[Nihil Obstat]

here's a link to the New Advent article on Saint Paul's Basilica. (Remember that the article was written about 100 years ago.) It talks about the burial place being known during the years of the persecution.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13369a.htm

[wagglebee]

I really fail to see what the controversy is here. As Christians we memorialize our dead and we ALWAYS HAVE.

Here is another popular tourist attraction in Wittenberg, Germany:

It's also interesting how many statues there are in the Wittenberg Cathedral and how it certainly appears that people are "honoring" Luther's tomb (or else the flowers have been there for a long time).

[RobbyS]

I think it is generally held by historians that by ther mid secnd century, Christians were making pilgrimages to visit the tombs of Peter and Paul.