PIETRO, APOSTOLO

**SAINT PETER, APOSTLE**

— The saints Peter and Paul facing and crowned. Gold-ground glass (4th century) — Vatican Library, Sacred Museum.

V. NERONIANO.

S. Epiphanius placed the death of St. Peter and St. Paul in the twelfth year of Nero’s reign (Hom., 27, 6, 6; PG 41, 373 B); this opinion was followed by L. Tillemont (I, p. 179). But in the Armenian version of Eusebius’ Chronicle (v.), in the Chronologium Gallicum (ed. Th. Mommsen, in MGH, Auct. antiquiss., IX, p. 639), and in Agapius (PO 7, 478), the martyrdom of Peter is placed in the thirteenth year of Nero’s reign, which ran from 3 Oct. 66 to 12 Oct. 67, unless this year is to be counted from Nero’s second assumption of the power of taxation, i.e., from 10 Dec. 54. Clement of Rome places the martyrdom of St. Paul (1 Cor 5:7) ἐστὶ τῶν ἠγουμένων, that is, in 67, when Nero, having departed for Greece, left the government of Rome to Sabinus, Tigellinus, and Helius Caesarinus (Dio Cassius, 63, 12, 19); but the term “egumeni” may also mean ordinary judges, and the contemporaneity of Paul’s martyrdom with Peter’s is not certain. St. Jerome places the year of St. Peter’s death in the last year of Nero (P. “...Romae... cathedram sacerdotalem tenuit ad ultimum annum Neronis, id est decimum quartum” [De viris illustr., 1: PL 23, 638]) and repeats the same date for St. Paul (De viris illustr., 5: PL 23, 647), as well as in the version of Eusebius’ Chronicle (ed. R. Helm, in CB, XXIV, Leipzig 1913, p. 185). Jerome also wrote that the Apostle Peter was martyred two years after the death of Seneca, which occurred in 65, and thus in 67, a date chosen by C. Baronius (Annales, I, nn. 1-4).

2. **Manner of Death.** — The first Christian writer to attest Peter’s crucifixion is Tertullian, both by referring to Christ’s own prediction (Jn 21:18-19) regarding the Apostle’s martyrdom (Scorpiace, 15: CSEL, 20, 178) and by declaring that Peter conformed his martyrdom to the Lord’s Passion (De praescr., 36, 2). Antonius distinguishes the manner of martyrdom inflicted by Nero on the two Apostles and indicates that Peter was crucified (De mortibus persecutorum, II, 6: CSEL, 27, p. 175), as does Eusebius (Hist. eccl., II, 25, 5). Peter of Alexandria, bishop and martyr (300-11), recalls that Peter, first of the Apostles, was imprisoned several times and finally crucified in Rome. Chrysostom repeatedly affirms that Peter was crucified (In Gen., 66: PG 54, 657; In 1 Tim., 5, 2: PG 62, 626; In Pent. et initium Act., 8: PG 51, 109), while Jerome states that he was crucified upside down at his own request, deeming himself unworthy to die in the same manner as his Lord (De viris illustr., 1: PL 23, 639). This manner of execution was in use at Nero’s time, for the contemporary philosopher Seneca affirms that he had seen crosses of various kinds, to which some slaves were suspended head downward (Consol. ad Marc., 20). Origen writes that St. Peter was crucified head downward at his express request before the executioner (Euseb., Hist. eccl., III, 1, 2). Moreover, six Christian sarcophagi (four Roman and two from Gaul), all from the 4th century, depict the scene of the Apostle Peter being led to martyrdom by a soldier preceded by the executioner carrying the instrument of martyrdom: the cross (Wilpert, Sarcofagi, pp. 168-69; figs. 99 and 100; pls. 121, 4; 146, 1; 145, 1; 16, 1-2).

3. **Place of Martyrdom.** — As for the place of martyrdom, it is indicated in the *Martyrium Petri* of the Pseudo-Linus “ad locum qui vocatur Naumachiae, iuxta obeliscum Neronis, in montem” (in R. A. Lipsius, Acta Apostol., apocr., Leipzig 1891, pp. 11-22). In the later account of the Pseudo-Marcellus, it is Nero himself who orders that Peter and Paul be put to death “in the naumachia.” The *Liber Pontificalis* places the place of martyrdom near that of the tomb, stating that it is “in templum Apollinis iuxta locum ubi crucifixus est, iuxta palatium Neronianum in Vaticanum, in territorium Triumphale Via Aurelia,” as recorded in the biography of St. Peter (I, p. 52); this topographical indication is repeated for the translation of his relics from the place “in catacumbas,” attributed to Pope Cornelius, who would have deposited them “iuxta locum ubi crucifixus est, inter corpore sanctorum episcoporum, in templum Apollinis in monte Aureum, in Vaticanum, palatii Neroniani, III I Kal. Iul.” (I, p. 150).

