Friday, March 28, 2014

ST. PETER'S BONES by THOMAS J. CRAUGHWELL


A 2,000-Year-Old Mystery Solved.

Many of the churches in and around Rome have long standing traditions regarding the relics of their patrons. None is more well-known than the belief…legend…myth(?) that St. Peter himself was buried beneath the main altar of St Peter’s Basilica.  But is such a claim possible, or even plausible? The current structure is not the original. The St Peter’s we known today was built in the 15th Century to replace one constructed 1,100 years earlier by the Emperor Constantine.

Thomas Craughwell traces the history of St. Peter’s from its original construction until 1939 when Pope Pius XII authorized a secret excavation into the depths below the altar during some reconstruction work. The reputation of a lot of people, some living, but many dead, hung in the balance as the Vatican’s team began their descent into the past. After interminable false starts, blind leads and frenzied piques of professional bickering, it’s comforting to know they finally found St. Peter right where everyone always said he was…directly beneath the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
A very enjoyable read.
E. G. Lewis

To purchase St Peter’s Bones at Amazon, click HERE.

Product Details
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Image (January 14, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-0307985095

Disclaimer: The publisher provided us with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.