Ukrainian Pilgrims to the Tomb of Saint Peter in the Vatican
A few years ago Ukrainian pilgrims began visiting the site of the burial of
the first PopeæSt. Peter. Thanks to the archeological excavations underneath
the basilica of St. Peter in the XX century, the tomb of the Prince of the
Apostles was found beneath the main central altar in the basilica. Taras B.
Dzyubanskyy, a seminarian of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford, is
preparing a book entitled "The Development of the Cult of Saint Peter in the
Vatican: From the Poor Man's Grave to the Largest Basilica in the World"
This will be a first time that a publication like this will appear in Ukrainian and, according to Tetiana Izhevska, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine to the Holy See, the book will be an important contribution to the development of pilgrimages from Ukraine to the Tomb of St. Peter.
Cardinal Angelo Comastri, Vicar of the Holy Father in the Vatican and the Archpriest of St Peteręs Basilica approved this project in July 2009. The project is under the patronage of the Ukrainian Embassy to the Holy See and it is sponsored exclusively by the Ukrainian benefactors. Bishop Basil H. Losten was the first to support the project.
As the Introduction says, "The goal of our book is to take the reader-pilgrim
through the two thousand years of history of the development of the cult of
St. Peter and devotion to the Petrine shrineæthe Basilica of St. Peter in the
Vatican, which has evolved from a simple Poor Manęs grave to the largest church
in the world."
Besides the tomb of St. Peter, the book will also talk about the ancient necropolis discovered under St. Peteręs basilica and, since it will be for Ukrainian pilgrims, short chapters about the Slavic Chapel in the Vatican Grottoes and the Mosaics of Saint Volodymyr and Santa Olga will be included in the work.
Contact:
Ukrainian Version (PDF)
Taras Dzyubanskyy
dzubyk_rome@yahoo.it
