Description

St Peter – Prince of the Apostles Holy Card

9cm x  5cm card

He is the patron

saint

of popes and of Rome and of many cities that bear his name, such as

St

. Petersburg and

Saint

-Pierre. As a former fisherman, he is the patron

saint

of netmakers, shipbuilders, and fishermen, and, because he holds the “keys of heaven,” he is also the patron

saint

of locksmiths.

When faced with his fate, Peter asked to be crucified
upside down. It is said he did not feel worthy to be martyred in the
same manner as Christ. After St. Peter’s death, St. Linus went on to
become the first Roman pope of the Catholic Church. The line of
succession from St. Linus is unbroken, dating back to 64 A.D.

In the Gospel of John, we learn that Jesus alluded to St.
Peter’s death. He said, “When you are old, you will stretch out your
hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to
go” (John 21:18). Unfortunately, the death of Peter isn’t reported
anywhere in the Bible. Writers of the time, however, say he died by
crucifixion under the reign of Emperor Nero in 64 A.D.

Peter’s Death

It appears from the first of the two letters ascribed to Peter that
his outlook as a Jew and a Semite was never influenced by Greek or other
non-Jewish thought. He reflects the mentality of a 1st-century Jew who
believes that Jesus came as the Messiah of Israel and as the fulfillment
of all Israel’s promises and expectations. Some of Peter’s statements
would not now be acceptable to orthodox Christian thought. From what we
know of Peter and his life, he seems to have made the transition from
Palestine to Rome as from one Jewish community to another Jewish
community, never fundamentally changing his instincts as a Jewish
believer, except insofar as he totally accepted Jesus as the Messiah of
Israel.

Tradition designates Peter as author of two letters which carry his
name, although doubt has been thrown on Peter’s authorship of at least
the second. Various apocryphal documents which certainly date from the
2d century are ascribed to Peter. There is also the fragmentary Acts of
Peter, which purports to relate how Peter ended his life as a martyr.

Excavations at the Vatican have yielded no cogent and conclusive
evidence either of Peter’s presence in Rome or of his burial beneath the
Vatican. They have, however, uncovered an ancient shrine which dates
from approximately 160. Collateral evidence suggests that it was the
burial site of some venerated figure, and Roman Catholic tradition
identifies that figure with Peter. There is no direct testimony in the
New Testament that Peter’s position as leader of the Apostles was meant
to be passed on to his successors, the bishops of Rome, as the primacy
of the popes over all of Christianity. This is a separate question and
depends on subsequent Church development and evolution of its beliefs.

From all we can learn and surmise, it does appear that Peter occupied
a position of importance in Rome and was martyred there under the rule
of Nero (37-68). The earliest testimony comes from a letter of Clement
written about the year 96 in Rome. A letter of Ignatius of Antioch (died
ca. 110) also implies Peter’s presence and authority in Rome, as does
the saying of Gaius, a Roman cleric (ca. 200). Gaius speaks of the
Vatican shrine and the “founders” of this church. Finally, all the early
lists of the bishops of Rome start with Peter’s name as the first
bishop.

Roman Sojourn

We are told of various missionary trips which Peter undertook in
order to preach about Jesus. He was finally imprisoned by Herod and
released miraculously by an angel. He then “departed and went to another
place” (Acts 12:17). After 49, we have no direct record in the Acts
about Peter, and we have to rely on external testimony.

In the early days after the death of Jesus, Peter is presented in the
Acts again as the leader of Jesus’ followers. The Jewish Sanhedrin
treated him as the leader, and he preached the first mass appeal to the
Jerusalemites about Jesus. He also directed the economic life of the
Christian community and decided who would be admitted to it. About 49,
when the Christians faced their first major decision—whether to admit
non-Jews to their group—it was Peter who received guidance from God and
made a positive decision accepted by all the other followers of Jesus
present. That there was a difference of opinion concerning doctrinal
matters between himself and Paul is beyond doubt. Paul, besides,
reproached Peter for a certain insincerity and even manifested
independence from Peter.

The same character is assigned to Peter in the Acts of the Apostles
and in the few references which we find in Paul’s letters. Paul went to
Jerusalem to see Peter and be approved by him. About 14 years later, it
appears that Peter headed the Christian evangelization of the Jews, in
distinction to Paul, who preached to the Gentiles, and to James, who was
bishop of Jerusalem.

