue rests on a marble throne dating from the Renaissance, while Pius IX had the canopy which covers it made in 1871.
The statue represents Saint Peter on the episcopal chair. His right hand blesses in the Greek way, that is, with two fingers, while his left hand holds the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. The clothes are classic: a tunic that goes down to the feet and, over the shoulder, the masculine coat. The particularity of the celebration is that, on June 29, the statue is dressed in the tiara and pontifical vestments, a long red and gold cloak, which also serves to emphasize the universal power of the Vicar of Christ.
The right foot of the statue is visibly worn by centuries of popular devotion. Indeed, with the construction of the Constantinian Basilica, Peter’s tomb had become inaccessible. This is why tradition dictates that the faithful kiss or caress the foot of the statue as a form of veneration.
Some curiosities
In 2020, during the pandemic, celebrations of the feast of Saints Peter and Paul in the Vatican Basilica took place behind closed doors, but Pope Francis went to venerate the statue of the first sovereign pontiff in person.
Another particularity, perhaps little known but which can be “discovered” thanks to the “Quo Vadis” walk, is linked to the basilica of Santa Maria in via Lata. It is located on what is now the central Via del Corso and was once the first section of the Via Flaminia. According to tradition, Saint Paul lived in the church crypt during his imprisonment in Rome.
The house would have been that of Saint Luke the evangelist, who would have written the Acts of the Apostles there, and would also have sheltered Peter. Above the entrance to the crypt, a marble plaque bears the inscription, in Latin, “Oratory of Saint Paul the Apostle, Saint Luke the Evangelist and Martial Martyr, where the image of the Virgin Mary was found, ‘one of the seven painted by blessed Luke’, in memory of the presence here of some of the first and most important witnesses of the Christian faith.
-Rome
