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Help on a Question regarding the Location of Paul’s and Peter’s Bodies

November 26th, 2014

I could use some help with this question below we received on our Dutch site. I know nothing about this (beyond wikipedia :)). So if anyone has any knowledge about this topic, I’d appreciate the help!

Dear brothers/sisters, I have a question about the location of the bodies of the apostles Peter and Paul. In a 16th century (Dutch) text, it is said that “half of the bodies of Peter and Paul” are buried in the St. Peter and St. Paul basilicas. According to tradition the heads of the apostles are buried in the Lateran. The latter detail is correct, but I have been unable to verify the former. Can you please help me? Kind regards, Patrick.

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  • Dale Agner There is no reliable archeological/historical evidence for the location of
    bones of any of the early church members.

    Relics and icons became the source of conflict in the early Byzantine church…as did conflict between the early leading church cities
    (Jerusalem, Alexandria, Rome, Constantinople, and Antioch). Bones/relics
    were used inappropriately to be justification for a church’s position or “correctness” as issues of theology surfaced.

    Hope this helps! (I lived in Turkey for two years and informally studied
    early church history and theology).

    -dale agner
    Yesterday at 12:48pm · Like · 1
  • Erik van Geel Thank you, Dale!

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