Note 27 — THE CRYPT
Reading edition
It was of this ancient church of Constantine that Bishop Creighton in his eloquent History of the Papacy, thus writes of its demolition under Pope Julius II, circa A.D. 1506—
“The basilica of S. Peter’s had been for ages the object of pilgrimage from every land; outside it gleamed with mosaics; inside its pavement was a marvel of mosaic art; its monuments told the history of the Roman Church for centuries. Men may praise at the present day the magnificence of the (New) S. Peter’s; they forget what was destroyed to make room for it. No more wanton or barbarous act of destruction was ever deliberately committed.”