Saint Peter the Apostle: First Pope and Prince of the Apostles

Saint Peter the Apostle, born Simon bar Jonah, is the principal apostolic figure of the Catholic Church. Christ called him from his fishing nets on the Sea of Galilee, gave him the new name Cephas (Aramaic for "rock," rendered in Greek as Petros), and entrusted him with the keys of the kingdom of heaven. The Catholic Church holds that Peter was the first Bishop of Rome and that his office continues unbroken in the papacy.

Calling and apostolic ministry

Peter was a Galilean fisherman, son of Jonah, and brother of Saint Andrew the Apostle. With his brother he was called by Christ from the shore of the Sea of Galilee with the words "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19). He became one of the inner three of the Twelve, present with Saint James and Saint John at the Transfiguration, at the raising of the daughter of Jairus, and at the Agony in the Garden.

The defining moment of Peter's apostolic vocation came at Caesarea Philippi. When Christ asked his disciples who they said he was, Peter answered: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). Christ then declared: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church... I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever you shall bind on earth, it shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven" (Matthew 16:18-19). The Catholic doctrine of the Petrine office (and consequently the papacy) is grounded in this passage.¹

The Passion and Resurrection

Peter promised Christ that he would never abandon him, but on the night of the Passion denied him three times in the courtyard of the high priest, as Christ had foretold. After the Resurrection, by the Sea of Tiberias, the risen Christ asked Peter three times "Do you love me?" and three times instructed him: "Feed my lambs... Tend my sheep... Feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17). The Catholic tradition has read this as the formal restoration of Peter and the explicit conferral of pastoral authority over the Church.

Ministry in Jerusalem, Antioch, and Rome

After Pentecost, Peter delivered the first apostolic sermon in Jerusalem (Acts 2:14-36), at which three thousand were baptized. He led the apostolic mission in Jerusalem, presided at the Council of Jerusalem in approximately AD 49 (Acts 15:6-11), and traveled through Antioch and Asia Minor before settling in Rome.

The First Letter of Saint Peter, written from "Babylon" (a New Testament code-name for Rome), is the principal Petrine writing in the New Testament. Together with the Second Letter of Peter, it forms part of the canonical apostolic deposit.

Death and martyrdom

Peter was martyred in Rome during the Neronian persecution, traditionally dated between AD 64 and AD 67. The early tradition (Tertullian, Origen, Eusebius) records that Peter was crucified, and that he requested to be crucified head-downward because he did not consider himself worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord. The inverted cross is therefore Peter's principal iconographic attribute.

Peter was buried on the Vatican Hill, where excavations under the high altar of Saint Peter's Basilica in 1939-1949, authorized by Pope Pius XII, revealed first-century burial remains the Holy See has identified as Peter's. Pope Saint Paul VI announced the identification in 1968.

Patronage and devotion

Saint Peter is patron of the universal Catholic Church, of popes, of Rome, of fishermen, and of locksmiths (from the iconography of the keys of the kingdom). The Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul is celebrated on June 29 throughout the Catholic Church, marking the dies natalis (heavenly birthday, the date of martyrdom) traditionally observed for both apostles. The Chair of Saint Peter is celebrated as a separate feast on February 22.

Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," is the foundational profession of Catholic faith. Every papal succession from Peter through Pope Francis is reckoned in unbroken apostolic line. The current pope is the two hundred sixty-seventh successor of Saint Peter as Bishop of Rome. For the broader Catholic doctrine of apostolic succession and the the Communion of Saints, see the related learn pages.

The principal Catholic prayers associated with Saint Peter include the petition of the Apostles' Creed (which the early Church attributed to the apostolic college) and the recitation of the Holy Rosary, in which the Glorious Mysteries commemorate the events of which Peter was a principal apostolic witness.

Sources

For the patristic and conciliar development of the Catholic doctrine of the Petrine office, see Pope Saint Leo the Great, Sermons 3-5; the Council of Florence, Laetentur Caeli (1439); Vatican I, Pastor Aeternus (1870); and Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 880-882. ↩