4. **Tomb.** — The earliest testimony regarding the place of the Apostle’s burial is the well-known passage of the “ecclesiastical man Gaius,” who, in his polemical writing against Proclus, leader of the sect of the Cataphrygians (Montanists), wrote: “If you go to the Vatican or along the Via Ostiensis, I can show you the trophies (τρόφεια) of the founders of this church,” in Eusebius, *Hist. eccl.*, II, 25. Jerome writes that Peter was buried in Rome in the Vatican, near the Via Triumphalis, where he is venerated by the whole world (De vir. ill., 1: PL 23, 639). The place is indicated in the second redaction of the *Liber Pontificalis* in the biography of Peter as follows: “P. seputus est via Aurelia, in templum Apollinis, iuxta locum ubi crucifixus est, iuxta palatium Neronianum, in Vaticanum, iuxta territorium Triumphale III Kal. Iul.” (I, p. 18). In the biography of Cornelius, the Pope is said to have translated the relics “de Catacumbas iuxta locum ubi crucifixus est, inter corpore sanctorum episcoporum, in templum Apollinis, in monte Aureum in Vaticanum, palatii Neroniani III Kal. Iul.” (ibid., p. 150). According to the biography of Sylvester, Constantine built the basilica of St. Peter “in templum Apollinis, cuius loculum cum corpus sancti Petri ita recordi” (I, p. 176). That the Constantinian Basilica arose “in templum Apollinis” is affirmed, as seen above, in the *Liber Pontificalis*. However, in recent excavations throughout the area of the confessio, no other remains have been found except tombs; nothing that would authorize the search for the aforementioned “templum Apollinis.” The accounts regarding the nature of St. Peter’s tomb were quite summary and contradictory. Previously, it can be said that the excavations and tombs, even archaeological ones, had always been occasional, and only what had been transmitted by Pietro Mallio, Maffeo Vegio, and the discoveries of 1594 and 1626 within the confessio was known. G. Settel, commissioned together with E. Sarti to append to the work of F. L. Dionisi on the Vatican Grottoes, published in 1846, conducted some research in the niche of the pallia. It appears from his diary that he re-exposed the gate of Innocent III, removed the metal slab of Innocent X, recognizing that it “rested upon a wall with a square hole beneath which was a cavity, as described by Borgia in the *Vaticana Confessio*” (p. LXIX). But when a light was lowered, it was seen that at a depth of five palms there were cement and among these a rib bone and a piece of wood” (R. Cugnoni, Giuseppe Settel e il suo diario, Rome 1888). Based on the *Vita Silvestri* in the *Liber Pontificalis*, archaeologists believed that the Apostle’s tomb was underground, and G. Wilpert even attempted a reconstruction, although Duchesne had warned against relying on the data provided by the 6th-century biographer (*Liber Pont.*, I, p. 194, n. 61; L. Duchesne, *Notes sur la topographie de Rome au moyen âge*, Vaticana, XII, in *Mélanges d'arch. et d'hist.*, 35 [1915], p. 67).

Now, for the first time in the annals of history, from 1939 to 1949, through the personal initiative of His Holiness Pope Pius XII, explorations were carried out within the confessio of the Vatican Basilica, thus fulfilling his personal aspiration, formulated even before his elevation to the Chair of St. Peter.

In 1939, when it became necessary to provide a tomb for Pius XI in the Vatican Grottoes, Pope Pius XII himself ordered that the floor level of these grottoes be lowered and that the tombs of his predecessors housed there be given a more dignified arrangement. Excavations were then begun in the Confessio. The progress of the excavations was always conditioned by the structural requirements of the Basilica, especially in the two most delicate areas: the area around the pillars of the dome, the foundations of the medieval Confessio and of Clement VIII, the main altar of the same Pope, and Bernini’s baldachin. The report on the excavations carried out has been published by B. M. Apollonj Ghetti, A. Ferrara S.J., E. Josi, E. Kirschbaum S.J., *Esplorazioni sotto la Confessione di S. Pietro in Vaticano eseguite negli anni 1940-49*, with a numismatic appendix by C. Serafini (2 vols., Vatican City 1951).

