Solemnity of St Peter and Paul

Today, June 29th, we celebrate the Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul, a day made holy for us by their exemplary life of courage and testimony of the two pillars of the Church. 

Apart from Mother Mary, St Joseph and St John the Baptist, these two saints are the only humans commemorated in the Catholic calendar with a ‘Solemnity’.

Peter (or Cephas) was the older brother of the apostle Andrew and son of John/Jonas of Bethsaida, and a fisherman by trade who was married and settled in Capernaum. Peter was the first Apostle to be named (Mark 1:16-18). We can relate to his sense of doubt causing him to nearly drown when walking on the water (Matthew 14:28-31), his denial of Jesus three times (Mark 14:66-72) and weakness of sleeping during the passion in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-42) even as we admire his passionate devotion to Christ (Mark 14:29-30). He was the first one to recognise Christ as the Messiah, prompting Jesus to christen him Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood* has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.* Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:16-19).

Paul, by contrast, did not know Christ in the flesh. He was born in Tarsus (modern-day Mercin, Turkey) into a strict Jewish family of Pharisees; and he learned Jewish scripture and laws from Gamaliel, a highly respected Pharisee and teacher of the Jewish law (Acts 22:3), but as a Roman citizen, he made a career of persecuting and executing the early Christians (Galatians 1:13–14). Until he had his 'Road to Damascus' encounter with Christ, which left him blinded for three days (Acts 9:3–9); as instructed, he met with Ananias (Acts 9:13–19) but it took three years of meditation (Galatians 1:15–18) before his conversion to becoming one of the most zealous, dynamic and courageous ambassadors of Christ ever!.

Did Sts Peter and Paul meet in real life? Yes, most certainly. By some accounts, on three occasions. The most notable though is their third meeting in Antioch, where Paul publicly confronts Peter's practice of refusing to eat with Gentiles to appease the early Jewish converts (Galatians 2:11-15) and Paul prevails with his message that Christ has come for all peoples, Jews and Gentiles alike; and Christ's teaching supersedes Jewish laws (Galatians 5) . Paul is credited with writing 13 of the 27 books (or approximately 23% of all content) of the New Testament

Peter, the rock on which the Church was built, was crucified upside down at his behest in the year 64 AD, because he claimed he was not worthy to die as his Lord. He was buried on Vatican hill, and St. Peter's Basilica is built over his tomb.

Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, being a Roman citizen, was beheaded (not crucified) in 67 AD; their joint feast on June 29 has been celebrated in Rome since at least 258 AD.

In a sermon in the year 395, St. Augustine of Hippo said of Sts. Peter and Paul: “Both Apostles share the same feast day, for these two were one; and even though they suffered and were martyred on different days, they were as one”. 

Sts Peter and Paul, pray for us.