Saint Peter's Tomb in Jerusalem

The Vatican has perhaps been sitting on this story for close to sixty years.

Something Pius XII conveniently ignored?

Apparently they found an ossuary with the inscription of “Simon bar Jonah”, Simon son of Jonah, in Jerusalem in 1953. They also found other bone boxes in close proximity marked Mary, Martha and Lazareth among others. Small world ain't it?

Of course these are all common names in ancient times. As we saw with the “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus” ossuary of some recent years back, if it is profitable to fake a relic, then it happens. Shit happens. And profits too, especially if rich old ladies like Helena, the mother of Constantine, wants to materialize relics in her hobby involved with a new exotic eastern Christian religion.

James Ossuary

The James Ossuary sparked some documentaries, in that if genuine, it might be a real link to the past, Jesus and the gospels etc. Bottom line is that the “brother of Jesus” part of the inscription in Aramaic was a modern forgery added onto an ancient box.

Which leads back to this Peter ossuary in Jerusalem.

The Case of the Ossuary of Shimon bar Jonah

In 1953, two Franciscan monks discovered hundreds of 1st century ossuaries stored in a cave on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem. The archaeologists claimed to have discovered the earliest physical evidence of a Christian community in Jerusalem, including some very familiar Biblical names. The name inscribed on one ossuary read: "Shimon Bar Yonah" - Simon, the Son of Jonah, the original Biblical name of the Disciple Peter.

The 43 inscriptions discovered in the Dominus Flevit cemetery between May 1953 and June 1955 were published with photographs by P. B. Bagatti and J. T. Milik in 1958. The inscriptions on the ossuaries also included the names Jesus, Joseph, Judas, Mathew, Martha, Mary and Mariame - with the inscriptions of the latter two names being written in Greek.

It does make sense that Peter, the apostle of the Jews, stayed just that and never went to Rome, the center of the gentile world.

The makes for some interesting reading and food for thought regarding the formation, cut and paste method on parchment, of Christian scripture and the direction and or detour of the Jesus message over the centuries.