History of the Catacombs in the Vatican

The Vatican area presents problems rather different from those of the other catacombs, while its importance is enhanced, and in some respects clouded, by the arguments concerning St Peter and the primacy of the Pope as Peter's successor.

Two distinct questions emerge: first, did Peter live for a time and finally suffer a martyr's death in Rome; second, does the Vatican mark the place of his execution and burial? The tradition which connects Peter with Rome is ancient and impressive, even though, as with most matters concerning the early Church, no clear pattern appears before the beginning of the second century.

The First Epistle of Peter, in the New Testament, may perhaps be his; as it was composed in Greek, however, and both thought and language fly somewhat higher than might be expected of a Palestinian fisherman, it is safer to say that the Epistle was probably written at Rome, by someone who knew Peter or claimed to follow his life and teachings, to the Christians of Asia Minor.

As early as the beginning of the second century, literary allusions connect Peter closely with Paul. The letter of exhortation sent from Rome to Corinth 'through Clement' belongs to this period. It has much to say about the evils of jealousy and discord, by reason of which 'the greatest and most righteous pillars of the Church were persecuted and contended unto death'. The writer continues:

Let us set before our eyes the good apostles: Peter who because of unrighteous jealousy endured not one or two but many trials and having thus borne his witness went to the place of glory which was his due. Amid jealousy and strife Paul showed how to obtain the prize of endurance.

By 170 ad, when Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, sent a 'written communication' to the Romans, the tradition was firmly crystallized.

You (Dionysius saysj have united the planting that came from Peter and Paul, of both the Romans and the Corinthians. For indeed both planted also in our Corinth, and likewise taught us: similarly they taught together also in Italy, and were martyred on the same occasion.

This is usually taken to indicate that Peter and Paul suffered death in the distressful times of the emperor Nero, who did not hesitate to select the Christians when, in the year 64 ad, he felt obliged, for political reasons, to find and persecute unpopular scapegoats. By the time of Bishop Dionysius it was evidently accepted that Peter, like Paul, had been active at Rome and met his death there.

The further stage is reached about 200 ad, when Gaius, a Roman priest, alludes, in the course of a doctrinal argument, to the 'trophies', that is to say the shrines or tombs, 'of the apostles'. 'For', Gaius explains, 'if it is your will to proceed to the Vatican or to the Ostian Way, you will find the trophies of those who founded this church. And from the days of Gaius onwards to the present the opinion has been widely held that Peter was executed in the Circus of Nero below the Vatican Hill and buried nearby.

It remains to consider how far such beliefs have been confirmed by the excavations systematically carried out in recent years. At the time of Nero, the Vatican had a cemetery on the north-east side of the hill, together with a number of other tombs scattered in and around the area. No trace of the Circus, the traditional scene of Peter's martyrdom, has been found underneath the church, and it appears that this probably lay on the level ground rather further south. Precisely below the present St Peter's, running from west to east, is a double line of tombs flanking each side of a street. Their form has been modified to some extent by the works found necessary in the course of building Constantine's church; in general, however, they constitute a sequence of well-preserved sepulchres belonging to prosperous middle-class citizens of the second century ad.

The layout resembles that of cemeteries recently excavated at Ostia and on the Isola Sacra, near the harbour which Trajan constructed some sixteen miles from Rome. The date of the tombs can be determined partly by the style of brickwork and decoration, and partly by the names of the people buried there, some being freedmen of the second- century emperors Trajan, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. The tombs take the form of single chambers, occasionally with a small forecourt in front; they resemble a row of little houses with vaulted roofs, and often display rather splendid decoration inside. They were conscientiously maintained until Constantine's day, and into this dignified burial-place Christianity made its way during the third century, sometimes combined, in tolerant fashion, with other beliefs.

An example of this coexistence can be seen in the Mausoleum of the Caetennii, where, amid a noble series of pagan inscriptions, there suddenly occurs the burial-place of a Christian woman, Gorgonia, 'remarkable for beauty and chastity', who is shown in the act of drawing water, no doubt the 'water that springs up into life eternal', from a square-headed well. Even more remarkable for the combination of various religions is the so-called Tomb of the Egyptians, one of the few that still remain accessible on the south side of the street. This mausoleum acquires its name from painting of the Egyptian god Horus, who clasps in his left hand the ankh, or symbol of life, with its rounded handle, crossbar and prong—in this case prongs —projecting below.

Apparently the tomb was built for a well-to-do Egyptian family and, in keeping with the fact that the Egyptians never burned the bodies of their dead, there is no sign here of the cremations to which several of the other tombs bear witness. But near the picture of the Egyptian god appear two handsome sarcophagi of different inspiration, connected with the cult of the Greek god Dionysus. The first displays, amid scenes of frenzied revelry, the discovery by Dionysus of the sleeping Ariadne, who represents, in type and symbol, the soul awakened by the touch of divine power to enjoy eternal felicity. The other sarcophagus, later in date and somewhat more restrained, also shows Dionysus and his retinue, but here sea-monsters are depicted, flanking the central panel, as if ready to conduct the soul across turbulent waters to the Islands of the Blessed.