Saint Peter

====Relics====
According to a letter quoted by [[Bede]], [[Pope Vitalian]] sent a cross containing filings said to be from Peter's chains to the queen of [[Oswy]], [[Anglo-Saxon]] King of [[Northumbria]] in 665, as well as unspecified relics of the saint to the king.<ref name="Wall">Wall, J. Charles. (1912), ''Porches and Fonts.'' Pub. London: Wells Gardner and Darton. p. 295; {{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book3.html |title=Venerable Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum: The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Book III, Chapter 29 |publisher=Fordham.edu |access-date=12 September 2010}}</ref> The skull of Saint Peter is claimed to reside in the [[Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran]] since at least the ninth century, alongside the skull of Saint Paul.<ref>{{cite journal|last = Cuming | first = H. Syer | title = Notes on a group of reliquaries | journal= Journal of the British Archaeological Association|date=December 1870 |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=UDAGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA272 }}</ref>

In 1950, human bones were found buried underneath the altar of St. Peter's Basilica. The bones have been claimed by many to have been those of Peter.<ref>Walsh, ''The Bones of St. Peter: A 1st Full Account of the Search for the Apostle's Body''</ref> An attempt to contradict these claims was made in 1953 by the excavation of what some believe to be [[Saint Peter's tomb]] in Jerusalem.<ref>Finegan, ''The Archeology of the New Testament'', pp. 368–370.</ref> However along with this supposed tomb in Jerusalem bearing his previous name Simon (but not Peter), tombs bearing the names of Jesus, Mary, James, John, and the rest of the apostles were also found at the same excavation—though all these names were very common among Jews at the time.

In the 1960s, items from the excavations beneath [[St Peter's Basilica]] were re-examined, and the bones of a male person were identified. A forensic examination found them to be a male of about 61 years of age from the 1st century. This caused Pope Paul VI in 1968 to announce them most likely to be the relics of Apostle Peter.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Necropolis/JW/TheBonesofStPeter-1.htm |title=The Bones of St. Peter |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=12 September 2010}}</ref> On 24 November 2013, [[Pope Francis]] presented part of the relics, consisting of bone fragments, for the first time in public during a Mass celebrated in St. Peter's Square.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/24/vatican-st-peters-bones-display-pope-francis
|agency=Associated Press |title=Vatican displays Saint Peter's bones for the first time|newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=24 November 2013 |access-date=24 November 2013}}</ref> On 2 July 2019, it was announced that Pope Francis had transferred nine of these bone fragments within a bronze reliquary to Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch [[Bartholomew I of Constantinople|Bartholomew of Constantinople]].<ref name=braveandbold>{{cite news|url=https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/07/02/pope-gives-relics-of-st-peter-to-orthodox-patriarch/|title=Pope gives relics of St. Peter to Orthodox patriarch|author=Cindy Wooden|publisher=Catholic News Service|date=2 July 2019|access-date=2 July 2019|archive-date=25 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025194659/https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/07/02/pope-gives-relics-of-st-peter-to-orthodox-patriarch/}}</ref> Bartholomew, who serves as head of the Eastern Orthodox Christian church, described the gesture as "brave and bold."<ref name=braveandbold /> Pope Francis has said his decision was born "out of prayer" and intended as a sign of the ongoing work towards communion between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Brockhaus|first=Hannah|title=Pope Francis explains decision to give relics of St. Peter to Orthodox|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-says-gift-of-st-peters-bones-meant-to-signify-efforts-toward-catholic-orthodox-unity-70651|access-date=27 March 2021|website=Catholic News Agency|language=en}}</ref> The majority of Saint Peter's remains, however, are still preserved in Rome, under the high altar of St. Peter's Basilica.<ref>{{Cite web|date=24 July 2019|title=The inexplicable transfer of St Peter's relics to Constantinople|url=https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-inexplicable-transfer-of-st-peters-relics-to-constantinople/|access-date=27 March 2021|website=Catholic Herald|language=en-GB}}</ref>