(x)
St. Optatus of Milevi says that the episcopal chair in Rome was
first established by St. Peter, in which chair sat St. Peter himself
(Schism. Donat. II, 2).
(xi)
Pope Damasus (370 AD) speaks of the “Apostolic Chair (in which
the) holy Apostle sitting, taught his successors how to guide the
helm of the Church” (Ep. 9, ad Synod, Orient. Apud Theodoret, V.,
10).
(xii)
St. Ambrose (387-390 AD) refers to “Peter’s chair” in Rome where
“Peter, first of the apostles, first sat” (De Poenit. I., 7-32, Exp.
Symb. ad Initiand.).
The actual story of the discovery of St. Peter’s tomb and his skeletal
remains spreads over centuries. On the site where St. Peter’s Basilica now
stands, stood originally a chariot racecourse track built by the Emperor
Caligula. All that remains of that racetrack today is the tall Egyptian
obelisk standing in the middle of the piazza. Nearby, at a short distance
from the stone structure of the racetrack, along the Via Cornelia, was a
pagan burial-ground lying in a knoll called Vaticanus. It was in this burial-
ground that the bones of St. Peter, wrapped in linen, were laid after his
martyrdom.
St. Anacletus, third Bishop of Rome, erected a shrine over St. Peter’s grave
which was visible to all those who passed by Vatican Hill. This shrine,
despite the persecutions, became a familiar meeting place for Christians
from the beginning and was mentioned in the Acts of St. Sebastian.
In the early fourth century, the Emperor Constantine allowed Pope
Sylvester I to construct a large new church over the burial place of St. Peter
and the remains of other early Popes now gathered there. The stones for
this new church were quarried from the old racecourse and the structure of
St. Peter’s shrine became the high altar. Begun in 326, this church was
finally completed in 349. It contained five naves, fifty-two altars with
seven hundred candles burning day and night, and golden mosaics
decorating the walls and arches.
The actual bones of St. Peter were ordered removed from their shrine by
Constantine, covered in fine purple cloth interwoven with gold, put into a
box and reposed in a niche of a nearby wall (Wall G) to protect them from
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