Saint Peter

====Burial====
[[File:SaintPeterRelic.jpg|thumb|Looking down into the ''[[crypt|confessio]]'' near the tomb of Apostle Peter, [[St. Peter's Basilica]], [[Rome]]]]
Catholic tradition holds that Peter's inverted crucifixion occurred in the gardens of Nero, with the burial in [[Saint Peter's tomb]] nearby.<ref>{{cite video| people = Vatican Cardinal Angelo Comastri (interviewee)| year = 2011| title = Secret Access: The Vatican | medium = Video| language = en, it| publisher = A&E Studio Entertainment| location = Vatican City, Rome, Italy| time = 94 minutes| quote = This is the holiest site in the Basilica, where the Apostle Peter was crucified and his blood shed to the ground}}</ref>

[[Caius (presbyter)|Caius]] in his ''Disputation Against Proclus'' (A.D. 198), preserved in part by Eusebius, relates this of the places in which the remains of the apostles Peter and Paul were deposited: "I can point out the trophies of the apostles. For if you are willing to go to the ''Vatican'' or to the Ostian Way, you will find the trophies of those who founded this Church."<ref>{{cite web|last1=presbyter|first1=Caius (Gaius)|title=Dialogue or Disputation Against Proclus (A.D. 198) in Eusebius, Church History Book II Chapter 25:6–7|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250102.htm|publisher=newadvent.org|access-date=1 June 2015}}</ref>

According to [[Jerome]], in his work ''[[De Viris Illustribus (Jerome)|De Viris Illustribus]]'' (A.D. 392), "Peter was buried at Rome in the Vatican near the triumphal way where he is venerated by the whole world."<ref name="Jerome1">{{cite web|last1=saint|first1=Jerome|title=De Viris Illustribus (On Illustrious Men) Chapter 1|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2708.htm|publisher=newadvent.org|access-date=5 June 2015}}</ref>

In the early 4th century, the [[Emperor Constantine I]] decided to honour Peter with [[St. Peter's Basilica|a large basilica]].<ref name=CathEncy>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13374a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Tomb of St. Peter|website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pope/hd_pope.htm|title=The Papacy and the Vatican Palace &#124; Essay &#124; The Metropolitan Museum of Art &#124; Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History|first=Authors: Department of European|last=Paintings|website=The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History}}</ref> Because the precise location of Peter's burial was so firmly fixed in the belief of the Christians of Rome, the church to house the basilica had to be erected on a site that was not convenient to construction. The slope of the [[Vatican Hill]] had to be excavated, even though the church could much more easily have been built on level ground only slightly to the south.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Partner |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bZ6eJuZfTAEC&q=saint+peter+rome+846+desecrating&pg=PA57 |title=The Lands of St. Peter: The Papal State in the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance |date=1972 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-02181-5 |language=en}}</ref> There were also moral and legal issues, such as demolishing a cemetery to make room for the building. The focal point of the Basilica, both in its original form and in its later complete reconstruction, is the altar located over what is said to be the point of Peter's burial.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Suzanne |first=Boorsch |title=The Building of the Vatican: The Papacy and Architecture": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 40, no. 3 (Winter, 1982–1983) |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/the_building_of_the_vatican_the_papacy_and_architecture_the_metropolitan_museum_of_art_bulletin_v_40_no_3_winter_1982_1983 |access-date=14 January 2023 |website=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref>
[[File:Vatican City at Large.jpg|thumb|[[St. Peter's Basilica]], believed to be the [[Saint Peter's tomb|burial site of St. Peter]], seen from the [[River Tiber]]]]