If one descends today into the Confessio, where the statue of Pius VI at prayer (executed by Canova) is located, one is faced with the splendid polychrome marble decoration of Paul V, directly beneath the papal altar. In the center stands a rich gilded bronze grille; behind this is another grille above, also in gilded bronze, on which is inscribed a metrical inscription by Innocent III (1198–1216). Behind this grating is fixed an oak table, about 2.35 meters long and 36.5 cm high, on which are mounted two small columns and a fragment of a crenellated tower in Limoges enamel. The original decoration can be reconstructed, as Stohlman has done, by means of antependia examples offered to the cathedrals of Orense and Santo Domingo de Silos, especially since the small statues that once belonged to it are now in the Museo Sacro of the Vatican Library.

In the center was Christ enthroned between the symbols of the Four Evangelists and the twelve Apostles, arranged in two groups of six beneath the arches of the turreted walls of Jerusalem; in other words, this is the same representation that, about eight centuries earlier, the Emperor Valentinian III had placed there during the time of Sixtus III (432–40). In the plane of the niche is a silver casket offered by Benedict XIV to contain the sacred pallia, which are blessed by the Pope every year on the eve of the feast of St. Peter. At the back opens an irregularly shaped niche with, to the right and left in mosaic, the Apostles Peter and Paul, from the time of Urban VIII but restored under Pius IX. At the back of the apse stands the ciborium with the image of Christ, bearded, with long hair, and a cruciform halo; with His right hand He makes the oratorical gesture, and in His left He holds an open book on whose pages is written: *«Ego sum via, veritas et vita; qui credit in me, vivet.»* The ciborium, however, has undergone many and not always fortunate restorations.

They have greatly altered the original and are therefore difficult to date; it was attributed to Leo III, but seems later. Beneath the coffer containing the pallia is a floor decorated with marble and a bronze slab placed there by Innocent X (1644–55). In 1892 Fr. H. Grisar opened the small door on the right side of this slab and discovered a square opening measuring 22 x 17 cm that led to a shaft which Grisar believed to be lined with bronze, though it is actually of marble. This shaft descends more than 35 cm, where Grisar found a white marble slab with a square opening leading into a small irregularly walled chamber. This is the description given with great care by Grisar (Le tombe apostoliche, in Studi e documenti di storia e diritto, 13 [1892], pp. 321 ff.; Analecta Romana, Rome 1899, pp. 274 ff.; and pl. VIII).

The relics of the Apostle were deposited at the very place of his martyrdom in the area of the Vatican hill, in a simple trench in bare earth, covered by a few tiles—precisely one of those tombs which the historian Tacitus describes as “humili sepultura” (Hist., I, 49). The four Gospels tell us that the body of the Redeemer had been requested by Joseph of Arimathea from the same Roman authority that had pronounced the sentence of crucifixion, and that Pilate “gave up the body.” Indeed, Roman law stipulated that “corpora damnatorum quibuslibet petentibus ad sepulturam danda sunt.” Moreover, this “ius sepulchri” was later granted to all other Roman martyrs, even to Sixtus II and his four fellow deacons who were “incontinenter animadversi,” having been surprised on 6 August 258 in the very area of the cemetery of Callistus.

The burial of the Apostle Peter followed the same pattern as that of the divine Master. His tomb was located in an area of the Vatican hill where other tombs already seem to have existed, such as one “even deeper, composed of a terracotta sarcophagus protected by a wall containing a terracotta pipe for libations, rising above the ground surface,” as has been found in other tombs of Rome and elsewhere. Another trench further to the east “contained another corpse likewise buried in bare earth; it was covered by tiles, one of which bore the maker’s mark of a ‘Stat. Marcius Demetrius’” (CIL, XV, 1273 a), dated by E. Dressel to the time of Vespasian (69–79); but stamps from the same workshop were also found in the ships of Nemi from the time of Caligula (G. Gatti, in G. Ucelli, Le navi di Nemi, Rome 1938, pp. 337 ff.). It should be noted that both have the same east–west orientation, slanting toward the southwest, in the same manner as the tomb of the Apostle.

