Sts. Peter and Paul

Peter and Paul did not travel as a pair, and they did not always agree. Paul withstood Peter to his face at Antioch over the question of Gentile believers and the Law. The Church still keeps one solemnity for both, because Rome died with both of them, and because the New Testament will not let the Church choose a mission to the Jews without a mission to the nations, or a rock without a preacher to the Gentiles. Peter is the one to whom Jesus gives the keys, the one who denies and is restored, the one who preaches at Pentecost. Paul is the persecutor who is knocked down, the apostle to the Gentiles, the writer of the letters that carry the Gospel across the map.

Early Roman tradition places both martyrdoms in the city under Nero, Peter crucified, Paul beheaded as a Roman citizen. The archaeology of the Vatican hill and of the basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls is the Church’s memory set in stone. The Quo vadis story, in which the fleeing Peter meets Christ going back into Rome, is an ancient legend, not Scripture. It can be told as legend. The solemnity does not depend on it. What the liturgy claims is that the same city holds the confession of both apostles, and that their blood is part of why this church presides in charity, as Ignatius of Antioch already said of Rome.

June 29 has been the Roman date for centuries. It is a solemnity for the whole Latin Church, not a local festival of the diocese of Rome, though Rome feels it most. In the United States it is not a holy day of obligation. Canon 1246 names Peter and Paul among the holy days of the universal law, and the American complementary norm does not retain the obligation. The Mass is still celebrated with the rank of a solemnity, in red, the color of the apostles’ martyrdom. The Gloria and the Creed are said.

The pope often imposes the pallium on new metropolitan archbishops on or near this day. The pallium, a band of wool, is a sign of communion with the bishop of Rome and of the shepherd’s office. It is a Roman rite attached to the feast, not a required part of every parish Mass. What every parish does receive is the preface: Peter established the early Church on the remnant of Israel, and Paul became teacher of the nations. One solemnity, two missions, one Lord.

The readings turn through Acts: Peter released from prison, or Peter’s confession, and Paul’s departure, “I have finished the race.” The Gospel is Matthew 16, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,” with the keys. A vigil Mass is provided. The Church is careful here. The rock is Peter’s confession of Christ, and it is also Peter himself, in the office Jesus gives him. Catholic teaching does not separate the faith Peter speaks from the man who speaks it and the office his successors hold.