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List of non-extant papal tombs

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.

Despite his being regarded as martyred into the Black Sea, multiple churches have laid claims to the translated relics of Pope Clement I.

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.

Main locations

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The main locations of destroyed or lost papal tombs include:

Other destroyed or unknown tombs

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1st century

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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]

2nd century

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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]

5th century

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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]

6th century

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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]

7th century

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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

9th century

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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]

10th century

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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]

11th century

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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]

12th century

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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

13th century

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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]

Notes

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  1. ^ Reardon, 2004, pp. 23–26.
  2. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 23.
  3. ^ Reardon, 2004, pp. 10–11.
  4. ^ Reardon, 2004, pp. 272–277.
  5. ^ Reardon, 2004, pp. 70–109.
  6. ^ a b Reardon, 2004, pp. 23–24.
  7. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 24.
  8. ^ Reardon, 2004, pp. 24–25.
  9. ^ Reardon, 2005, p. 26.
  10. ^ a b Reardon, 2004, p. 40.
  11. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 41.
  12. ^ Reardon, 2004, 41–42.
  13. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 44.
  14. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 270.
  15. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 45.
  16. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 61.
  17. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 69.
  18. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 73.
  19. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 79.
  20. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 80.
  21. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 81.
  22. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 82.
  23. ^ a b c d Reardon, 2004, p. 85.
  24. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 98.
  25. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 100.
  26. ^ Reardon, 2004, p. 103.
  27. ^ Frothingham, A. L., Jr. (1891). "Notes on Roman Artists of the Middle Ages. III. Two Tombs of the Popes at Viterbo by Vassallectus and Petrus Oderisi". The American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts, 7(1/2): 38.

References

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  • Reardon, Wendy J. 2004. The Deaths of the Popes. Macfarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-7864-1527-4
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