Last summer about this time I had the great privilege to celebrate Mass in the Clementine Chapel at St Peter’s Basilica with two of our sons. Elias had been in Spain on a study abroad trip and Theo joined us in Rome for an Italian vacation.
The Clementine Chapel was built by Pope Clement VIII in the sixteenth century at the back of the memorial built by the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century. That memorial was constructed over the tomb of the apostle Peter.
The discovery of the tomb of St Peter within our lifetimes is one of the most astounding stories of the twentieth century. John O’Neill’s book, The Fisherman’s Tomb is a cracking good read right from the start. Other books have been published about the search for the bones of St Peter, but O’Neill’s book tops them all. John Evangelist Walsh told the story first with The Bones of St Peter and more recently. Thomas J. Craughwell came out with St Peter’s Bones. I have read Craughwell and remember skimming Walsh some years ago, but O’Neill weaves in some extra information I don’t remember in either of the other two studies.