An ancient appearsmural on the Gospel. It is found inVatican undergroundunder the main altar of theSt. Peter’s Basilicadominated by the monumentalBernini canopy. These are somegraffiti(now no longer visible) on a wall of an ancient mausoleumRoman necropolis. They show the outlines of the heads ofJesus and Saint Peter. Alongside, in Greek, the key words that give the title to some moments of Christ’s mission on earth: “catabasis”, “anabasis”, “anastasis” and “dexi[o)stasis]Which can be translated intodescent into hell, ascension, resurrectionand sits at the right hand of the Father.
The discovery
The discovery is almost a legacy. The discovery, in fact, is due to the Florentine archaeologistMargherita Guarducciborn in 1902, passed away in Rome in 1999 at the age of 97 and defined today (but not at the time) as “the greatestepigrapher in the world“. Her CV, in fact, is truly stellar: researcher in Crete, at just 29 years old professor of Epigraphy and Greek antiquities at the “La Sapienza” University of Rome, director of the National School of Archaeology, member of the Accademia dei Lincei since 1956. And, above all, in the 1950s, protagonist of the sensationaldiscovery of the relics attributed to Saint Peterin the same basement of the basilica where his colleagues had already dug without seeing. So, is the news old and well-known?
He doesn’t think soSpanish priestwho in the nineties met the archaeologist, conversed with her and received the book from her hands: “Christ and Saint Peter in a pre-Constantinian document from the Vatican necropolis”, dated 1953 and printed by the State Polygraphic Institute.
The testimony of Don Alfredo Martin
His name isDon Alfredo Fernandez Martin70 years of age and almost fifty years oldEternal Cityof the parish “Nostra Signora di Valme” in the Villa Bonelli area.
“The book had remained a bit in the shadows – explains Don Alfredo –. Now, in times when we are once again talking about theCouncil of Nicaea e della prayer of the ‘Creed’approved by that assembly of bishops – he reflects – it seems right to me to remember the volume ofMargherita Guarducci e il mural deciphered by herextraordinary preview of the prayer that isprofession of faithfor all Christians”. That is, very timely.
The Nicene Council
In fact, from November 27th until December 2ndPope Leo XIVwill be in the Middle East (Türkiye and Lebanon) on the occasion of1700th anniversary (325-2025) dal Council of Nicaeawhich took place in the city about 130 kilometers from todayIstanbulin the Anatolian peninsula.
The mural on the Gospel
Il mural on the Gospelit dates back to the period of time that goes from the end of the 3rd to the beginning of the 4th century AD. It is traced “on the stucco covering within one of the niches of apagan burial chamber– explains the author of the book – in the vast onenecropolis under the floor of the basilica. We are at a distance of about 22 meters from that place where theprince of the apostlesIt feels like going back to those excavations. So we continue withJesus and Peterin the central niche.
“The true wonder of this head of Christ – continues the professor – is found in the upper part. There is a strange figure made up oftwo closely related birdstogether in a single body, a figure that seems almost innate with the human one. The two birds intimately connected by a single body want to represent thephoenixand precisely when from death he is reborn to life. Whoever designed it – consider – seems in fact to have aimed especially at representing in a symbolic way the prodigious moment ofpalingenesis… Il Christ-Phoenixmust be understood as the image ofChrist risen and living forever”.
The four words in Greek
And then thefour words written in Greek. “They radiate from the head of Christ – the archaeologist further describes – in close relationship with the teachings of the Church; they are afragment of the ‘Creed’”.
L’archeologa ‘star’
Margherita Guarduccihe’s a celebrity. He continued the investigations started in June 1939 byFirst xiiin his work he showed an uncommon competence, which allowedPaul VIto announce publicly at the general audience on Wednesday 26 June 1968: “The few, but sacrosanctPeter’s mortal remains”.
After which the Pontiff had himself deliverednine bone fragmentsand he kept them in the private chapel of his apartment. Until November 24, 2013, when the successorFrancescohe displayed them in a display case in the churchyardVatican basilicaand on June 29, six years later, he donated them to the head of the delegationPatriarchate of Constantinople per “unire le relics of the two brother apostles”: Peter and Andrew.
The last chapter onTuscan archaeologistit’s a beautiful book written about her byTiziana Lupi: “The tomb of Saint Peter. The forgotten story of Margherita Guarducci” (Minerva, 2025), which a few weeks ago earned the writer theRapallo Awardin the “Costume and non-fiction” section. A first revenge.