A portrait of a homeless German man, Burkhard Scheffler, who died in 2022, now hangs in the Teutonic College chapel at the Vatican, a stone’s throw from his burial site.
A Painting Born in Rome
In 2018, German artist Michael Triegel asked a homeless man in Rome to pose for a drawing, thinking he could serve as an ideal model for St. Peter if ever needed for a painting. The man’s likeness would later become the central figure in Triegel’s depiction of St. Peter in a new altar he was commissioned to create for Naumburg Cathedral in 2019.
Triegel said, “They had the idea of completing this altar again, in what I find a beautiful gesture – not to undo these wounds from the 16th century but to mitigate them, to heal them,” during an interview in his Leipzig studio. He added that he wanted his subjects to be recognisable people, “not be idealised archetypes but figures the viewer would feel were people ‘who could have something to do with me in the here and now, who are not just historic.'” St. Peter in the painting is bearded, wears a red baseball cap and holds a small key, a reference to the biblical keys of heaven.
The Homeless Man’s Tragic End
Scheffler’s life took a difficult turn after the 2018 encounter. He suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, was arrested in May 2020 for threatening someone with a knife, sentenced to three years in prison, and released in late 2022. He died from the cold on the night of 25 Nov 2022, under the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square. A Vatican journalist, Gudrun Sailer, recalled that his hands, once warm, had become cold.
Pope Francis, who had made caring for the homeless a priority, took note. Hours after Scheffler’s death, the Vatican spokesperson said the man had been cared for by the charity office but that the rain and cold had aggravated his fragile condition. Francis said in his Sunday prayer, “I remember Burkhard Scheffler, who died three days ago under the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square: died of cold.” He later mentioned the man in his Palm Sunday homily in April 2023: “I think of the German so-called street person, who died under the colonnade, alone and abandoned. He is Jesus for each of us.”
From Naumburg to Vatican: The Altar’s Journey
While Triegel worked on the Naumburg altar, concerns arose that it might jeopardise the cathedral’s UNESCO World Heritage status. In July, regional authorities decided the altar could remain but would have to be displayed elsewhere. The idea of lending the altar to the Teutonic College chapel, a residence for German-speaking priests adjacent to the cemetery, emerged. When the chapel’s art expert recognised Triegel’s St. Peter as Scheffler, Monsignor Peter Klasvogt, rector of the Campo Santo Teutonico, recalled, “Someone said, ‘This guy with the red cap, we know him because he was living here at St. Peter’s Square,'”. He added, “That was a moment you never forget.”
The altar is now on a two-year loan to the chapel, a stone’s throw from Scheffler’s grave, itself just steps from the tomb of St. Peter.
Triegel reflected on the coincidence: “If this whole dispute was necessary for this picture to go to Rome and for this man to be seen again, for him to get a name, for … people to take notice of him and remember him, then this whole Naumburg project was really worth it for me,”. Monsignor Klasvogt said, “The story gets another outcome and another exit, and this is so wonderful to see. We honour him with the altar, we honour him with his grave and we pray here in the church for him.”
Key Takeaways
- Burkhard Scheffler, a homeless German man who died in 2022, is now depicted as St. Peter in a Vatican altar.
- The painting was created by Michael Triegel, who first met Scheffler in Rome in 2018.
- The altar, originally commissioned for Naumburg Cathedral, is on a two-year loan to the Teutonic College chapel, near Scheffler’s burial site.
The convergence of art, tragedy, and remembrance at the Vatican underscores the unexpected ways a single portrait can bring a forgotten life back into public memory.
