Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: TheThirdRuffian

Catholics love to build their altars over tombs; it’s a reminder that the sacrifice of the mass conquers death itself. The Vatican itself is built over the tomb of St. Peter; in the 1950s, they discovered an entire necropolis under it, and in the place of the greatest holiness was a tomb inscribed, “Here lies Peter.” (The Vatican had been rebuilt over the same site so many times, the original necropolis had been “lost” for 1500 years!)

In fact, if you go to any Catholic church named after a person, there is a relic of that saint under the altar. Usually they are very tiny: Erasmus snided that if you collected all the relics of the holy cross, there’d be as much wood as the forests of Lebanon; in truth, the relics are often just a gram or less, so 1,000 churches would have only 2 lbs of wood.


16 posted on 05/19/2014 7:29:32 AM PDT by dangus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies ]


To: dangus

They might like to build temples over tombs , but the story is that this was a Jewish mans home that was built over a tomb, and a special tomb at that of a noted king — david. . Highly unlikely.

Joseph of aramathia was apparently a rich guy and observant Jew. Odds he’d put his house on a tomb are zero.


23 posted on 05/19/2014 10:28:43 AM PDT by MeanWestTexan (Beware Obama's Reichstag Fire.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson