This is a list of non-extant papal tombs, which includes tombs not included on the list of extant papal tombs. Information about these tombs is generally incomplete and uncertain.
Chronologically, the main locations of destroyed or unknown papal tombs have been: the obscure tombs of the first two centuries of popes near Saint Peter, the repeated waves of translations from the Catacombs of Rome, the demolition of the papal tombs in Old St. Peter's Basilica, and the 1306 and 1361 fires in the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran.
Papal tombs have also been destroyed by other instances of fire, remodeling, and war (most recently, World War II). Others are unknown due to creative or geographically remote methods of martyrdom, or—in the case of Pope Clement I—both. Burial in churches outside the Aurelian Walls of Rome (Italian: fuori le Mura)—in the basilicas of Paul or Lorenzo—have not generally survived.
The main locations of destroyed or lost papal tombs include:
Pontificate | Portrait | Common English name | Tomb | Sculptor | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
88/92–97/101 | Clement I Saint Clement | According to doctrine, translated to the Church of the Tithes (Kiev) [6] | According to doctrine thrown into the Black Sea near Crimea, translated to the Church of the Holy Apostles, then Basilica di San Clemente, then the Church of the Tithes. [6] |
Pontificate | Portrait | Common English name | Tomb | Sculptor | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
105/107–115/116 | Alexander I Saint Alexander | Competing claims (involving translation): [7]
| ||||
115/116–125 | Sixtus I Saint Sixtus | Competing claims (involving translation and a finger): [8]
| ||||
174/175–189 | Eleuterus Saint Eleutherus | Competing claims: [9]
|
Pontificate | Portrait | Common English name | Tomb | Sculptor | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
31 July 432–March/August 440 | Sixtus III Saint Sixtus | San Lorenzo fuori le Mura [10] | Then called San Lorenzo al Verano; sarcophagus destroyed, possibly in 1943 [10] | |||
19 November 461 – 29 February 468 | Hilarius Saint Hilarius | San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, crypt [11] | Then called San Lorenzo al Verano | |||
13 March 483 – 1 March 492 | Felix III (Felix II) Saint Felix | Either San Paolo fuori le Mura or the crypt of Santissima Concenzione near Piazza Barberini [12] |
Pontificate | Portrait | Common English name | Tomb | Sculptor | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 June 536 – 11 November 537 | Silverius Saint Silverius | Palmaria [13] | Non-contemporary shrine extant on Ponza Island [14] | |||
29 March 537 – 7 June 555 | Vigilius | Either San Marcello on the Via Salaria (Oxford Dictionary of Popes) or San Silvestre over the Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria (Catholic Encyclopedia) [15] |
Pontificate | Portrait | Common English name | Tomb | Sculptor | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
July 649 – 16 September 655 | Martin I Saint Martin | Church of our Lady (Blachdernæ), near Chersonesus | Possibly buried in Archbasilica of St. John Lateran |
Pontificate | Portrait | Common English name | Tomb | Sculptor | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
25 January 817 – 11 February 824 | Paschal I Saint Paschal | Unknown, but likely destroyed | Alleged to have been buried in the chapel of St. Zeno of Santa Prassade (disproved by modern research); possibly buried under the altar of the oratory of Saints Processus and Martiniano and lost when the oratory was moved in 1548 or 1605. [16] |
Pontificate | Portrait | Common English name | Tomb | Sculptor | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
July 903 – September 903 | Leo V | Unknown but destroyed | Either cremated and thrown in the Tiber, buried (and thus destroyed) in Old Saint Peter's, or buried whole in Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran [17] | |||
1 October 965 – 6 September 972 | John XIII | Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls | Destroyed [18] |
Pontificate | Portrait | Common English name | Tomb | Sculptor | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
June 1003 – December 1003 | John XVII | Unknown but destroyed | Either San Paolo fuori le Mura, Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran or Santa Sabina [19] | |||
25 December 1003 – July 1009 | John XVIII | Unknown but destroyed | Either San Paolo fuori le Mura or Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran [20] | |||
