SAINT PETER
374
SAINT PETERSBURG
Besides the literature cited on the articles Rome and Saint
Peter, Tomb of, see Chevalier, Topo Bibl., s. v. Rome, San
Pietro, VaHcan. The often mentioned works of Grisar, Wil-
PERT, Pastor, Gregorovius, Reu moxt, Papencordt, and Stein-
MANN give information upon historical questions. A source of
the highest authority is the Liber PorUificalis, ed. Duchesne
(1886-92), ed. Mommsen (1898); see also Cerrotti, ed. Cel.\ni,
Bibliografia di Roma medievaU e moderna, I (Milan, 1893); Calvi,
BibUografia generale di Roma riel medio evo (476-14S9) (Rome,
1906), also SupplemeiU, I (1908); Lanciani, Topografia di Roma
antica (1880), as well as his extensive Atlas; Richter, Topographi»
der Studt Rom (2nd ed., 1901) in Hand, der klass. AUerthuiss,
IV (Nordlingen, 1SS9). For the architectural history mention
should be made of: GetmCller, Die ursprunglichen Entmiirfe
far St. Peter in Rome (Vienna, 1875); Costaguti, Architettura
della basilica di S. Pietro in Vaticano (Rome, 1684); Memorie
istoriche della gran cupola del tempio Vaticano (Padua, 1748) ;
Visconti, Metrologia Vaticana ossia ragguaglio delle dimensioni
della Basilica di S. Pietro (Rome, 1828); Gilii, Architettura
della basilica di S. Pietro in Vaticano . . . , con una succinta
dichiarazione (Rome, 1812); Dumont, Details des plus interes-
santes parties d' architecture de la basilique de Saint-Pierre de
Rome (Vans, 176.3); Ch.vndlery, Pilgrim Walks in Rome (Lon-
don, 1905). Reliable handbooks are those of Murray, Bae-
DECKER, and Gseli^Fels. It is unnecessary to enumerate the
abundant illustrative material which is easily accessible.
Paul Maria Baumgarten.
Saint Peter, Tomb of. — The history of the relics of the Apostles Peter and Paul is one which is involved in considerable difficulty and confusion. The pri- marj' authorities to be consulted are in opposition to one another, or at least appear to be so. There is no doubt where the bodies now are — in the tombs of the Vatican and the Ostian Way respectively — but there is another tomb at the Catacombs of S. Sebastiano which also claims the honour of having at one time re- ceived them, and the question is as to the period at which this episode occurred, and whether there was only one or a double translation of the relics. What- ever conclusion we come to, we shall have to discard, or at least to explain away, some of the evidence which exists. The account which we give here is the sim- plest theory consistent with the evidence, and is based upon one consistent principle throughout; namely, to assume only one translation of the relics — the one which took place at a known historical date, and for historical reasons which we can understand — and to refer to this all the allusions to a translation which occur in early authorities, even though some of them .seem to have been misplaced in date. There would have been no difficulty in obtaining the bodies of the Apostles after their martyrdom, and the be- reaved Christians seem to have followed their usual custom in burj'ing both as near as possible to the scene of their sufferings. Each was laid in ground that belonged to Christian proprietors, by the side of well-known roads leading out of the city; St. Paul on the Via Ostiana and St. Peter on the Via Cornelia. In each case the actual tomb seems to have been an un- derground vault, approached from the road by a de- scending staircase, and the body reposed in a sar- cophagus of stone in the centre of this vault.
