Scientists Unravel the Mystery of the Fragment of the Apostle’s Bone in an Old Roman Church

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Fragments of the Apostle’s bones in the Old Roman Church are revealed. PHOTOS/ Ofmconv.

ROME – A shard of a femur preserved for 1,500 years in the Church of Santi Apostoli in Rome is believed to belong to St. James who is one of the 12 Apostles.
However, based on research published on January 29 in the Journal of Heritage Science, it turned out that the bones belonged to someone else.

Archaeological Science at the University of Southern Denmark Kaare Lund Rasmussen said, from the results of research the bone fragments that were stored probably belonged to someone else.

Because St. James who is considered by some experts as the brother of Jesus Christ lived in the Middle Ages AD.

“The bones that were preserved are thought to date from AD 214 and 340,” he told Live Science.

The Romans were known to move the relics of Christian heroes such as St. James of the Grave to the churches used for worship after Christianity became the official religion of the empire in AD 380.

In a statement released by the University of Southern Denmar, the bone fragments were brought to the Church of Santi Apostoli in the 6th century AD. The bones were brought along with fragments of a mummified Tibia and foot thought to belong to the co-apostle St. Philip.

“We consider it highly probable that whoever moved this femur to the church of Santi Apostoli believed it belonged to St. James. They must have taken it from a Christian cemetery, so it belonged to one of the early Christians, they don’t know if it was an apostle or not,” Rasmussen said.

(wbs)