Archeologists discover St. Paul's tomb

Catholic World News ^ | Feb 17, 2005 | unknown

[Mike Fieschko]

Rome, Feb. 17 (CWNews.com) - Vatican archeologists believe that they have identified the tomb of St. Paul in the Roman basilica that bears his name.

A sarcophagus which may contain the remains of St. Paul was identified in the basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, reports Giorgio Filippi, a archeology specialist with the Vatican Museums. The sarcophagus was discovered during the excavations carried out in 2002 and 2003 around the basilica, which is located in the south of Rome. Having reached what they believe is a positive identification of the tomb, Vatican experts will soon make a public announcement of their discovery.

[Tribune7]

could've been both - we know he had little use for women and disagreed on Jesus' policy of equality for women

Stop watching PBS and don't take the DaVinci Code seriously.

26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
--Gal. 3:26-29 (i.e. St. Paul)

[hosepipe]

[ The can dig it out and have millions of people come and visit to spend money and pay homage. Or to look at an old grave of a dead guy. ]

Hmmmmm... could be...
i.e. Come to Rome visit the tomb of Saul of Tarsus, a jew and Roman citizen..

On the otherhand Pauls(Sauls) message to the Galatians about the "judaiziers" that sought to put "them" under bondage to the LAW again just might be precient.. since that is exactly what religion does.. all religion.. Some might actually get interested in what Saul of Tarsus had to say about "things"..

[hosepipe]

[ It is important because it's a Christian discovery and reinforces Christian identity and Western culture, which is good, of course. ]

Christian.?. What is that.?. No, flame, honest inquiry, from you're viewpoint.. "Christian", has become a nebulous word..

[stockpirate]

That is why he said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." I think he meant free of religion

[AFreeBird]

One wonders what DNA testing would provide other than just seeing what genetic markers there are. There's no known or claimed decendents so what will you get from one?

[hosepipe]

[ That is why he said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." I think he meant free of religion ]

Well, Jesus did come to make religion obsolete...
ALL RELIGION... and did... even yours and mine..

Then what are all the "christian" religions doing then.?.
I dunno... collecting tariffs.?. Selling licenses to worship some God.?. maybe.. All I know is second hand Jesus salesmen are doing a brisk business.. O.K. Pre-owned Jesus salesmen.. whatever.. But they are kicking the tires with a silver tongued gift of gab.. and the unwary drive off in lemons every day of the week...

What would a REAL God even need with a religion.?.
Only a pseudo-God would need a religion.. to propagate some didactic parseings..
My god has a sense of humor like mine.. and trying to put "it" in a box.. Is, well, silly.. By the way, what would God need with GENDER.?.. A genderific god must be for the more primitive humans.. God knows there is a buttload of them..

[eleni121]

"Paul's family specifically sent him from Turkey to Jerusalem to study"
____________________________________
Turkey? No such place until the 1920s. But them again you knew that...

[Flying Circus]

There is a big difference between having a Basilica in the wrong place and having no evidence if the place is right or wrong (and I would disagree with you about there being no evidence for St Peter's). Your comments implied that the Church usually had these wrong, but so far you have mentioned St Luke's (where it is proudly recorded that it was not the original location) and St. Peter's (where you backed off saying there is no evidence to back the claim).

Right now you are 0 for 3 for Basilicas built on incorrectly identified sites. Do you care to offer any more examples or would you like to be honest and say that you were wrong and that the where there is evidence the Church has it right?

[donbosco74]

I second that!

[donbosco74]

I've heard it is thought to have been some kind of speech impediment.

And as for DNA, isn't there a time limit, that after 5 or 10 years it corrupts and can't be used in lab analysis? If unexplained incorruption was found, the skeptics would claim that must prove the remains are of recent origin.

[Right Wing Professor]

I'm not sure what DNA analysis would get you; maybe some sort of likelihood the body was that of a Jew. Carbon dating might get you the age to within half a century or less. That could prove it was St. Paul or at least a contemporary. But (speaking as an ex-Catholic) I can't see the Church allowing destructive testing on the possible relics of a saint.

[stockpirate]

The problem is not in what is there, but in tht most people are lazy and don't do their own innerwork to find the "Kingdom of God". It is a really easy yet hard task all at the same time.

Jesus was not a Christian, but he was a Jew.

[Mark in the Old South]

Re: "The people did not choose Saul as king, Samuel did."

Samuel didn't do the choosing either, but you have to believe Samuel was doing the will of God.

[Raycpa]

The thorne in his side was that he was an unapologetic homophobe!

Peter made the case against fornication before Paul had anything to say about it. See Acts 15

[bigsigh]

We took the scavi tour underneath the vatican. They take reservations and only 20 people per day.

The tour guide told us that Peter was moved to the cemetary on Vatican Hill in the first century and someone constructed a small marble altar over his grave. There were "tourists" in the first century, usually Christians who wanted to see Peter's grave. On the altar is inscribed Peter is here in Latin. One of the tourists scratched "Peter I am here" on the marble.

Supposedly Constantine had the cemetary scraped off to the level of Peter's grave to build the original St. Pete's.

In the 1920s a team of archeologists went under the church directly under the altar and uncovered Peter's grave bones and altar.

That's the story from the Vatican. Interesting tour and worth the advance reservation.

[mother]

I think you better check your sources on that statement ...

[hosepipe]

[ Jesus was not a Christian, but he was a Jew. ]

True, but Jesus name was not Jesus, nor was Jehovas name Jehova..
Hebrew does not have "J's".... nor does Aramaic.. nor does Greek..

As "god" is supposed to have told Moses(Ex;chap3), God does not have a name.. and if "Jesus" is God, then "Jesus" is merely a handle.. like "Stockpirate".. that the parents of his human body named him.. but then all names are merely handles anyway.. Whats in a name.?. not much..

You can get nothing about who a person is by their name.. or their handle either.. Are we who we think we are?, Who others think we are?, or who we really are?.. same with God I think.. Who knows God.?. like that..

If spirits could "merge" into each other (makeing language obsolete) then maybe we could know something about each other.. You could live 60 years with someone and not know much about who they really are.. All we have is some form of language to communicate. A very iff'y proposition at best.. I'm hopeing for a better way to communicate in the future..

HOW.?. Its all in my book....

[Popman]

Some people have theorized it was homosexuality

I've been a adult Christian for 25 years and have never read or heard that accusation.

I guess at one time or another the homosexual (I refuse to use the PC word: gay ) community will peg every historical figure as a potential homosexual.