Saint Peter, prince of the apostles

Summary:

Peter's original name was Symeon (Acts 15:14; 2 Pt 1:1), translated into Greek as "Simon". Matthew's Gospel refers to him as "Simon called Peter" (Mt 4:18; Mk 1:16-18), who was the brother of Andrew. Both were the first men chosen by Jesus to become his disciples.

Born in the early years of the 1st century A.D., Simon was the son of Jona (Johannes) and was born in Bethsaida, a town on Lake Tiberias (Lake of Gennesaret, also known as the Sea of Galilee). He lived and worked as a fisherman in Capernaum (Mk 1:29), also on the shore of the lake, and was a married man (the evangelists describe Jesus' healing of Peter's mother-in-law). Tradition attributes to him a daughter named Petronilla.

Peter was a simple man, "uneducated and ordinary" (Acts 4:13). He became leader of the apostles, not because of his natural abilities, but by decision of Christ alone. This is the meaning of the words spoken by Jesus when he first met Peter: "You are Simon, the son of John; you shall be called Cephas" (Jn 1:42). "Cephas" in Aramaic is generally translated as "Rock" in Greek (Petros) and in Latin (Petrus). Such a name change has an important significance in biblical culture. Since the patronymic reveals the spiritual function of its bearer, Simon Peter had just received a new vocation.

Peter was one of the five disciples who witnessed Jesus' first miracle at the wedding feast in Cana. After that first public miracle, these men confessed their faith in Jesus for the first time (Jn 2:11). From then on, Peter was to take part in every episode of Jesus' life, right up to his crucifixion: the miraculous catch of fish (Mt 4:18-22; Jn 21:1-11), during which Peter casts his nets because he believes in Jesus' word; the choice of the twelve apostles, where Peter is named first (Mt 10:2 ; Lk 6:12-16); the calming of the storm (Mk 4:35-41); the raising of Jairus' daughter (Mt 9:18-26); the multiplication of the loaves (Mt 14:13-21); the Transfiguration (Mt 17:16-18); the announcement of the Passion (Mt 20:17-19; Lk 18:31-34), etc.

Then, at Jesus' request, Peter takes part with John in the preparation of the Passover in Jerusalem (Mt 26:17-19; Mk 14:12-16). Peter is also present at the washing of the feet, during which he expresses his bafflement when Jesus comes up to him (Jn 13:6-9). And, of course, he is present at the Last Supper (Mt 26:26-29). Even before the prophecy of his denial, Peter's primacy is perfectly recalled in Lk 22:31-32: "I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers."

The four evangelists unanimously quote Jesus' prophecy of Peter's future triple denial: Nowhere else in the Bible does Christ refer so precisely to the human weakness of the chief apostle, not to accuse him, but to show that his choice was not based on human criteria, but on love:"As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (Jn 13: 35).

Throughout history, reservations have been voiced about Peter's primacy: how could a man who denied his Master three times, and who was absent from Golgotha, have been the head of the apostles? In reality, the entire content of the New Testament after the Passion unequivocally shows Peter's first place in the nascent Church: he is the first witness to the Resurrection (Lk 24:12) and the only apostle entrusted by Christ with the mission of "feeding his sheep, i.e of "shepherding" Christians.

This pastoral task was in no way entrusted to him in the manner of a personal position of authority which, however great, would have disappeared at his death. Jesus created an actual, ongoing "ministry": He invested Peter with his authority to carry on his work on earth in union with the other disciples, as shown in the famous passage where Christ confers on him the spiritual mission of guiding his brothers in the faith after the apostle has confessed Jesus' messiahship: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church" (Mt 16:18).

This passage has been extensively commented on. All the ancient versions of the Gospel of St. Matthew that we have at our disposal contain these phrases in identical form. What's more, nowhere else in the Gospels is there a passage so characteristic of Aramaic language and culture: linguists and exegetes have noted a perfect consistency between the narrative construction, syntax, terminology, metaphorical terms of the quoted passage and the language of first-century Palestinians. Moreover, biblical references play an essential role here: the "rock Kephas" refers to the book of Isaiah: "See, I am laying a stone in Zion, a stone that has been tested, a precious cornerstone as a sure foundation; whoever puts faith in it will not waver" (Is 28:16); the verbs "bind" and "loose"  ("to open" or "to close" a person's access to a community, hence the idea of the "keys" held by the head of the apostles), widely used in Judaism at the time, symbolize the power conferred on Peter, and echo Is 22:22:"I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder." The argument for a later addition is thus definitively eliminated.

