Beneath the papal altar of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls stands a stone sarcophagus, hidden by later masonry until an excavation between 2002 and 2006 partly reopened it. Above it lies a 4th-century marble slab inscribed PAULO APOSTOLO MART — 'to Paul, apostle and martyr' — marking a grave venerated on this Ostian Way site since antiquity, over which Constantine built the first altar. In 2006-2009 a small probe drew out bone fragments, and in 2009 Pope Benedict XVI announced that radiocarbon dating placed them in the 1st or 2nd century. Grains of incense, purple and blue linen, and a gold-laminated cloth were also recovered. The dating is consistent with a burial from Paul's era, which is a striking result. But consistency is not proof: the tests confirm an ancient burial under a long-venerated shrine, not that the man in the sarcophagus is Paul.
- Where it is
- Rome, Italy
- Scripture
- 2 Timothy 4:6-7 · Acts 28:16 · Romans 15:24-28