St. Peter's Basilica

Overview

St. Peter was martyred on and buried near a circus on the Mons Vaticanus in Rome. Three centuries later Constantine ordered a basilica built over his grave. But were Peter's bones still there? For more than 1200 years Christians came to Constantine's basilica to pay homage to Peter. Finally the basilica, nearly in ruins, had to be rebuilt. Eventually Michelangelo undertook the task of putting a dome on the Renaissance structure. But it would not be until the 20th century that people found out the answer about Peter's bones.