The New Testament never ceases to illustrate Peter's eminent place, and right after the Ascension, he is mentioned first among the apostles gathered in the "upper room" (Acts 1:13). To list all the episodes in which Peter plays a key role in the first Christian community would take us through the whole book of the Acts of the Apostles: Peter was the first to speak and add Matthias to the eleven apostles (Acts 1:15-22); he was the first to confess his faith in Christ after leaving the upper room on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-36); he was the first (and only) to invite the "men of Judea" to convert (Acts 2:38-39); the first, along with John, to perform miracles of healing (Acts 3:1-10); the only apostle to give a public speech at "Solomon's Portico" (Acts 3:12-26); he was taken by force to the Sanhedrin with John (Acts 4:1-7), where he delivered not a defense but a confession of faith (Acts 4:9-14); he rebuked Simon the Magician and pronounced a judgment against Sapphira and Ananias (Acts 5:1-11); he laid his hands on the Samaritans (Acts 8:17); raised Aeneas from the dead (Acts 9:32-35) and then Tabitha (Acts 9:36-43); and he spoke of "Jesus Christ, Lord of all men" to the pagan centurion Cornelius (Acts 10:34-43). It is significant to note that St. Paul's mission did not begin until after the conversion of this Roman centurion.

The most quoted figure after Jesus in the canonical Gospels, Peter spoke publicly in Jerusalem to address some objections (Acts 11:1-18), and he was miraculously freed from prison by an angel (Acts 12:7-11). At the Jerusalem assembly attended by all the apostles, he took the floor with authority to draw the theological conclusions of Cornelius' conversion: the gift of the Holy Spirit, forgiveness of sins, and salvation - all gifts offered by Jesus to the Gentiles - and resolved an important question (Acts 15:5-21).

Then, between the years 41 and 44, Peter went to Rome, probably landing at Ostia, where Emperor Claudius had built a new port. Some have cast doubt about Peter's Roman residency, lasting until his martyrdom, however, we now know with certainty that the prince of the apostles did live in Rome, as numerous and varied historical sources attest.

First and foremost, archaeological findings have corroborated Saint Peter's presence in Rome and his primacy. The excavations undertaken beneath St. Peter's Basilica from 1939 onwards led to the discovery of several tombs dating from around 130 located and excavated under the "Chapel of the Confession", a monument later built over the tomb of the prince of the apostles. One of them, covered with tiles, bears the seal of Emperor Vespasian, whose reign lasted from 69 to 79, a date extremely close to that of Peter's martyrdom.

Between 320 and 327, Constantine built a five-aisled basilica atop the early Christian necropolis that was purported to be Peter's resting place. Much of the Vatican Hill was leveled to provide a firm foundation for the first St. Peter's Basilica, dedicated in 350. The altar of the Basilica was planned to be located directly over the tomb. The matter was complicated by the upper chamber or memoria above the vault. This upper chamber had become precious to the Christians of Rome during times of persecution, and they were unwilling that it should be destroyed. The memoria (built by Pope Anicet around 200) was turned into the Chapel of the Confession. Above that was the main floor of the Basilica, with the raised altar directly over the Chapel of the Confession.

In 1939, archaeological excavation of the pagan mausoleum complex under the foundations of St. Peter's Basilica (the Vatican Necropolis), dating to the 2nd and 3rd centuries, found an abnormally located wall with a small niched monument built ca. 160. No mausoleum had ever been built directly beneath the present high altar of St Peter's, which did however contain shallow burials, one dated by an impressed tile to the reign of Vespasian (time of Peter’s martyrdom).

A funerary urn was also unearthed in 1942, containing bones. The anthropological tests on the relics suggested that the bone fragments belong to a man who was a 1st-century, 60–70 years old robust male - very close in age to Peter.

But why did this emperor choose this location rather than another? Indeed, the building's location is very complicated: halfway up the Vatican hill, the basilica required incredible earthworks and even the destruction of numerous ancient tombs.

The historical continuity of the upkeep and renovation of the tomb is fully proven, at the highest level of the Church: Pope Pelagius II at the end of the 6th century, Saint Gregory the Great in the 7th, Leo IV around 850 (etc.), all made the site a well-known center of pilgrimage.

The discovery of Peter's relics was announced by St. Paul VI on June 26, 1968, then at Christmas 1973 by Professor Philippo Maggi, director of archaeological research at the Vatican, then a third time by the Pope on June 29, 1976.

