Many early tombs no longer exist due to repeated
translations or destruction. This list does not include non-extant papal tombs. Information about these tombs is generally incomplete and uncertain. Locations of destroyed or lost papal tombs include: •
Saint Peter's tomb, around which the following popes were traditionally believed to have been buried:
Pope Linus,
Pope Anacletus,
Pope Evaristus,
Pope Telesphorus,
Pope Hyginus,
Pope Pius I,
Pope Anicetus (later transferred to the
Catacomb of Callixtus), and
Pope Victor I. Epigraphic evidence exists only for Linus, with the discovery of a burial slab marked "Linus" in 1615; however, the slab is broken such that it could have once read "Aquilinus" or "Anullinus". • The
Catacombs of Rome, specifically the
Catacomb of Callixtus, the
Catacomb of Priscilla (beneath
San Martino ai Monti), the
Catacomb of Balbina, the
Catacomb of Calepodius, the
Catacomb of Pontian, and the
Catacomb of Felicitas, which were emptied by repeated
translations by the ninth century. •
Papal tombs in Old St. Peter's Basilica, which once numbered over 100 papal tombs, nearly all of which were destroyed during the sixteenth/seventeenth century demolition. •
Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, where over a dozen tombs were destroyed in two fires (1308 and 1361). Other tombs not included in this list are: •
Tombs of antipopes, which—with few exceptions—are obscure or destroyed. An
antipope is a historical papal claimant currently regarded by the Roman Catholic Church as illegitimate. Notably, however, the
Tomb of Antipope John XXIII is in the
Battistero di San Giovanni in
Florence. •
Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio a Trevi, the resting place of the
precordium of 22 popes from
Sixtus V (1585–1590) to
Leo XIII (1878–1903). ==1st–5th centuries==