The Teutonic Cemetery ( it, Cimitero Teutonico, "Camposanto of the Teutons and the Flemish") is a burial site adjacent to St. Peter's Basilica in

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

. Burial is reserved for members of the Confraternity of Our Lady of the German Cemetery, which owns the cemetery. It is a place of pilgrimage for many German-speaking pilgrims.

History

Located where the Circus of Nero once stood, during the period of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

, it was the site of the martyrdom of many of the early Christians of the city. The cemetery chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows marks the spot where St. Peter was killed.Ieraci, Laura, "Historic cemetery inside Vatican walls is 'little piece of paradise'", Catholic News Service, March 12, 2015
/ref> It is reported that

Pope Leo III Pope Leo III (died 12 June 816) was bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 26 December 795 to his death. Protected by Charlemagne from the supporters of his predecessor, Adrian I, Leo subsequently strengthened Charlemagne's position ...

gave the land to

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first E ...

in 799 for a hospice, called the "Schola Francorum", for German pilgrims. In connection with the hospice was a church dedicated to the Saviour and a graveyard for the burial of the subjects of Charlemagne who died in Rome. Since the fifteenth century the soil of this cemetery has been held to be sacred earth from Jerusalem. This tradition, in connection with the immediate vicinity of the graves of the Apostles and with the memory of the first martyrs under Nero, explains the name of campus sanctus, "holy field".Waal, Anton de. "Campo Santo de' Tedeschi." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 8 April 2020 The cemetery is owned by the "Archconfraternity of Our Lady", formed in 1454 to preserve the grounds.Rezac, Mary. "The lively history of the Vatican Teutonic cemetery", Catholic News Agency, October 31, 2014
/ref> On 6 May 1527, it was the site of the

Stand of the Swiss Guard The Sack of Rome, then part of the Papal States, followed the capture of the city on 6 May 1527 by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor during the War of the League of Cognac. Despite not being ordered to storm the city, with ...

when the Pope's Swiss Guards held off mutinous German troops long enough for

Pope Clement VII Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...

to escape over the

Passetto di Borgo The Passetto di Borgo, or simply Passetto, is an elevated passage that links the Vatican City with the Castel Sant'Angelo. It is an approximately corridor, located in the rione of Borgo. It was erected in 1277 by Pope Nicholas III, but par ...

Castel Sant'Angelo The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as Castel Sant'Angelo (; English: ''Castle of the Holy Angel''), is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausol ...

. There are now two institutes of study and two chapels attached to the cemetery, one being the burial place of the Swiss Guards who fell in defense of the city against the forces of the new

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

in 1870. The Collegio Teutonico del Campo Santo replaced the hospice in 1876 to receive priests belonging to the German Empire or German provinces of Austria, who remained there for two or, at the most, three years pursuing their studies and officiating in the Church of Santa Maria della Pietà in Camposanto dei Teutonici. Rome Campo Santo Teutonico 01

The cemetery is reserved for the burial of Confraternity members and members of the German colleges and religious houses in Rome. In February 2015, Willy Herteleer, a homeless

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

man, was buried in the cemetery with the assistance of Paul Badde, a German journalist and a member of the Archconfraternity, after approval by

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013 ...

and reflecting his maxim that he wanted "a poor church, for the poor".

Burials

Johann Baptist Anzer Johann Baptist Anzer (later von Anzer, ), S.V.D., (16 May 1851 – 24 November 1903) was a member of the Society of the Divine Word, popularly known as the Divine Word Missionaries, and Catholic bishop of the German Mission to China in Shandon ...

S.V.D. The Society of the Divine Word ( la, Societas Verbi Divini), abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Ri ...

Ludwig Curtius Ludwig Curtius (December 13, 1874 – April 10, 1954) was a German archaeologist born in Augsburg. He is remembered for his investigations involving the development of ancient Greek and Roman art. He studied classical archaeology in Munich under ...

, archaeologist * Gustav Adolf, Cardinal Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst * Willy Herteleer, homeless Flemish pilgrim * Engelbert Kirschbaum SJ, archaeologist * Joseph Anton Koch, landscape painter * Xavier de Mérode Duchess Charlotte Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin first wife of

Christian VIII of Denmark Christian VIII (18 September 1786 – 20 January 1848) was King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederick, King of Norway in 1814. Christian Frederick was the eldest son of Hereditary Prince Frederick, a younger son of King Frederi ...

was allegedly buried here. Her tomb was opened on 11 July 2019 due to investigations related to the

disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi Emanuela Orlandi (born 14 January 1968) was a Vatican teenager who mysteriously disappeared while returning home from a flute lesson in Rome on 22 June 1983. Sightings of Orlandi in various places have been reported over the years, including in ...

case, but was found to be empty.

References

Sources

* * R. Walpen, ''Die Päpstliche Schweizergarde'' (2006), 64–71. {{Authority control Cemeteries and tombs in Rome Cemeteries in Vatican City Properties of the Holy See Catholic Church in Germany Catholic Church in Austria

History

Burials

See also

References

Sources