The history of St. Peter’s and Caravaggio

The Basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome is built upon the tomb of St. Peter. Catholic tradition holds that St. Peter’s life ended in Rome around 64 AD. The Roman Emperor Nero executed St. Peter, blaming him for a fire that destroyed part of Rome. According to St. Jerome, Peter requested to be crucified upside-down as he was not worthy to die in the same manner that Christ died. He was crucified in Nero’s circus (like a racetrack today). In the middle of the circus was an obelisk, one of the spoils from Egypt. St. Peter would have no doubt gazed upon it at his crucifixion. His remains were buried 150 meters away in a poor man’s tomb among other tombs of those killed in the circus. A few years later, a simple shrine was built on this spot. In 313 AD, the Emperor Constantine declared Christianity a legal religion in the empire, and he built a church over the spot of St. Peter’s burial. Today this church is referred to as Old St. Peters. 

By the 15th century, St. Peter’s Basilica needed many repairs and was no longer structurally safe. Plans for a new and grander church were made. The new church, with the largest dome in the world, would be built on top of the older church, which had been built on top of the tomb. Pope Julius II laid the cornerstone for the new St. Peter’s Basilica in 1506. It took 84 years to build. Pope Sixtus V had the Egyptian obelisk, known as the “witness” to St. Peter’s crucifixion, moved into the piazza in the center of the colonnade. On top of the obelisk, Pope Sixtus V placed a bronze cross with a relic of the True Cross inside of it. 

The image shown is a painting by Caravaggio in 1601. Caravaggio understood the connection between St. Peter’s death and the rising of St. Peter’s church. Notice the unusual way the two guards are lifting St. Peter up. We don’t see their faces, and they are not dressed like Roman soldiers, but rather like ordinary laborers. It seems like they are moving large boulders, not a person to his death. Notice the rocks in the foreground, a clue to give us the idea that something is being built. Even the man using his back to lift St. Peter is bracing himself on a shovel, another clue. Caravaggio is showing us that St. Peter is the cornerstone being moved into position. St. Peter is looking past this scene, perhaps he is gazing on the obelisk that would have been in view. 

If we stand in the piazza today, that same obelisk is now in our view as we gaze upon the church. This church is more than just a building; it represents the fulfillment of what Jesus said, “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18).