Jesus, according to the Gospel, gave Peter special assignments, such
as paying the tribute or tax to the authorities on behalf of Jesus and
his group. Jesus also said that he would build his new organization on
Peter’s leadership (Matthew 16:17-19) and entrusted his followers and
believers to him (John 21:15-19). Many commentators have thrown doubt on
the texts which ascribe this special role to Peter, but it is certain
that the Gospels thus present Peter as the chosen leader.

Throughout the public life of Jesus, Peter is represented in the
Gospels as the spokesman and the principal member of Jesus’ followers.
He is the first named in all the lists given of these followers and was
present with a privileged few at special occasions: when Jesus brought
the daughter of Jairus back to life; when Jesus had a special
communication with Moses and Elias on Mt. Tabor; and in the Garden of
Gethsemane on the night before Jesus died. Peter was the first of the
Apostles to see Jesus after his resurrection from the dead.

Peter and Andrew were among the first to be chosen by Jesus to be his
close followers. Thereafter Peter accompanied Jesus everywhere. Jesus
gave Peter the added name of Cephas, an Aramaic appellation meaning
“rock.” This was translated into Greek as

Petros

(from the Greek

petra,

“rock”) and became the Latin Petrus and the English Peter. The Gospels differ as to when Jesus conferred this name on him.

Association with Jesus

The general atmosphere in Palestine when Peter reached his adult life
in the mid-20s of the 1st century A.D. was one of tension over the
universal presence of the Roman conqueror and foreboding born of a
strictly religious persuasion that the arrival of the Jewish Messiah was
imminent as the only possible solution for Israel’s difficulties.
Indeed, we find more than once in the Gospels that the followers of
Jesus, headed by Peter, attempted to force Jesus to accept the role of
king. Even after the resurrection of Jesus, Peter and the others asked
him when and how he would restore the kingdom of Israel. It is certain
that Peter’s attachment to Jesus, at least in the beginning, was largely
based on the persuasion that Jesus would indeed restore the kingdom of
Israel and that Peter and the other Apostles would be leaders in the new
era.

Recent researches into the daily life of the ordinary people in
Palestine paint a fairly clear picture of Peter’s social conditions:
extreme poverty, a very fideistic approach to religion, a reliance on
superstition, and an extreme dependence on the vagaries of natural
elements. Furthermore, in the northern parts of Palestine, removed from
proximate influence of Jerusalem, more revolutionary ideas easily took
hold. Unrefined and undeveloped ideas about the Messiah and about the
salvation of Israel easily took the form of political movements,
extremist organizations, and a readiness to disassociate oneself from
the authoritarian structure of southern Judaism.

As far as can be judged, Peter was a member of the ordinary people of
Palestine, who were normally considered by educated Jewish classes to
belong to

Am harez

, the people of the land. This term was used
in a derogatory fashion to describe those who were ignorant of the
niceties and deeper values of Judaism and the Jewish way of life. In
addition, Peter was a Galilean and therefore shared the spirit of
independence and opposition to Jerusalem which was traditional in that
northern province.

His Times

By the time he met and joined Jesus, he was already
married (Mark 1:30); he lacked any formal education (Acts 4:13); and he
worked the fishing nets with his father and his brother Andrew at the
lakeside town of Capernaum. Andrew also joined the group of Jesus’
disciples on the same day.

Peter’s original name was Simon, Peter being a name
given to him by Jesus. At the time of Jesus’ public life, Peter was a
grown man. This would place his birth sometime around the end of the 1st
century B.C. Of his early life, we know little except that he came from
the village of Bethsaida in Galilee and that his father was a
fisherman.

Early Life

St. Peter was the first person Jesus visited after the
Resurrection. It was there that Jesus confirmed he would be the leader
of the Church. As such, Peter went on to be the first in an unbroken
succession of leaders in the Catholic Church, now referred to as popes.
Like Jesus, he died a martyr. Much can be learned about St. Peter in the
New Testament, particularly within the four synoptic Gospels.

St. Peter (died ca. 65 A.D.) is traditionally considered to
be the head of Jesus’ 12 Apostles and the first bishop of Rome. The two
met while they were listening to a sermon by St. John the Baptist. From
the moment Peter met Jesus, he knew he was the Messiah. Likewise, from
the moment Jesus met Peter, he knew he would be the rock of the Church.

St. Peter Facts

In the Catholic Church, to become a saint, you must meet a
certain set of criteria, including a life lived as a servant of good,
proof of heroic virtue, and verified miracles. For the last of these,
St. Peter reportedly walked on water along with Jesus. Not only did St.
Peter meet each of these qualifications, he also lives on as the patron
saint of popes, Rome, fishermen, and locksmiths.