What does it all mean? This is where the archeology
has been found. Hi, how are you? Look at that. I need a planter. A shrine to a bellybutton. [theme music] Look at that! No one gets into this place? Whoa! Don't take me too far. Now that's naked archeology. [theme music] (match striking) [SIMCHA] St. Peter is famous
as the bearded bouncer who controls the
Pearly Gates of heaven. But how did he get there? Where and how can we trace
the footsteps of a saint? He started out as a simple
fisherman who followed Jesus, but he ended up holding
the keys to the Kingdom. Where did Peter the man
spend the last of his days? And is there any
archaeological evidence that supports what tradition
tells us about this Saint? This is the most iconic
Christian church in the world. St. Peter's Basilica. It stands here at the
Vatican in Rome where, according to Christian
tradition, Peter labored the last
of his days as the first Pope. Jesus gave the apostle Peter
his name, changing it from
Simon to Peter, in Aramaic, Cephus,
which means Rock. And he said to Peter: "Upon this rock I will
build my church. To you I will give the keys
to the Kingdom of Heaven." And so after Jesus was
crucified in Jerusalem, tradition tells us that
Peter came to Rome. And this is the place to which millions and millions
of tourists flock. That's because the majority of
Christians believe St. Peter, the founder of
the Christian church, was buried right inside here, after he was crucified here, by this guy here! Nero, emperor from 54-68. It is written that Nero
crucified St. Peter, blaming the Christians
for the great fire that nearly destroyed
Rome in 64. And according to tradition,
before his death, Peter was jailed here
along with the apostle Paul. The two most famous
apostles shared a cell at the edge of the Roman
Forum in Mamertine Prison. This is the Mamertine prison. From the 6th century onward there's a written tradition that
Peter was incarcerated here. The tradition says that he was
a prisoner here along with Paul, and that is why you have
the upside down cross on the alter here, which
represents the tradition that Peter was crucified
in Rome upside down. There is also a well here that
supposedly sprung water, and Peter and Paul used that
water to baptize their guards to convert them to Christianity. There's also a tradition that
the hole in the wall here was caused when Peter's head was bashed against the wall by
his guards. I guess before they converted
to Christianity. This isn't exactly archaeology.
It's tradition. [SIMCHA] And Rome is covered
by the footprints of Peter's traditions. But maybe we can find
some archaeology if we follow the footsteps
here. According to tradition, Nero' s soldiers chased Peter
down this very road. I asked Roman historian
Mino Carbone what's so special
about this road. We are on the most important
Roman road, the Appian Way. Built in the year
312 before Christ So if Saint Peter was in Rome
this is the road that he walked. Yes he approached the city
through this road, and it is important because
it linked Rome to the main port in the south,
Brundusio, today Brindisi. These are the first
highways really. This is really the first
highway in the world. 400 miles long, very fast road, they had to move thousand
soldiers, they had to move a lot of goods between Rome and the rest
of the eastern province. So two thousand years ago we would see legionnaires
marching on the sides, chariots. Yes chariots. You can see the tracks. Yes just if you look
you can see the tracks. Thousand million people
traveled on this road which was very important
and according to legend, even Saint Peter came to
Rome and used this road. [SIMCHA] So Peter's footprints could be somewhere
on these cobbles. Not only that, Mino tells me
that this is the famous road described in the Acts of Peter, on which Peter fled from Rome
and had a vision of Jesus. If St. Peter fled Rome, he would
have fled on this road. He would have had this apparitin
of Jesus on this road. And Peter said oh,
you remember the story. Domine Quo Vadis,
which means oh lord, where are you going? [SIMCHA] We're going to the
very spot where Peter asked "where are
you going?" to the church of Domine Quo
Vadis because inside the church, on the stones of the
ancient Via Appia, Mino tells me he's
seen footprints. Why is there a church here and
what are these footprints? Because this footprint belongs
to Jesus according to legend. Because Peter in the year
67 was leaving Rome because they started to
persecute Christians because of the fire in
the city of Rome. Saint Peter at this
point of the Appian Way had the vision of Christ,
of Jesus Christ. A vision, a vision right here. Appeared just here and he said: "Oh lord, where are you going?" and Jesus answered, "Peter I'm going to Rome to be
crucified again." So Peter understood, "maybe I have to go to Rome to
be crucified". He turned back, went to Rome and just in that moment was
captured by the Nero soldiers and
crucified. Crucified upside down. Upside down because he said I'm not going to die
the same as Christ. I want to die in
a different way. And these are the footprints of
the vision? These are the authentic? No, the authentic actually is in
the church of Saint Sebastian next door. [SIMCHA] Mino takes me
further along the Via Appia, because legend has it that
in the middle of 2nd century, Rome was persecuting
Christians with abandon and so early followers moved the
remains of St Peter and St Paul and temporarily stored them
in secret catacombs underneath this church. And the real Quo Vadis
footprints are here because this church
has a strong tradition associated with the first
apostle. That's the footsteps? Those are the original
Jesus foot imprint. I can barely see the footsteps.