Likewise, written documents attest to Peter's presence and death in Rome. As early as 95, Pope St. Clement, St. Peter's third successor, spoke of St. Peter's martyrdom in a letter to the Christians of Corinth.

At the very beginning of the 2nd century, Saint Ignatius of Antioch wrote of the Church of Rome that it "presides in the chief place of the Roman territory." Around 142, the Shepherd of Hermas (a Christian literary work of the late first half of the second century, considered a valuable book by many Christians, and considered canonical scripture by some of the early Church fathers such as Irenaeus) asserts that Rome, the place of Peter's martyrdom, is a privileged place among Christian communities worldwide.

In the last years of the 2nd century, we have a growing number of sources: the Commentary on the Sentences of the Lord by Papias, bishop of Hierapolis (d. 140), attests to Peter's presence in the Eternal City and explains that the evangelist Mark summarized the teaching of the prince of the apostles in this city; his testimony is all the more remarkable given that Papias knew direct disciples of the apostles. Letters from bishop Denys of Corinth and later from St. Irenaeus of Lyons (the latter showing around 180 that heresies exist simply because their followers disagree with the Church of Rome: "It is with this Church [...], because of its high pre-eminence, that the whole Church must agree", Against Heresies III, 3: 1-2), clearly prove that at this date, the Roman Church, initially led by Peter and then by his successors, enjoyed an unquestionable precedence.

Around 235, in an effort to demonstrate the apostolic origins of Rome's Christians, Pope Liberius' Liberian Catalogue lists all the popes from the time of St. Peter, without interruption.

In the 4th century, Eusebius of Caesarea (d. 339) dates Peter's arrival in the capital of the Roman Empire to 42, and fixes his martyrdom in 67, on Vatican Hill, during Nero's persecution. Before his death in 397, St. Ambrose of Milan wrote: "Where Peter is, there is the Church." By this time, the Roman see was already a sign of the Christian unity desired by Jesus. Since the second half of the 4th century, Peter and Paul have been part of the Church's liturgy. After several emperors - from Aurelian to Constantine - had considered the bishop of Rome to be the cement of the unity of the baptized, Pope Damasus (d. 387) truly transformed the Roman episcopate into the papacy. It was this pope who was the first to promulgate a decretal, i.e. a manual of rules addressed by him to the churches of Gaul who had asked him to do so.

From this point on, the primacy of St. Peter was constantly emphasized. Pope Innocent (d. 417) put forward the idea that the Western Churches were instituted exclusively by bishops consecrated by St. Peter or his direct successors. In 519, the Patriarch of Constantinople John II, the Byzantine Emperor Justin I and all the bishops promulgated the following words: "We wish to follow in all things the communion of the Apostolic See [Rome], where the full and true solidity of the Christian faith resides."

Half a century earlier, the pontificate of Leo the Great had seen the appearance of the title "Supreme Pontiff" to designate the bishop of Rome, successor of Peter: in his homilies, this pope spoke of the "Roman primacy".

Beyond reasons to believe:

Peter was chosen by Jesus as a model Christian, apostle and martyr. He was involved in every action of Jesus' ministry and, after Pentecost, was a principal contributor to the spread of the Christian faith. His presence and death in Rome made the city's episcopal see a sign of the unity of the apostles and all Christians, just as Christ had wished. This is the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992) and of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), as well as that of the twenty previous councils in history: "The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the "rock" of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock. ‘The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of apostles united to its head.’ This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church's very foundation and is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope."(CCC § 881). Peter is "the perpetual and visible principle and foundation of unity"(Lumen gentium 23); in this capacity, his successor "has full, supreme and universal power over the Church." (Lumen gentium 22) and the college of bishops has authority only on condition that it is united with him. (Lumen gentium 22).

Going further:

Stephen K. Ray, Upon This Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church (Modern Apologetics Library) – March 16, 1999

More information:

• Article The Primacy of Peter by James Akin
• Video by Catholic Answers, What is the evidence for papal primacy?

• 20 Answers: The Papacy by Jim Blackburn 

• Pope Fiction: Answers to 30 Myths and Misconceptions About the Papacy by Patrick Madrid 

• Jesus, Peter, and the Keys: A Scriptural Handbook on the Papacy by Scott Butler, Norman Dahlgren, and David Hess 

• Upon This Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church by Stephen K. Ray 

• Studies on the Early Papacy by Dom John Chapman