Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Apostles
Almighty God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul
glorified you by their martyrdom: Grant that your Church, instructed by their
teaching and example, and knit together in unity by your Spirit, may ever stand
firm upon the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and
reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Confession of Peter ("Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the Living God") is commemorated on 18 January, and the Conversion
of Paul (on the approach to Damascus) a week later on 25 January. On 29 June we
commemorate the martyrdoms of both apostles. The date is the anniversary of a
day around 258, under the Valerian persecution, when what were believed to be
the remains of the two apostles were both moved temporarily to prevent them
from falling into the hands of the persecutors. The Scriptures do not record
the deaths of Peter or Paul, or indeed any of the Apostles except for James the
son of Zebedee (Acts 12:2), but they are clearly anticipated (see the readings
below), and from an early date it has been said that they were martyred at Rome
at the command of the Emperor Nero, and buried there. As a Roman citizen, Paul
would probably have been beheaded with a sword. It is said of Peter that he was
crucified head downward. The present Church of St Peter in Rome replaces
earlier churches built on the same site going back to the time of the Emperor
Constantine, in whose reign a church was built there on what was believed to be
the burial site of Peter. Excavations under the church suggest that the belief
is older than Constantine. St. Augustine writes (in Sermon 295): “Both apostles
share the same feast day, for these two were one; and even though they suffered
on different days, they were as one. Peter went first, and Paul followed. And
so we celebrate this day made holy for us by the apostles' blood. Let us
embrace what they believed, their life, their labors, their sufferings, their
preaching, and their confession of faith.”*