We have definite evidence of the existence of these tombs (trophoBa) in these places as early as the be- ginning of the second century, in the words of the priest Caius (Eu.seb., "Hist. Eccl.", II, 2S). These tombs were the objects of pilgrimage during the ages of persecution, and it will be found recorded in the Acts of several of the martyrs that they were seized while praying at the tfjmbs of the Apostles. For two cen- turif* the relics were safe enough in these tombs, pub- lic though they were, for the respect entertained by the Romans for any place where the dead were buried pre- served them from any danger of sacrilege. In the year 258, however, this protection was withdrawn. Christians from henceforth were specially excepted from the privilege which they had previously enjoyed on account of the use they had ma<le of it to enable them to carry on religious worship. Hence it became nccfSisary to remove the sacred relics of tlif two great Apostif-s in order to prfscrve theiri from po.ssiblc out- rage. They were removed secretly by niglit and hid-
den in the Catacombs of S. Sebastiano, though, prob-
ably the fact of their removal was known to very few,
and the great body of Roman Christians believed
them still to rest in their original tombs. At a later
date, when the persecution was less acute, they were
brought back again to the Vatican and the Via Osti-
ana respectively.
When the Church was once more at peace under Constantine, Christians were able at last to provide themselves with edifices suitable for the celebration of Divine Service, and the places so long hallowed as the resting places of the relics of the Apostles were naturally among the first to be selected as the sites of great basilicas. The emperor himself not only sup- phed the funds for these buildings, in his desire to hon- our the memories of the two Apostles, but actually assisted in the work of building With his own hands. At St. Paul's, where the tomb had remained in its original condition of a simple vault, no difficulty pre- sented itself, and the high altar was erected over the vault. The inscription, dating from this period, "Paulo Apostolo Martyri", may still be seen in its place under the altar. At St. Peter's, however, the matter was complicated by the fact that Pope St. Anacletus, in the first century, had built an upper chamber or memoria above the vault. This upper chamber had become endeared to the Romans during the ages of persecution, and they were unwilling that it should be destroyed. In order to preserve it a sin- gular and unique feature was given to the basiUca in the raised platform of the apse and the Chapel of the Confession underneath. The extreme reverence in which the place has always been held has resulted in these arrangements remaining almost unchanged even to the present time, in spite of the rebuilding of the church. Only, the actual vault itself in which the body lies is no longer accessible and has not been so since the ninth century. There are those, however, who think that it would not be impossible to find the entrance and to reopen it once more. A unanimous request that this should be done was made to Leo XIII by the International Archaeological Congress in 1900, but, so far, without result.
The fullest account of the Apostolic tombs will be found in Barnes, St. Peter in Rome, and his tomb in the Vatican Hill (London, 1898), which remains the one monograph on the subject. The general literature is very large. See especially the Liber Pontificalis. ed. Duchesne; Torrigio, Le Sacre Grotte Vaticane (Rome, 1635); Borgia, Confessio Vaticana (Rome, 1766); and among recent Jiooks Armellini, Le Chiese di Roma (Rome, 1890), and Marucchi, Basiliques et Eglises de Rome (Paris, 1902).
Arthur S. Barnes.
Saint Petersburg, the imperial residence and sec- ond capital of Russia, lies at the mouth of the Neva on the Gulf of Finland. In 1899, including the sub- urbs, it had 1,439,000 inhabitants; of these 81-8 per cent belonged to the Orthodox Greek Church, 4 8 per cent were Catholics, 703 per cent were Protestants, and 1-4 per cent were Jews. As regards nationality 87-5 per cent were Russians, 3-3 per cent were Ger- man, 31 per cent were Poles, 1 03 per cent were Finns, and 103 per cent were Estlioiiians. In 1910 the pop- ulation was estimated at over 1,900,000 persons. The district of Ingermannland, that is, the territory be- tween Lake Peipus, the Narova River, and Lake La- doga, in which St. Petersburg is situated, belonged in the Middle Ages to the Grand Duchy of Novgorod, and later to Moscow. In 1617 the district was given by the Treaty of Stolbovo to Sweden; in 1702 it was rewon by Peter the Great. When Peter in 1703 formed the daring plan to transfer the centre of his empire from the inaccessible Moscow to the Baltic and to open the hitherto isolated Russia to the influence and cultivation of Western Europe by means of a large fortified commercial port, he chose for his new creation the southern end of th(! j)resent island of Peters- burgsky. At this point the Neva separates into two branches, the big and the httle Neva; here on 16 (27)
