St. Peter the Apostle

The fisherman whom Christ named the rock of his Church, first among the Apostles and first Bishop of Rome.

St. Peter, the fisherman Simon whom Jesus renamed Peter, the rock, was the leader of the Apostles and is venerated as the first Bishop of Rome and the first pope.

Life

Simon, son of John (or Jonah), was a fisherman from Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee who worked from Capernaum with his brother Andrew, in partnership with James and John, the sons of Zebedee. He was a married man; the Gospels tell of Jesus healing his mother-in-law in his own house. Andrew, a disciple of John the Baptist, brought him to Jesus. On another occasion, after a night of fruitless fishing and a sudden miraculous catch, Peter fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Luke 5:8). Jesus answered by calling him to become a fisher of men, and he left his nets to follow.

Throughout the Gospels Peter stands first. His name heads every list of the Twelve, he speaks for the others, and with James and John he witnessed the raising of Jairus' daughter, the Transfiguration, and the agony in Gethsemane. At Caesarea Philippi, when Jesus asked who the disciples said he was, Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 16:16-19). John's Gospel records the same name: "You are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas (which means Peter)" (John 1:42). Cephas comes from the Aramaic Kepha, meaning rock, and Peter from its Greek rendering, Petros.

He was also strikingly human. He walked on the water toward Jesus and began to sink when he doubted. He rebuked the Lord for speaking of the Cross and was rebuked in turn. At the Last Supper he swore he would die rather than deny his Master, and that same night, in the courtyard of the high priest, he denied three times that he knew him, then went out and wept bitterly. Yet Jesus had already prayed for him: "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren" (Luke 22:32). After the Resurrection the risen Christ appeared to Peter, and by the Sea of Galilee he asked him three times, "Do you love me?", answering each confession with a charge: "Feed my lambs," "Tend my sheep," and "Feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17).

The Acts of the Apostles shows Peter leading the young Church. He presided over the choice of Matthias to replace Judas, preached on Pentecost, after which some three thousand were baptized, and healed a man lame from birth at the Temple gate. Arrested and flogged, he told the Sanhedrin, "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). He baptized the Roman centurion Cornelius, opening the Church to the Gentiles, was freed from Herod's prison by an angel, and spoke decisively at the Council of Jerusalem. Ancient tradition holds that he led the Church at Antioch and then at Rome. There, during the persecution under Nero around the year 64, he was crucified; according to tradition, he asked to be crucified head downward, judging himself unworthy to die as his Lord had. He was buried on the Vatican Hill, where St. Peter's Basilica now stands above his tomb.

What he taught

Peter's teaching comes to us in his sermons in Acts, in the two New Testament letters that bear his name, and, according to early Christian writers, in the Gospel of Mark, whom Peter called his son and who set down his preaching. Its center is the crucified and risen Christ. On Pentecost he proclaimed that God had made Jesus "both Lord and Christ" and called the crowd to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins, promising them the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:36-38).

His first letter, written to scattered and suffering Christians, calls them "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9) and urges them to bear unjust suffering patiently, as Christ did, to be ready always to give a reason for the hope that is in them, and to cast all their anxieties on God, "because he cares about you" (1 Peter 5:7). He warned against the devil, who "prowls around like a roaring lion" (1 Peter 5:8), and against false teachers, and he reminded the elders of the Church to shepherd the flock willingly and by example, not by domineering over it.

Why he matters today

Peter matters first because of the office Christ gave him. The keys, the charge to strengthen his brethren, and the command to feed the sheep were given to him personally, and the Church has always understood them to pass to his successors, the Bishops of Rome. Every pope is called the successor of Peter, and the unity of the Catholic Church with the Pope is unity with the rock on which Christ chose to build.

He matters too because he is so easy to recognize. Christ did not build his Church on a man who never failed, but on one who was impulsive, afraid, and capable of denying him, and who repented and was restored. Peter shows that the Church's strength is not in the virtue of her leaders but in the prayer and fidelity of Christ, who turns weakness into a foundation. The man who once sank in the waves and wept in the courtyard died for his Lord, and his tomb lies beneath the altar of the Church's principal basilica.

A prayer

"Lord, you have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."
— St. Peter (John 6:68-69)