St. Peter's Bones: How the Relics of the First Pope Were Lost and Found . . . and Then Lost and Found Again

by Thomas J. Craughwell

Overview

In this fascinating account of the search for the remains of the world's first pope, none other than Peter, the chief apostle of Jesus, Thomas J. Craughwell takes us on one of the most exciting archaeological finds of the twentieth century.
   In 1448 a team of architects and engineers brought Pope Nicholas V unhappy news: the 1,100-year-old Basilica of St. Peter suffered from so many structural defects that it was beyond repair. The only solution was to pull down the old church—one of the most venerable churches in all of Christiandom—and erect a new basilica on the site. Incredibly, one of the tombs the builders paved over was the resting place of St. Peter.
   Then in 1939, while reconstructing the grottoes below St. Peter's Basilica, a workman's shovel struck not dirt or rock but open air. After inspecting what could be seen through the hole they'd made in the mausoleum's roof, Pope Pius XII secretly authorized a full-scale excavation. What lay beneath? The answer and the adventure await. In this riveting history, facts, traditions, and faith collide to reveal the investigation, betrayals, and mystery behind St. Peter's burial place.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307985095
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/14/2014
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

THOMAS J. CRAUGHWELL was the author of Saints Behaving Badly, Urban Legends, Alligators in the Sewer and 222 Other Urban Legends, Saints for Every Occasion: 101 of Heaven's Most Powerful Patrons, and Do Blue Bedsheets Bring Babies? He wrote about saints for the the Wall Street Journal, St. Anthony Messenger, and Catholic Digest, and discussed saints on CNN and EWTN. His book Stealing Lincoln's Body was made into a two-hour documentary on the History Channel. He passed away in 2018.

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Chapter 1
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Excerpted from "St. Peter's Bones"
by .
Copyright © 2014 Thomas J. Craughwell.
Excerpted by permission of The Crown Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

A Note on the Cult of Relics xi

Chapter 1 An Elderly but Powerful Man 1

Chapter 2 Searching for the Name Peter 21

Chapter 3 The Catacombs 40

Chapter 4 Papal Prudence 61

Chapter 5 Monsignor Kaas's Box of Bones 69

Chapter 6 Painful Facts 78

Chapter 7 Archaeology Isn't Algebra 94

Epilogue 111

Appendix A List of Symbols 115

Appendix B What About St. Paul's Bones? 117

Bibliography 123

Editorial Reviews

"It's a thriller, a whodunit, and an adventure, full of clues, codes, false trails, professional envy, whiffs of conspiracy, and heroic mercy. And it's all true! Thomas Craughwell has delivered an historical account that's breathtaking, page-turning, and inspiring." -Mike Aquilina, Executive Vice-President, St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, and author, The Fathers of the Church

"Religious legends sometimes have a funny way of turning out to be true.  For many years, scholars believed that the 'five porticoes' in a healing story of Jesus in Jerusalem were just a pious legend—until archeologists unearthed a site with 'five porticoes,' just as the Gospels had said. The remarkable story of the supposedly 'legendary' remains of St. Peter's, and how they were found exactly where the 'legends' had them, is a fascinating one, especially in the hands of a gifted writer like Thomas Craughwell. His new book should give pause to all those who would dismiss similar stories as 'merely legendary.'" -James Martin, SJ, author of My Life with the Saints.

"Craughwell is one of our very best storytellers. In book after book, he makes history come alive. As I expected, St. Peter's Bones does not disappoint. It's amazing how Tom is able to tell a sweeping, important story in so compact a package. Highly recommended!" -Jon M. Sweeney, author of The Pope Who Quit and Francis of Assisi in His Own Words

From the Publisher