In her book RELICS Joan Carroll Cruz writes that the bones of St Peter, Prince of the Apostles, lie under the altar of St Peter's Basilica. In 1968 his bones "were examined geologically and anatomically and were found to have been the bones of a large man who lived in the first century." Additionally, St Peter's feet are missing. Since he was crucified upside down, the soldiers, to make it easier to remove the body from the cross, hacked off St Peter's feet instead of removing the nails.
Nine of St Peter's bones from his 2,000 year-old grave were put in a reliquary and kept in the Chapel of the Apostolic Palace. It was this reliquary, containing those nine bones, that Pope Francis took on June 29th, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, and gave to Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople - or as it is called today by its Islamic name, Istanbul.
