Evening star., 1950-03-23
By ths As,oeiofsd Pres,

NEW YORK, Mar. 23.-Ien
years OF digging in long-hidden
grottoes below st. Peters Church
has yielded archaeological evidence
supporting the Roman Catholic
belief that st. Peter was buried
on that site, Life magazine reports
today.
In connection with the publica-
ton of first pictures on the ex-
cavations, the magazine prints an
article by Msgr. Ludwig Kaas, ad-
ministrator of st. Peters, telling
how Vatican workmen plumbed
the unexplored lower passages be-
meath the nave of the worlds
largest church.
They penetrated into pagan
cemetery buried for 16 centuries.
Msgr. Kaas does not say the ex-
plorations launched in 1889 re-
suited in finding relics of the
chief apostle. but he asserts a
scientific commission is analyzing
discoveries which give archeolog-
ical support to Catholic tenets.
Pope Plus XII said more than
a year ago. without going into
detail, that archaeological discov-
cries demonstrated the apostles
burial place "is and was under
the cupola of st. Peters Church."
The Pope may announce details
of the findings in the course of
this Catholic Holy Year.
Msgr. Kaas says in Life:
For the time being the discov-
cries which were made in the
central area below the main altar
of st. Peters must remain undis-
closed. The last word belongs
to science and cannot be antici-
pated.
"At the present time a commits
sion of reputable archaeologists
Is preparing the publication of it's
scientific conclusions on the dis
coveries to which some newspapers
have already made inexaet refer
ence. In the meantime one may
observe that the excavations have
confirmed convincingly the Ro-
man tradition which closely con-
nected Nero's circus and the
Vatican burial ground-or, in
other words, the place where st.
Peter was executed and the place
where he was buried. Nonbeliev-
ers may not veiw this affirmation
in the same light as devout Cath
olics, yet it is obvious that the
archaeological evidence so far re-
vealed gives the faithful a right
to challenge nonbelievers for proof
to the contrary of archaeology's
affirmation.
Those who believe in the Cath
olic tradition of st. Peters burial
place below the .church will, in
the light of these new discoveries,
face any such discussion conf
IDENTIFY : ." 10y.
Last September Archbishop Jo-
seph F. Rumfnel of New orleans
said the remains of st. Peter had
been found under the basilica.
There was no Vatican comment
upon this, but earlier L'Osserva-
tore Romano. Vatican newspaper,
declared discoveries added archae-
illogical proof to facts already
Historically ascertained." It'll
added: a. E
These proofs include ancient
coins-the offerings of the faith
full at the venerated tomb
stones, graphites, monuments
and inscriptions OF all kinds"
Believed Buried There in Sc AID.
The historical and traditional
account that the saint was buried
there about sc AID, it added, was
believed for 16 centuries until
Protestant controversy cast doubt
on Peters death at Rome"
The story of st. Peters death
was that he was executed in Nero's
circus and buried in the nearby
pagan burial ground on Vatican
Hill, and that Constantine's
Church, which stood for 1900
years, was built over the tomb
after the burial ground had been
covered with mass of earth so
the edifice would not disturb
the graves. When Constantine's
Church was razed, ST. Peters was
built over it's foundations in the
18th century.
Msgr. Kaas says the explorers
were disappointed when they bur-
rowed along the old Constantine
wall below the basilica's nave and
failed to find trace of the walls
of Nero's circus.
Mediaeval literature and old
sketches had told them the south
ern lateral naves of Constantine's
Church rested on the foundation
walls of the circus.
SHCuS NlCutlOlCu Ou 1OIuUs
However, in digging in the lower
grottoes, 13 feet below the upper
grottoes, a second century tomb
was found with an inscription in
which the dead man commanded
his heirs to MAKE me a monu-
ment in the vatic near the circus"
Msgr. Kaas says this could only
have been Nero's circus.
This is the story of the excava-
tions as told by Msgr. Kaas:
At the death of Pope Plus XII in
February, 1889. orders were given
to carry out his wishes for burial
in the upper grottoes Immediately
below the basilica. These upper
grottoes where early Popesa were
buried had been rarely visited in
four centuries because of their
low vaulted ceilings.
Pope Plus XII gave orders for
the floor to be lowered and maui
>f IL Il