To the southeast of this field P, after 123 and no later than the mid-2nd century, the mausoleum of the Matucii was erected, as attested by the “titulus” still in place on its façade, before which is an “ambitus” delimited by a wall in opus reticulatum leading to a staircase built at the western end of the mausoleum itself, of which it is contemporary. The Matucii mausoleum was later followed, to its west, by mausoleum S, largely damaged in 1626 by the foundations of the southeast pillar supporting Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s baldacchino over the high altar of Clement VIII.
Uphill, enclosed by walls, was field Q, entirely occupied by open-air inhumation tombs covered by a mosaic pavement of basalt tesserae. Access to this area was from the south by means of a “clivus” and a staircase; beneath the “clivus,” at a depth of 2.30 m, a drain was laid to channel rainwater descending from the hill. Its base consists of brickwork laid in courses; four of these bear the maker’s mark “Aureli Caesaris et Faustinae Augustae,” providing a date between 147–161, a dating shared by the large protective wall recognized for a height of at least 2.50 m, a length of 7 m from north to south, about 0.50 m thick, revetted with cocciopesto and red plaster and therefore distinguished by the name “red wall.” It is thought that this work was carried out when the steep “clivus” running north–south was arranged with a staircase to provide access to field Q and to the solarium of mausoleum R′, which had meanwhile been built.

The workman who built the red wall crossed over the western part of the Apostle’s tomb, which had already received a protective wall 1 m high, plastered on the inside, suggesting another 2 m; at this time a rough irregular niche N was made in the same wall, 21 cm deep, 72 cm wide, and about 1.40 m high. Above it was a broken marble slab, previously used for a mausoleum, since it contained the inscription of an “Aelius Isidorus.” Above, in the solid red wall, a second niche N′ was made, 0.72 m wide, lined with grey marble slabs and covered by a travertine slab supported by two Corinthian columns of white marble, 1.40 m high; their bases, showing the rebate for a gate also to the east, rested on a travertine threshold belonging to a square atrium. The southern column was still in place, while the base and a fragment of the shaft of the northern one were later moved. Above this opens a third niche N″, 1.12 m wide and 0.92 m high.

This embellishment of the tomb attests that it was already at that time frequented and venerated by the Christian community of Rome; indeed Eusebius declares that “myriads” of visitors came from every part of the Roman Empire (Theophania Syriaca, IV, 7: ed. H. Gressmann, in CB, XI, 2, Leipzig 1904), a claim even confirmed by Julian the Apostate (Cyril of Alexandria, Contra Iulianum: PG 76, 1004 ff.).

Excavation has brought to light precisely what, from the 2nd century onward, was pointed out, venerated, and recognized as the trophy of Peter. The space beneath niche N″, glimpsed by Settala and Grisar, was found to contain fragments of walls and human bones of an elderly person; among the earth was collected a gold lamina on which is depicted in the center a jeweled cross between two eyes, of 7th-century craftsmanship, evidently an ex-voto for a healing obtained. The earth also yielded precious evidence of offerings from unknown pilgrims of all ages and from every land who left their alms at the tomb (v. below).

Meanwhile, other tombs, exclusively of inhumation, had been dug all around; tomb 7 is very ancient, while tomb 7 is not much later; the tomb may have come into being together with the red wall, whereas those x and λ are later; post-Constantinian are λ, β, δ, ε.

of the “red wall.” This is what one thinks was done when the steep “clivus” running from south to north was arranged by means of a staircase built to provide access to Field Q and to the solarium of Mausoleum R', which meanwhile had been constructed. The workman who built the red wall went over the western part of the Apostle’s tomb, which had already received a protective little wall, 1 m. high, plastered on the inside, suggesting another wall 2 m. high; but at that time a rough irregular niche N. was made in the same wall, 21 cm. deep by 72 cm. wide and about 1.40 m. high; above it was placed a broken slab of marble, already used for a mausoleum, because it contained the inscription of an “Aelius Isidorus.” Above, in the solid red wall, a second niche N' was made, 0.72 m. wide, lined with grey marble slabs and covered by a slab of travertine supported by two Corinthian columns of white marble, 1.40 m. high; their bases, which show the rebate for a gate also on the east side, rested on a travertine threshold belonging to a square enclosure. The southern column was still found in place, while the base and a fragment of the shaft of the northern one were later moved. Above this opens a third niche N°, 1.12 m. wide and 0.92 m. high. But this embellishment of the tomb shows that it was already at that time frequented and venerated by the Christian community of Rome; Eusebius indeed declares that “myriads” of visitors flocked to it from every part of the Roman Empire (Theophania Syriaca, IV, 7: ed. H. Gressmann, in CB, XI, 2, Leipzig 1904), and this is even confirmed by Julian the Apostate (Cyril of Alexandria, Contra Iulianum: PG 76, 1004 sqq.). The excavation has brought to light precisely what, from the 2nd century, had been pointed out, venerated and recognized as the trophy of Peter. The space beneath Niche N°, glimpsed by Settalle and Grisar, was found to be filled with fragments of walls and human bones of an elderly person; among the earth was collected a gold lamina on which is represented in the center a jeweled cross between two eyes, made in the 7th century, evidently an ex-voto for a healing obtained. The earth also yielded precious evidence of offerings from unknown pilgrims of all ages and from all countries who left their alms at the tomb (v. below). Meanwhile other tombs, always exclusively for inhumation, had been dug all around; Tomb 7 is very ancient; while Tomb 7 is not much later; the tomb may have come into being together with the red wall, whereas x and λ are later; post-Constantinian, however, are λ, β, δ, ε.

