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Handout #5 |
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Peter and Paul in Rome |
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Tradition associates Peter and Paul with the church in Rome. They were its pillars and foundation. Rome is said to have been the place of their martyrdom and it preserved their tombs. However, historical criticism, aware that the evidence that the two apostles were martyred in Rome goes back only to the last years of the second century, has subjected their deaths to closer scrutiny. The role of the Pope in the universal church is based on the view that the Bishop of Rome is the successor of Peter. Protestants at the time of the Reformation pointed out that nowhere in scripture is it said that Peter came to Rome. We are told of Peter's crucifixion in a late apocryphal writing. Nevertheless, present day historians think that the presence of Peter in Rome and his martyrdom there have a reasonable foundation on a network of circumstantial evidence: a detailed examination of a number of New Testament tests, the earliest Christian writings (Clement of Rome), liturgical texts and the result of archaeological excavations. One of the most telling arguments is thought to be the connection that has recently been established under the basilica of St. Peter and the trophy of Gains referred to by Eusebius. |
| Acts states clearly that Paul arrived in Rome (Acts 28:16-3 1). Our uncertainties relate to the last years of Paul, the circumstances and date of his death. Paul indicated his desire to go to Spain after spending some time in Rome (Rom 15:24-28). So it has been supposed that he was acquitted in 63 A.D., preached in Spain and then once again in Asia Minor and Greece. The letters to Timothy and Titus had been put into this framework. Paul is said to have been taken prisoner again (I Tim. 1) and then executed in 67 A.D. An allusion to this journey to Spain has been seen in the statement by Clement of Rome that Paul reached the limits of the West. However, other historians interpret the silence at the end of Acts as an implicit indication of the death of Paul, who would thus have been executed in 63 A.D. The first attestation known to us of the beheading of Paul in Rome appears in Tertullian, writing at the end of the second century. The excavations made under the basilica of St Paul without-the-Walls also suggest the discovery of indications of the trophy on the Via Ostia mentioned by Gaius. |
