Where were Peter and Paul martyred?

Answer 1

The Bible tells us nothing of St Peter's fate. However, in the epilogue of the Gospel of John, Jesus hints at the death by which Peter would glorify God( 21: 18-19) saying "'…when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and take you where you do not want to go.'" This is understood as a reference to Peter's crucifixion. Tradition has it that Peter was crucified upside down in Rome, Italy. The actual date is unknown but is probably around the late 50s to late 60s AD. The Annuario Pontifico gives the year of Peter's death as A.D. 64 or A.D. 67. Early church tradition says Peter probably died at the time of the Great Fire of Rome of the year 64. His co-worker Paul was also executed a little later, but as Paul was a Roman citizen (by right of his ancestry) as well as being a Jew, unlike Peter, he was granted a swift death by beheading by sword - the method used by Rome for its citiens, as opposed to crucifixion which was reserved for foreigners. Peter's request for crucifixion upside down was because he said that he was not worthy to die as Jesus did. The executions took place in Rome, tradition saying that Peter's execution took place on the site of what is now St Peter's Basilica, Vatican City in Rome. Their bodies were taken in secret and buried in the St Sebastian catacombs on the old Appian Way in southern Rome, until Rome itself became Christian under the emperor Constantine, when their remains were exhumed and Peter's interred in the crypt at St Peter's Basilica, in the Vatican, Rome, and Paul's beneath the altar in St Paul's Basilica, also in southern Rome.

Answer 2

We do not really know where Peter and Paul died, nor whether they were executed or died natural deaths. We can be certain that Paul was in Rome, but there is no evidence that Peter ever visited the city.

The mid-2nd century pope Anicetus (156-166) said that Peter was beheaded by Nero in Rome. The reason for this claim was that he had became locked in a conflict with the venerable Polycarp of Smyrna. Polycarp had tried to win the argument by insisting that he spoke with the authority of the apostle John. In response, Anicetus told of Peter's beheading and said that he spoke with the authority of Peter.He even uncovered the very tombs of Peter and Paul.

Then in the third century, the Church Father Origen changed the story somewhat, saying that Peter, condemned to crucifixion, felt himself unworthy to be crucified the same way as his Lord, and so chose crucifixion upside down.

Answer 3

AnswerCatholic traditions say that they were both martyred in Rome. However these traditions did not arise decades afterwards and must be regarded with some doubt.

Acts of the Apostles mentions the imprisonment and miraculous release of Peter, but does not say anything about his subsequent death, even though the book was written around the end of the century, long after Peter would have died. A second-century tradition was that he was beheaded, while a later, contradictory tradition was that Peter was crucified upside down. In fact, the story in Acts is dubious at best, and the later traditions have no evidence to support them. Put simply, we do not know whether Peter was even executed.

Similarly, we do not really know whether Paul was killed or died of natural causes. Clement of Rome, writing around 100 CE, implied that he was executed, but this passage is unclear and too late to have been based on first-hand or even second-hand knowledge. Eusebius, writing in the fourth century, said that Paul was beheaded, but provides no source on which he based this information.

Answer 4

The Bible does not say how the Apostle Paul died. Eusebius claimed that Paul was beheaded at the order of the Roman emperor Nero or one of his subordinates.