They seem different. Different because
we can see the foot imprint that go down into the rock. It's deeper. Deeper because that is the
evidence of the presence, the divine presence of
Jesus Christ on the Appian Way. That is the reason
why here are deeper. You can see, I can see
the shape of the foot. And they're big feet if I may
say so. Pretty big because Jesus was
supposed to be a very tall man. What size shoe
would you say that is? I think is in Italian
it could be forty-three, forty-four which
is an eight, nine. I think it's more like eleven. Eleven maybe. Okay. So we now have footsteps
of Jesus after his death appearing in Rome but we don't
have any footsteps for Peter. No footsteps of Peter, I'm
sorry. Peter was not like Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah,
is the god's son. Peter became a saint after
he was crucified. Peter was the one chosen by
Jesus to be his vicar, the first apostle, the first
pope. So it's very important for the
church that he would have come to Rome. Of course. Peter originated the centre of the Christian church
in the World, which is Rome. Saint Peter's Basilica.
-Saint Peter's Basilica. The Vatican.
-The Vatican, ci. [SIMCHA] St. Peter's Basilica. Although I've followed
the sacred footprints I've not yet seen the
archaeological evidence proving St. Peter was
ever here in Rome. But underneath
this basilica, one of the holiest sites
in Christendom, they did find something
extraordinary. What some would call
Peter-perfect. [SIMCHA] This is St. Peter's
Basilica, the latest version. Vatican Archaeologist Olof
Brandt tells me it's been built
overtop the original basilica, built by Constantine as a symbol of Rome's acceptance
of Christianity. What you see now is the Basilica which was erected from the
beginning of the 16th century but Constantine built his first
huge St. Peter's Basilica around 320. Because there had been this tran
that Peter was buried here? Because there was a place
venerated as the tomb of the Apostle
Peter. [SIMCHA] It's for this reason
that hundreds of Popes have been laid to rest here. They were buried here on faith. Faith that this is where St.
Peter rests. But 1939 faith and archaeology
got a little mixed up. Well what happened was when
Paul Pious the eleventh died in 1939, he wanted to be buried
in the crypts beneath St. Peter's and they were in a very bad
state and they wanted to reconstruct
them. So they removed the floor in
the crypt and they discovered ancient
remains. Remains of a Roman cemetery. [SIMCHA] The construction
crew had stumbled upon an ancient necropolis:
a city of the dead. Archaeologists were called
in and within months they had unearthed a long
underground street of both pagan, and what seemed
to be early Christian tombs and mausoleums. Are the excavations conclusive,
non-conclusive? What's the result from an
archeological point of view? Well you know. The Vatican has no official
position on archeological questions. Most experienced scholars agree
that Peter was buried there. Ok so what is that based on? That's based on the fact that
we have clearly a monument commemorating Peter,
built around 160. [SIMCHA] Below the floors of
the modern basilica they found s memorial to Peter. On the floor was a trap door
that opened onto what was believed to be
Peter's tomb. Here it is, we found it! The tomb! [SIMCHA] A brick drain was
discovered close by marked with a Roman factory
stamp, dating it to as early as 147 AD. At that time there would have
been no basilica above. Rome was smaller and this area
was outside city limits. In catacomb country, known to be
frequented by early Christians. Beside the tomb on a wall the
archaeologists discovered a surprising amount of what
looked to be Christian graffiti. There is especially
one graffiti which is particularly
famous in Greek, which actually is on
a piece of plaster which fell down from the walls,
where it was found separate. The most famous reading of
the graffiti is "Peter is here." But there's another possible
reading which is "Rest in Peace" and it may not be Peter at all. It may be another name because
it's broken. But these graffiti show people
went there for a very important reason, and probably that
important reason had something to do with Peter, because he is mentioned
by the graffiti. So let me see if I
understand the evidence. You have basically a mixed
cemetery down there and a monument to Peter
is found in that area? Yes. Leading archeologists to say
'ok there's a tradition here, there's a monument here. There's no tradition
anywhere else. It must be Peter's tomb. ' Yes. [SIMCHA] On December 23, 1950 after 10 yrs of excavations,
Pope Pius XII announced that a team of archaeologists
had found the tomb of St. Peter. [ANNOUNCER] Pope Pious presides
the ceremony surrounded by thousands of
people. [SIMCHA] But it wasn't just the
evidence of Christian graffiti on a wall that made the world take notice. Underneath an old monument, they uncovered something human.
