Here's a picture - http://www.vatican.va/news_services/or/or_quo/147q01.pdf
Posted on 06/28/2009 4:20:19 PM PDT by marshmallow
ROME (Reuters) – Vatican archaeologists using laser technology have discovered what they believe is the oldest image in existence of St Paul the Apostle, dating from the late 4th century, on the walls of catacomb beneath Rome.
Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano, revealing the find on Sunday, published a picture of a frescoed image of the face of a man with a pointed black beard on a red background, inside a bright yellow halo. The high forehead is furrowed.
Experts of the Ponitifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology made the discovery on June 19 in the Catacomb of Santa Tecla in Rome and describe it as the "oldest icon in history dedicated to the cult of the Apostle," according to the Vatican newspaper.
The discovery, which involved removing layers of clay and limestone using lasers, was announced a day before Rome observes a religious holiday for the Feasts of St Peter and St Paul.
Peter and Paul are revered by Christians as the greatest early missionaries. Converting on the road to Damascus following a blinding vision of Jesus, Paul took the Gospel to pagan Greeks and Romans and met his martyrdom in Rome in about 65 AD.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Cool, thank you for the link!
Here's a picture - http://www.vatican.va/news_services/or/or_quo/147q01.pdf
Whoever painted it obviously had no idea what he looked like.
That so cool I hear about that another site they saying might be oldest they thought
You wrote:
“Whoever painted it obviously had no idea what he looked like.”
Actually, he might have. The description in the Acts of Paul and Thecla might be accurate after all.
as the Wikipedia page on the Acts summarizes:
Paul is given a full physical description that may reflect oral tradition: in the Syriac text “he was a man of middling size, and his hair was scanty, and his legs were a little crooked, and his knees were projecting, and he had large eyes[5] and his eyebrows met, and his nose was somewhat long, and he was full of grace and mercy; at one time he seemed like a man, and at another time he seemed like an angel.”
I loved that one about St Luke—I think it was Dear and Glorious Physician. Taylor Caldwell was amazing the way she wrote like she actually lived in the time.
Interesting...
Don’t forget that the Benedictines had found above it a memorial, “Paul, apostle, martyr.” The discovery of the sarcophagus proves it was a death memorial. The discovery of bones inside it proves it was for an actual body. The discovery that the bones were of someone who had been there for so long time proves the antiquity of the memorial.
So what’s an alternate explanation, if that’s not Paul? I mean, if you were to take the bones of some dead guy, and erect a marker declaring that they are the bones of Michael Jackson, would your contemporaries go along with you?
I read it many years ago. She was a terrific writer.
I read that one, too. I loved her books.
WHOA That soooo cool Monk
Do not use potty language - or references to potty language - on the Religion Forum.
Thank you.
That is breathtaking .. thank you.
Mouse over it in any direction and you see every part of it .. even the glorious ceiling. Simply stunning .. I’ve never been to Rome... jaw dropping.
Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, Archpriest of Rome's Basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, shows the passageway through which one side of St. Paul's stone coffin is visible.
The sarcophagus had long been believed buried beneath the church's main altar. But it took a multiyear excavation to verify that fact. No one knows for sure, however, whether the early Christian Apostle's remains are still in his coffin.
St. Paul’s Tomb Unearthed in Rome
Maria Cristina Valsecchi in Vatican City
for National Geographic News
December 11, 2006
###
St. Paul’s stone coffin has been found beneath Rome’s second largest basilica, but its contents remain a mystery, Vatican archaeologists announced today.
The sarcophagus dates back to about A.D. 390 and was uncovered in Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside-the-Walls, named for its location beyond the ancient wall surrounding Rome’s center.
Long believed to be buried beneath the church’s altar, the coffin is now on display for the first time in centuries— its precious cargo, however, is not.
“For now we didn’t open the sarcophagus to study the contents. Our aim was to unearth the coffin venerated as St. Paul’s tomb, not to authenticate the remains,” said Giorgio Filippi, the archaeologist of the Vatican Museum, who directed the excavations.
“The sarcophagus was buried beneath the main altar, under a marble tombstone bearing the Latin words “Paulo Apostolo Mart.,” meaning “Apostle Paul, Martyr.”
The basilica “rises on the place where, according to tradition, Paul of Tarsus was originally buried after his martyrdom,” Filippi said.
Saul of Tarsus
St. Paul was born Saul in the first decade of the first century A.D. in Tarsus, the capital of the ancient Roman region of Cilicia in what is now Turkey.
Though he never met Jesus Christ, he joined the first Christians after a dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus, as told in the Acts of the Apostles, one of the Bible’s New Testament books.
Baptized as Paul, he traveled around part of what is now Turkey as well as ancient Greece and Rome, founding a number of religious communities.
Paul’s thought largely influenced Christian doctrine by means of 13 or 14 letters, the Pauline epistles, included in the New Testament. Perhaps his most recognizable passage— to modern wedding guests, anyway— is his poetic definition of love (”Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. … “).
According to later reports, in A.D. 65 Paul of Tarsus was imprisoned in Rome, beheaded, and then buried in the family tomb of a devout Roman noblewoman, Matrona Lucilla (Rome map, facts, photos, and more).
“Around A.D. 320 Emperor Constantine built a first small basilica to receive the pilgrims visiting Saint Paul’s tomb,” Filippi said.
“In A.D. 390 Emperor Theodosius enlarged the building and encased Paul’s remains in a sarcophagus located on view in the middle of the basilica—the same sarcophagus we found.”
“We know for sure it’s the same object because the stone coffin is embedded in the layer of the Theodosian basilica,” he continued.
In A.D. 433 part of the building collapsed during an earthquake. In the course of renovations the floor was elevated. The sarcophagus was buried and covered by a marble tombstone.
In 1823 a fire completely destroyed the ancient basilica, and the modern Saint Paul’s Outside-the-Walls was built on the site.
“The sarcophagus and the tombstone were covered by concrete and debris, on top of which the main altar, named the Papal Altar, was placed,” Filippi said.
The Excavations
Six years ago the Catholic Church celebrated what it called the Jubilee 2000. Pilgrims from all over the world visited Rome and Saint Paul’s Outside-the-Walls.
“They asked to see Saint Paul’s tomb and were disappointed to learn that it was buried and not on view,” said Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, the archpriest of the basilica.
“So we decided to begin excavations and bring the sarcophagus to light.”
Work started in 2002 and just recently wrapped up.
“Archaeologists opened a window 70 centimeters [28 inches] wide and 1 meter [39 inches] deep through the concrete layer under the main altar to reach the side of the sarcophagus,” he continued.
Archaeologist Filippi said, “There is a hole in the cover of the sarcophagus, about ten centimeters [four inches] wide.
“In ancient times people used it to dip pieces of fabric inside the coffin, so they would become relics too. Currently the hole is closed by debris.
“It could be used to access to the remains of the saint if and when Vatican authorities decide to explore what the sarcophagus contains.”
Cardinal di Montezemolo added: “At last, today pilgrims visiting the basilica can see the side of the sarcophagus through a small window we left open under the papal altar.”
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061211-saint-paul_2.html
~~~
Heartwarming, gratifying, true ... the glory of God.
Starwise, thanks for the ping. I love St. Paul, truly.
Re the sarcophagus, the remains have been examined. I heard a report on radio this a.m. that Benedict XVI today issued a statement that the relics in St. Paul’s Tomb have been verified via DNA to be from the time period of his life, could really be him.
Gives me goose bumps....
It is thrilling .. truly.
It’s the bible coming to life.
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