June 29 is a Solemnity, the Church’s highest feast rank outside the great mysteries of Christ. On this day we honor St. Peter and St. Paul together, the two Apostles who gave their lives in Rome and whose witness holds up the Church in every age. One was given the keys to the Kingdom. The other brought the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Both were martyred in Nero’s persecution, and their deaths made Rome the center of Christendom.
Who Peter and Paul were
Peter, born Simon bar Jonah, was a fisherman from Galilee. Christ renamed him Cephas, the rock, and gave him the keys of the Kingdom (Matthew 16:18-19). He denied Christ three times before the crucifixion, wept bitterly, and was restored by the risen Lord on the shore of Galilee (John 21:15-17). He became the leader of the Twelve, preached at Pentecost, and led the infant Church in Jerusalem before traveling to Antioch and finally Rome.
Paul, born Saul of Tarsus, was a Pharisee who persecuted Christians until Christ struck him down on the Damascus road (Acts 9:1-9). After his conversion he became the greatest missionary the Church has known. He planted churches across Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome. He wrote thirteen letters that make up half the New Testament. He was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and imprisoned, and never stopped preaching.
Both died in Rome under Nero, likely in AD 64 or 67. Peter was crucified upside down, tradition says, because he asked not to die as his Lord died. Paul, a Roman citizen, was beheaded on the Ostian Way. Their tombs lie beneath the two great basilicas that bear their names.
What they’re known for
Peter is shown with keys, the symbol Christ gave him when he made him the first Pope. The inverted cross recalls his martyrdom. He is patron of fishermen, the papacy, and anyone who has failed and been forgiven. His letters (1 and 2 Peter) counsel perseverance under persecution and warn against false teachers.
Paul carries a sword, the instrument of his death and a symbol of the word of God, which is sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). He holds a book or scroll, representing his epistles. He is patron of missionaries, theologians, and tentmakers (his trade). His letters to the Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians form the theological backbone of Christian doctrine on grace, justification, and the Church as the Body of Christ.
For today
Read Romans 8:31-39 today, Paul’s great hymn to the love of Christ. Or pray the traditional prayer: “O God, who on the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul give us the noble joy of this day, grant, we pray, that your Church may in all things follow the teaching of those through whom she received the beginnings of right religion.” Ask for the courage Peter found after his denial and the zeal Paul found after his conversion. Both men were made new by mercy.
Carry their witness through the day.