1032–1044 | Benedict IX | Abbey of Grottaferrata | Discovered on March 4, 1739; destroyed during World War II [21] | |||
1045 | Sylvester III | Unknown [22] | ||||
13 April 1055 – 28 July 1057 | Victor II | Santa Maria Rotunda (Ravenna) | Destroyed; claimed reburied in San Reparata (Florence) unsupported by evidence [23] | |||
2 August 1057 – 29 March 1058 | Stephen IX , O.S.B. | Santa Reparata (Florence) | Tomb discovered in 1357 during the laying of the foundation for the new Duomo [23] | |||
6 December 1058 – 27 July 1061 | Nicholas II | Santa Reparata (Florence) | Possibly reburied in the outer left aisle of St. Peter's; no remains of tomb in either today [23] | |||
30 September 1061 – 21 April 1073 | Alexander II | Unknown but lost | Either Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran or St. Peter's [23] |
Pontificate | Portrait | Common English name | Tomb | Sculptor | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
21 October 1187 – 17 December 1187 | Gregory VIII , Can. Reg. | Pisa Cathedral, Chapel of Our Lady | Destroyed in the fire of 1600; [24] ordered the desecration of the tomb of Antipope Victor IV in Lucca on his way to Pisa, where he died |
Pontificate | Portrait | Common English name | Tomb | Sculptor | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
18 July 1216 – 18 March 1227 | Honorius III | Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore | No longer extant [25] | |||
12 December 1254 – 25 May 1261 | Alexander IV | Viterbo Cathedral | Destroyed in 1490; [26] no longer extant [27] |
Pope Callixtus I, also called Callistus I, was the bishop of Rome from c. 218 to his death c. 222 or 223. He lived during the reigns of the Roman emperors Elagabalus and Alexander Severus. Eusebius and the Liberian catalogue list his episcopate as having lasted five years (217–222). In 217, when Callixtus followed Zephyrinus as Bishop of Rome, he started to admit into the Church converts from sects or schisms. He was martyred for his Christian faith and is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church.
Pope Urban I (175?–230) was the bishop of Rome from 222 to 23 May 230. He was born in Rome and succeeded Callixtus I, who had been martyred. It was previously believed for centuries that Urban I was also martyred. However, recent historical discoveries now lead scholars to believe that he died of natural causes.
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican, or simply Saint Peter's Basilica, is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal enclave that is within the city of Rome, Italy. It was initially planned by Pope Nicholas V and then Pope Julius II to replace the aging Old St. Peter's Basilica, which was built in the fourth century by Roman emperor Constantine the Great. Construction of the present basilica began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.
The Catacombs of Rome are ancient catacombs, underground burial places in and around Rome, of which there are at least forty, some rediscovered only in recent decades. Though most famous for Christian burials, either in separate catacombs or mixed together, Jews and also adherents of a variety of pagan Roman religions were buried in catacombs, beginning in the 2nd century AD, occasioned by the ancient Roman ban on burials within a city, and also as a response to overcrowding and shortage of land. The most extensive and perhaps the best known is the Christian Catacomb of Callixtus located near the Park of the Caffarella, but there are other sites, both Christian and not, scattered around the city, some of which are now engulfed by modern urban sprawl.
The Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran, also known as the Papal Archbasilica of Saint John [in] Lateran, Saint John Lateran, or the Lateran Basilica, is the Catholic cathedral church of the Diocese of Rome in the city of Rome, and serves as the seat of the bishop of Rome, the pope. The archbasilica lies outside of Vatican City proper, which is located approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to the northwest. Nevertheless, as properties of the Holy See, the archbasilica and its adjoining edifices enjoy an extraterritorial status from Italy, pursuant to the terms of the Lateran Treaty of 1929. Laterano (Lateran) comes from an ancient Roman family (gens), whose palace (domus) grounds occupied the site; the Lateran Palace was the primary residence of the pope until the Middle Ages.
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