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ST. PETER
The first pope, the Prince of the Apostles, founder of the
see of Rome, and the disciple of Jesus chosen to serve as
Vicar of Christ, the Rock upon whom Christ built the Church.
Peter is a figure of such importance in the history of the
Church and the establishing of the papacy that it is easily
forgotten that he lived as a simple fisherman for much of
his life with his brother Andrew in the small community
where he was born, Bethsaida, near Lake Tiberias in Galilee.
Throughout the accounts in the Gospel and the Acts of the
Apostles, Peter appears as a fiery, strong, and even
hotheaded individual. His call by Christ to be a disciple,
as reported in the Gospel according to Luke, came about
after he caught a miraculous amount of fish, so many that he
collapsed at the knees of Christ, to which Jesus replied:
"Do not be afraid; henceforth you shall be catching men.''
Simon (as he was originally known) was forever after the
leading disciple, receiving from Christ the important new
name of Cephas, meaning "rock.'' In Greek this was
translated as Petros, from which Peter is derived. Christ
also gave to Peter the so-called Power of the Keys after the
disciple proclaimed, "You are Christ, the Son of the living
God.'' One of the inner circle of Christ with John and
James, Peter was involved in virtually all of the major
events in the years of Christ's ministry. He also was quite
prominent in the Passion accounts. For example, when Christ
was arrested, he lopped off the right ear of a servant of
the high priest, and that same night he denied Christ three
times, as the Master had predicted. After the Resurrection,
however, he was unquestionably the foremost of the Apostles,
performing miracles, the first of Christ's followers to do
so; his powers were so formidable as a healer that he was
able to restore the sick with his shadow.
In the years that followed, Peter was the unquestioned head
of the fledgling Church, traveling extensively across much
of the Roman world. It was inevitable, then, that he should
come to Rome, noting in his first Epistle that he was
writing from Babylon, the name customarily used for Rome.
While his activities are quite obscure, it is clear that he
was put to death in the Eternal City during the persecution
launched by Emperor Nero around 64. As founder of the see of
Rome, Peter was naturally singled out for arrest, reportedly
begging the Romans to crucify him upside down because he was
unworthy of dying in the same manner as his Master.
His work in Rome was recognized even in the Early Church as
establishing a religious primacy, with the Petrine See (as
the diocese of Rome is called) enjoying a position of
primacy over the Universal Church. Peter's successors as
Bishops of Rome thus were holders of the same authority as
Peter himself, a central pillar of their claims to primacy
over the entire Church. His symbols are the crossed keys,
for the Keys of the Kingdom; a cock for the triple denial of
Christ (the cock crowed after his denials); and the boat
(hence the term Barque of Peter). Successor: St. Linus. (See
also Holy See; box, Martyred Pontiffs, page 236; Petes's
Chains, Feast of, Primacy of the Pope; Rome; Saint Peter;
Basilica of; and Tomb of Peter.)
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