Well mostly human. St. Peters Basilica in Vatican
City is elaboratly decorated for
the Roman Catholic Church's most solomn ceremonies. [SIMCHA] In December 1950, the papacy announced the
discovery of St. Peter's tomb deep below St. Peters
basilica in the Vatican. And underneath an
ancient monument, Professor Ken Bartlett tells me they had found something,
well, mostly human. Well, bones were found in there, and the bones were very,
very unsatisfactory, because in fact they
weren't the bones of either one person
or even one species. There were bones of
men and women, here were not complete skeleton,
there were animal bones. All put together in this one
place. [SIMCHA] What was being held up
as positive proof of Peter was
tested and shown to be a veritable
bone-bouillabaisse of man, woman, cow, horse, and chicken. It was a big disappointment
for the papacy. But then, interestingly enough, very close to this site, one of the members of
the pontifical team found an almost complete
skeleton of an adult middle-aged male between
50 and 60 of robust physique, missing the foot bones. And it was reasonable to assume that if Peter had been
crucified upside down, and the body was
to be taken quickly, especially by Christians, who wanted to ensure the
body would not be burned or disposed of. They'd have
done this very quickly, which would have been simply
cutting the feet off, because the feet would have
been nailed to the cross. And then this footless body could then have been buried
beneath that space in the necropolis
in order to protect it from the from the Romans. Is there any tradition that
he was buried footless? Uh, no. So what happened
to this body? Pius XII announced that these
bones could be identified as those of the apostle Peter,
and they were put in a casket. And that now rests beneath the
high altar of St. Peter's. But meanwhile atll this time,
didn't christian traditions say that Peters' skull is sitting
in another church? St. John Lateran. [SIMCHA] St. John Lateran in
Rome was actually the first official
Christian Cathedral of Rome and home for the first 199
popes. It was commissioned
by Constantine at the same time as
Peter's Basilica. There is a skull that has been
housed and guarded here for over 1000 years. And Hundreds of popes and
millions of Catholics have accepted and venerated
this skull as St. Peter's. So we've got a skull there. Yeah, you've got a skull there. Peter couldn't have had two
skulls. No. I think that the body underneath St. Peter's
Basillica. did in fact lack a skull as
well. The body lacked a skull? I think it lacked a skull. And feet?
