AFTER thousands of years, the tomb of St. Paul was finally found by Vatican archaeologists last month in Rome.
Based on the reports of Giorgio Filippi, an archaeology specialist of Vatican Museums, St. Paul’s sarcophagus was found during excavations beneath St. Paul’s Basilica.
“The tomb that we discovered is one that the popes and the Emperor Theodosius (379-395) were referring as the tomb of the Apostle buried beneath the basilica,” Filippi said in a press release. During the excavation under the basilica’s main altar, the team saw a marble plaque with the words “Apostle Paul, martyr”, where they found the tomb.
“The discovery of the tomb would prove that St. Paul really existed,” Fr. Ramon T. Salibay O.P., UST Campus Ministry director, told the Varsitarian.
In Church tradition, St. Paul was a former persecutor of Christians who was converted to become a Christian proselytizer. He was beheaded in the year 67 under the reign of Emperor Nero in Rome. It was Roman Emperor Constantine who started the construction of a basilica on the site where the Apostle died in Via Ostiensis, the road to the port of Ostia. Ruby Anne R. Pascua with reports from www.cathnews.com and www.ewtn.com