Later reinforcing works were necessary on the north side, where the red wall showed a crack, and so the northern column was moved and the monument received a reinforcing wall about 50 cm. thick and about 90 cm. long, covered on the north by a layer of decorated plaster which immediately received the testimonies of visitors, who scratched their names one over another: Simplici vivas in Nicasii vibas in; Victor cum suis Gaudentia vivatis in X, etc.; Paulina vivas, Prima vivas; in Venerosa Vea; Verus, Bonifatia, Venerosa, Vea, etc. But at a certain point an opening was made in this scratched wall to place inside the wall itself a casket composed of marble slabs and probably intended to contain relics. All this was enclosed by a layer of lime that covered the graffiti. This undoubtedly took place before the Constantinian works which definitively concealed the wall itself. After the publication of the excavation report, behind the casket on the red wall, Fr. A. Ferrua identified a Greek-letter graffito invoking ΠΕΤΡΕ (and he reported it in Cfr. Catt., 1952, I, pp. 15-29, fig. 3). No place was less suitable than the Vatican for building a five-aisled basilica on such steep ground running from south to north and from east to west; at the foot of the hill it was occupied by a public cemetery, not only of simple freedmen, “de Caesaris domo,” but also by many mausoleums of freedmen of notable Roman families, such as the Marci, the Matucii, the Popilii, the Tullii, the Valeri (where Christian graffiti and inscriptions were discovered, now under study), etc. Constantine’s architects were content to enclose in a marble revetment the trophy pointed out by John. They surrounded the monument on the north, west and south with slabs of pavonazzetto resting on bases of the same stone, found “in situ” on the north and south, while on the east side the niche remained visible. In the center of the transept there thus arose a small building, which, according to the Liber Pontificalis, would have been adorned with columns of porphyry and with other “vittate” columns from Greece. Moreover, Constantine is said to have placed before the tomb a gold crown forming a lampstand with 50 dolphins, weighing 35 pounds. In 1908 Gnirs published a precious aulic casket found near the confession of the church of Samagher (Istria: cf. pl. 99 of vol. VI). The decoration on the back represents the presbytery of a basilica with an architrave supported by six “vittate” columns and in the center a tabernacle or small building surmounted by a crown. The typical “vittate” columns at once made Gnirs, and then M. Cerrati, G. Wilpert and P. Toesca, think that the presbytery of the Vatican basilica with the Apostle’s monument had been reproduced. The Constantinian architects were forced to construct an enormous platform against the hill rising to the north and west. The Roman necropolis (v. VATICANO) was buried beneath this platform; the two steep slopes, east-west and south-north, were levelled, not only by demolishing whatever might obstruct the foundations of the new building, but also by removing whatever parts of the mausoleums themselves that were above the chosen level, about 1.30 m. from the Apostle’s tomb. All the voids were filled with rubble, a real “congestum terrarum,” after numerous sarcophagi had been filled with bones from the smaller tombs found on the slopes of the hill; the same rubble was contained by masonry.