-And feet. Any other body parts? Not to my knowledge. The reality is, though, that there was anthropological
work done, and I don't think that the
skull- You could try DNA to see if it
matches. If the skull matches the body. It doesn't really match. That doesn't really
match the body. But, then again,
it becomes tradition. One of them has to
definitely not be Peter. It's quite possible that
neither are Peter. ♪The shin bone's
connected to the ♪ [SIMCHA] Cow bones, chicken
bones, girl bones, guy bones. Head bones, body bones
and heads without bodies. The fact is, churches all
over the world claim to be guardians of
various Peter parts. There are potential
Peter pieces in Italy, all over England, Spain,
France, Germany, Israel, the U.S. of A,
and of course on eBay. And some say that's because
if you've got the relics, you've got the clout, your church gathers a
bigger congregation and you gain more respect. When the papacy switched
from St John Lateran to the Vatican palace
in the 15th century, it's reasonable to
assume that St. John would've wanted to gather
and house some sacred relics, if it meant keeping
up with the Jones', or the Peters in this case. And so for centuries, St John Lateran has
claimed the heads of both the Apostles Peter
and Paul. If you want to be the
head of the Church, you need a couple of heads. It's convenient. But, again, we go back to this
question of does it really matter? What we're looking at is we're
looking at things that build faith for those who
choose to believe. And to have that
faith strengthened by proximity to actual objects
with which they can identify. Does it really matter whether this really is
the body of Peter? Does it really matter if
it's the skull of Peter? And there is that Italian
saying I mentioned before [in Italian] it doesn't matter whether
something is true if it makes a good story, that in fact you can
have the force of truth built upon the
general acceptance of something to be true, whether the evidence
supports it or not. So whether or not
the body of Peter is under St. Peter's Basilica, you're saying the important
thing is people believed it to be, and therefore it- He may as well be. [SIMCHA] It is a beautiful
power, the strength of belief. For many, a mis-matching
of bones doesn't weaken the
belief in the least that Saint Peter spent his last
days in these two churches. But what if his coffin was
found 1800 miles away in Jerusalem. We're in Jerusalem on
the Mount of Olives and right over there is
Dominus Flevit. And Dominus Flevit in Latin
means 'the Lord wept,' because according to
Christian tradition Jesus saw the Temple Mount
which is right behind me where the Dome of the
Rock now stands. And there he foresaw the destruction of the Jewish
temple, and he wept. In 1891 on the spot where he
wept, according to tradition, the Franciscans built
Dominus Flevit, a church. And in 1953 they decided
to renovate the church and they found
something amazing. They found a 2000
year old Necropolis. [SIMCHA] And in this necropolis, the archaeologist Belarmino
Bagatti discovered these tombs. [SIMCHA] Along with hundreds
of these stone coffins, many of them inscribed with
what he believed were early Christian
symbols and names. The evidence seemed
to suggest that this necropolis
was a long standing early Christian burial site for some of the Jesus movement's
most venerated dead. [SIMCHA] And amongst these remas
they found an ossuary, a stone coffin,
inscribed in Aramaic: "Simon son of Jonah" the original name of St. Peter. Only a piece of the ossuary
remains, housed in this church. The reading of the inscription
is indisputable. However, it is difficult to
get anyone to comment on it. After our appointment
was cancelled with the head father and curator of the Church of Flagellation, we thought we'd call back
a few days later We have some people here. They are downstairs Father. I'm sorry. Ok,
thank you very much. Ok Father. You have to bring
a permission We have all the permissions. We had an appointment. We came, but then
he got very busy. We just need five minutes. We just want to speak
about the Simon, son of Jonah, ossuary. You know,
the Vatican is built over what is supposed
to be St. Peter's grave. That's right. That's right. And at the same time,
right here, right in this museum,
over here, there is a bone box that
says Simon, son of Jonah. At that is Peter's
real name. So if he's here,
he can't be in Rome. He's busy. That's it.
I'm sorry. Can we wait a bit? I don't know when
he will be finished. Just one question, about
the box, the St. Peter's box. That's the only question.
One minute, just right here. I don't know. It's up to you. I'll just wait right here.
We'll be very quiet. Oh, maybe that's
Father Ciccarillo. They told me that he left. So please-
Yes, he left. They have a state secret here,
the bone box of St. Peter. He snuck out the back. When you want to come back. And if you want I can
give him the message. That's the second time. You know we had an appointment. We came all the way. So, please.
He left, yes. Oh, well. [SIMCHA] And so for now, it seems this is where my search
must end. With baited curiosity. And although I'm split between
the strong traditions that Peter spent his
last days in Rome and the compelling evidence
behind these walls that suggest Peter's post-mortem
presence in Jerusalem, I'm reminded of Professor
Bartlett's words, "Does it really matter?" The remains of the man
simply reference the spirit and power of the Saint, and whether or not they're
here or there, the Saint is everywhere. Leaving his footprints for
those who choose to follow. Yeah, no cars. They're gone. It would cost a lot of money
to move the Vatican here.
