Suggest an Edit — Saint Peter

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Biography

Short Description

Saint Peter, known in the New Testament as Simon, Simon Peter, or Cephas, was a Galilean Jewish fisherman who became the leading figure among the Twelve Apostles of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospel of John identifies Bethsaida as the city of Andrew and Peter; the Synoptic Gospels present him as living and working at Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee, where he fished in partnership with his brother Andrew and with James and John. Jesus called him from that work and gave him the name Peter, from the Greek petros, corresponding to the Aramaic kepha, both meaning rock. The evangelists record that Peter was married: Jesus healed his mother-in-law at Capernaum, and the apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, refers to Peter's being accompanied by a believing wife. Clement of Alexandria, in the late second century, adds that Peter had children and that his wife eventually suffered martyrdom.

Throughout the Gospels Peter is portrayed as spokesman and representative of the Twelve, named first in every apostolic list, present at the Transfiguration and in the garden of Gethsemane, and the disciple who at Caesarea Philippi confessed Jesus as the Messiah. Matthew's Gospel attaches to that confession the saying that Peter is the rock on which the church will be built and that he will receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, a text that later became the principal scriptural foundation for claims of Roman primacy. The same narratives emphasize his human weakness: he attempts to walk on the water and falters; he vows that he will never fall away and then denies Jesus three times; after the resurrection, the Gospel of John describes a threefold rehabilitation in which the risen Christ charges him to feed and tend the flock. In the Acts of the Apostles he dominates the first half of the book: he preaches at Pentecost, works healings, opens the community to Gentiles in the person of the centurion Cornelius, and takes a leading part at the Council of Jerusalem. Paul's letter to the Galatians attests both to Peter's stature and to a conflict at Antioch over whether Jewish and Gentile Christians should share table fellowship.

By the end of the first century, Roman Christians already remembered Peter as having been present in their city and as having died a martyr's death. The First Letter of Clement, written from Rome, speaks of Peter's endurance and of his departure to the place of glory after bearing witness. Second-century writers including Ignatius of Antioch, Dionysius of Corinth, Irenaeus of Lyons, and Tertullian independently associate Peter with Rome and with martyrdom under Nero. Later tradition, reported by Origen and Eusebius, specifies crucifixion, and often adds that Peter asked to be crucified head downward as unworthy to die in the same manner as his Lord. The precise year is not recorded in contemporary sources; Christian chronographers have proposed dates in the mid or late 60s, in connection with Nero's persecution of Christians after the fire of 64. The same body of tradition holds that Peter had earlier led the church in Antioch, and the patriarchal succession lists of Antioch begin with his name.

No formal canonization was ever required. From the second century a memorial stood on the Vatican hill, near the circus associated with Nero's executions; Constantine built a basilica over that shrine, and the present St. Peter's Basilica occupies the same site. Excavations in the twentieth century revealed a second-century tropaion and a burial that Pope Paul VI in 1968 judged, with acknowledged historical caution, to be the apostle's. Peter's chief feast, shared with Saint Paul, falls on 29 June; other observances include the Chair of Saint Peter on 22 February. He is venerated as patron of the papacy and of Rome, of fishermen, net makers, shipwrights and sailors, of locksmiths and those who bear keys, and of many other trades and local churches. Catholic tradition regards him as the first pope and as the source of a unique Petrine ministry continued in the bishops of Rome. Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches honor him as the chief of the apostles and as founder of the see of Antioch, while interpreting apostolic primacy primarily as a primacy of honor.

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