The Clementine Chapel, also known as La Clementina, is a particular

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

chapel located within the underground necropolitan grottoes of

Saint Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (; ), is a church of the Italian Renaissance architecture, Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the cit ...

Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

. It is believed to mark the site when

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

was crucified. It is the area where the relics of St. Peter were venerated in early medieval times, before his skull was removed to be housed at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. Open today for pilgrims, the site venerates the original pavonazzo marble monument placed there by Emperor Constantine, and was used in early medieval times to house the skull of St. Peter.

History

Before the Clementine chapel was constructed, the skull of St. Peter was housed in its original resting place in the graffiti wallScribd website, ''Clementine Chapel'', entry by Jason Tiongco
/ref> below the large tomb-like structure commissioned by emperor Constantine. The structure is visible behind the altar of the chapel.
/ref> The Clementine chapel was constructed by the order of

Pope Gregory Gregory has been the name of sixteen Roman Catholic Popes and two Antipopes: *Pope Gregory I ("the Great"; saint; 590–604), after whom the Gregorian chant is named *Pope Gregory II (saint; 715–731) *Pope Gregory III (saint; 731–741) *Pope Gre ...

, due to the original Constantinian monument not having a high altar, thus a new structure was constructed around the Constantinian monument, and a more traditional high altar was constructed above it in order to celebrate Divine Liturgy, and the clementine chapel was constructed at the back to be used as a place for the veneration of the skull of St. Peter. The chapel is named in honor of

Pope Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII (; ; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 January 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born in Fano, Papal States to a prominen ...

, who used the chapel as his burial place and donated funds to install various religious mosaics that have been preserved to this day. It is one of the two main untouched areas of Old St. Peter's Basilica, along with the chapel of the ''Niche of the Pallia''. A notable feature of the chapel are the ornate bronze sculptures located in the chapel commemorating certain biblical scenes, along with its gilded cage in the central altar. According to a direct tour and interview granted to

History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...

by the

Archpriest The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogo ...

of the Basilica, Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the chapel is the holiest site in the archaeological basilica. The chapel itself is directly behind the present niche which is above the relics of St. Peter, thereby the site correlates to the present high altar of St. Peter's Basilica today. The place where the recently discovered Bones of St. Peter are presently housed is not in the ''niche of the pallia'', nor the clementine chapel but in their original resting place in the graffiti wall''.'' The skull of St. Peter which was first venerated in the clementine chapel, (after being moved there by pope Gregory during its construction), is now housed in the golden reliquary above the high altar of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, after being moved there in late medieval times. Since 2021, the chapel has been used for celebrations of the

Tridentine Mass The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite or ''usus antiquior'' (), Vetus Ordo or the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) or the Traditional Rite, is the liturgy in the Roman Missal of the Catholic Church codified in ...

, in the Vatican.

References

{{reflist

External links

Clementine Chapel (Chapel of St Peter)The Tomb of St. Peter
St. Peter's Basilica Saint Peter