Just In Time for His Feast Today

The oldest known image of St. Paul has recently been discovered Rome. L'Osservatore Romano revealed the find on Sunday & published a picture of the icon (below).

Experts of the Ponitifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology made the discovery on June 19 in the Catacomb of Santa Tecla in Rome Vatican archaeologists using laser technology to remove layers of clay and limestone have discovered what they believe is the oldest image in existence of St Paul the Apostle, dating from the late 4th century, on the walls of catacomb beneath Rome.

Source:Rome catacomb reveals "oldest" image of St Paul
Picture from L'Osservatore Romano

But there is more. On Sunday Papa Benedetto said archaeologists recently unearthed and opened the white marble sarcophagus located under the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls in Rome, believed by the faithful to be the tomb of St. Paul. Scientists had conducted carbon dating tests on bone fragments found inside the sarcophagus and confirmed that they date from the first or second century.

The Pope said: "This seems to confirm the unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul." He announcing the findings at a service in the basilica to mark the end of the Vatican's Pauline year, in honor of the apostle.

Source: Pope: Bone Fragments Found in Tomb Are Paul's

Bone fragments in tomb belong to Saint Paul: pope

While we can't be 100% sure, as Papa Benedetto said, this does seem to confirm that the bones are likely St. Paul's. These 2 items together serve to remind us of the continuous existance of the Catholic Church since the days of Christ. Given the date of the image, it is clearly an icon. Icons are used in Eastern Christianity not as art, but as an aid in prayer. The tomb dates from at least A.D. 390 and was buried under the basilica's main altar.

I find it interesting that yesterday (28 June) is also the feast of St. Irenaeus of Lyons. For me he is another reminder of the continuous existance of the Church as well as the fact of the Apostolic succession.

St. Irenaeus was a disciple of St. Polycarp. St. Polycarp was a disciple of St. John the Apostle. St. Irenaeus ended up in Gaul where he was ordained a priest by the 1st Bishop of Lyons (then Lugdunensis or Lugdunum), St. Pothinus. Irenaeus suceeded him as Bishop. Many, many centuries later Irenaeus' successor at Lyons ordained Pierre-Jean-Mathias Loras to the priesthood. Loras eventually ended up in Mobile, Alabama helping the Bishop. While there he was appointed the 1st Bishop of the Diocese of DBQ (then the whole state of Iowa, now the NE part of Iowa & an Archdiocese). So we can directly trace our lineage in DBQ all the way back to the start of the Church.

As an aside, Loras was the Latin tutor for St. Jean Vianney (Curé d'Ars). Legend has it that Loras got so fustrated that Vianney that he slapped him. We see which 1 became a saint & which ended up here in DBQ