The pavement of the Constantinian presbyterium is composed of thick marble slabs; remains of its enclosures to the north and south survive, and there the foundation level of two of the six columns that were destroyed. Further damage was done to the subsoil by the establishment of a veritable Christian cemetery beneath the pavement of the Constantinian Basilica, with *formae* and sarcophagi, as were renewed in the basilica “Apostolorum in catacumbas,” sarcophagi being especially frequent in the area of the apse and the presbyterium. Gregory of Tours reports what he had learned from his deacon Agilufo, who had visited the Apostolic Shrine in 589–90. He indicates the “sepulchrum sub altari collocatum” and of difficult access “valde rarum habetur.” To approach it, the gates surrounding it had to be opened, and with the gates “reseratis cancellis, quibus ille ambitur,” “allor la sì giungeva sopra il sepolcro stesso” one approached the sepulchre; then a small window had to be opened “et sic fenestella parvula patefacta” through which one could introduce one’s head and implore the graces needed “immisso introsum capite, quae necessitas promit efflagitat” (De gloria martyrum, 27: PL 71, 728). There were thus two closures protecting the sepulchre: an outer gate and a “fenestella parvula” that could be opened. These two closures are referred to by the imperial legates in their petition to Pope Hormisdas. They, between 514 and 523, had come to Rome sent by the Emperor Justinian, asking the Pope to grant them, as relics, objects that had been near the sepulchres of St Peter and St Paul, if possible “usque ad secundum cataractam”; hitherto “cataracta” has been understood to mean a vertical shaft at the tomb where objects might be lowered. Gregory of Tours also reports that many pilgrims had golden keys made identical to those that locked the gates of the Apostle’s sepulchre and substituted them to carry away as blessed remedies against illness. The custom of these golden keys is confirmed by a letter of Gregory the Great in which he writes of sending to John, former consul, patrician and quaestor, one of the keys that served to lock the gates of St Peter’s sepulchre; he calls it “sacratissima” because it contains filings from the Apostle’s chains; it seems that such keys were also worn round the neck as a devotion.

The mosaic decoration of the niche of the pallia, which has come down to us with repeated and not always successful restorations, as has been said, is certainly not earlier than Leo IV (847–55). Many were the works carried out by Leo IV “post de predationem Saracenorum” in the Vatican Basilica. The biographer records three “imagines argenteae totaque exauratas” placed “in corpus beati Petri” (Lib. pont., II, p. 111); shortly afterwards, however, he describes the Pope’s distress “cum cotidie beatissimi apostolorum principis Petri sacratissimum altare cernere victulam”: he then clad in gold and silver “non tantum confessionem sacram, verum etiam frontem sepedici altaris” (ibid., p. 113); a little later mention is made of an altar “quod supra sanctissimum beati Petri apostoli corpus consistit” (ibid., p. 133). The Lib. Pont. indicates that by the Saracens the basilicas of St Peter and St Paul were “funditus depraedatae” (II, p. 106). The Annales Bertiniani declare that the Saracens removed “cum ipso altari, quod tumbe memorati Apost. principis superpositum fuerat, omnibus ornamentis atque thesauris.” Clear traces of the depredations were found beneath the grille of Innocent X, where a triple leaden casing was found broken, violently twisted at its edges, and the same fate befell an extremely thin silver lamina, the only metallic remains found on the sepulchre itself.

The raised presbyterial altar was ruinous in the 12th century, and Callistus II enclosed it within his own, which he consecrated on 25 March 1123; upon it, in 1594, Clement VIII erected the present high altar. Of the many tombs discovered, the humble sepulchre of the Apostle is the only one that shows unmistakable signs of later embellishment and uninterrupted veneration from the time of the presbyterium of Gaius, i.e., from the close of the 2nd century. The 1,000 coins, the gold ex-voto, the triple leaden casing, and the thin silver lamina constitute evident proofs of its veneration, which has always remained localized where the sumptuous Constantinian revetment arose, where the altars were superimposed one upon another: that of the raised presbyterium, of Callistus II, of Clement VIII, remaining throughout the centuries the centre of veneration and worship.

Indeed, from the Liber Diurnus it appears that the *indictum* written by every newly elected Lombard bishop was addressed to the same Apostle Peter and deposited on the body of the Apostle “supra sacratissimum corpus tuum beate Petre”; likewise, the newly elected pope, on the day of his election, addressed his “promissio fidei” to the Apostle, which was presented together with the oath at the Confession of the Apostle, while on the day of consecration the “cautio” addressed to the Church of Rome was offered at the Confession and preserved “in venerabile corpus tuum beate Petre apostole” (formula 76: ed. Th. V. Sickel, Vienna 1889, pp. 80–81). The biographer of Hadrian I attests that Charlemagne, on 6 April 774, deposited the text of his donation, signed by himself and his dignitaries, first on the altar of the Apostle, then in the Confession “intus super corpus beati Petri...”