How did the Apostle Peter come to be buried there?
St. Peter was martyred under Emperor Nero in 64 AD, immediately after the Great Fire of Rome which, according to Tacitus, the famous Roman historian, occurred in July of that same year. Peter was executed in or near to Nero’s Circus – a construction which no longer exists, located a little to the south of the current Basilica. His execution seems to have taken place on October 13, and his body must have been buried soon afterwards in the necropolis located at the feet of the Vatican Hill. This area was used as a cemetery; this is proved by the various pagan and Christian epigraphs inscribed on the marble or stone tombs unearthed during the excavations. Peter was buried in the bare earth; his grave earmarked by a simple gravestone. This was because the persecutions against the new faith were just then beginning to be unleashed with a ruthlessness and brutality unheard of before. The Christians were therefore forced underground, both in life, during their religious gatherings, and in dea
