On the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul the Church celebrates the feast of the two great apostles and founders of the Church of Christ.  Both of these apostles gave their lives for the cause of the gospel in different persecutions in the city of Rome.  Peter was martyred in the Circus of Nero on the Vatican hill and Paul was martyred in an area outside of the Roman walls that is now called “Tre Fontane”, the Three Fountains.  Peter was crucified upside down and Paul was beheaded.  The story is that Paul’s head bounced upon the ground three times and wherever it landed a fountain of water sprung up, thus the name of the Three Fountains.  These fountains are still flowing today, inside what is now a Cistercian monastery.  The body of the apostle Peter was buried in the catacombs on the Vatican hill next to the Circus of Nero and eventually a great basilica was built upon his gravesite that is now St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest basilica in Christendom.  One can still visit the excavations under the Basilica of St. Peter and come to the burial place of Peter.  St. Paul was buried near Tre Fontane and there is now a basilica built there that is named St. Paul Outside  the Walls.  Together with St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran, these are the great basilicas of Rome and places of extraordinary grace.  This year of the Jubilee thousands of people will visit these basilicas to pass through their “Holy Doors” and receive special graces and indulgences.

     These two apostles, Peter and Paul, were joined together in their martyrdom and were like two arms of the early missionary Church.  Paul recognized Peter as the head of the new Christian Church, the followers of Jesus the Christ called the People of the Way.  When Paul experienced his conversion he spent some considerable time in prayer and then went to Jerusalem to visit with St. Peter and present to him the gospel as he understood it and as he was prepared to preach it.  The relationship between Peter and Paul was not always an ideal one as Paul explains in one of his letters how he had to confront Peter on his behavior among Gentiles when Jews from Jerusalem were present among them.  Peter acted differently when there were Jewish leaders from the Jerusalem church present.  Paul clearly felt that Peter was wrong and he called him on it to his face.  Peter and Paul would meet again at the Council of Jerusalem where it was determined that Peter would continue his missionary mission among the Jews and that Paul would be considered the apostle to the Gentiles.

     There is a story told that the two apostles met again in Rome and there they embraced one another.  Now there are icons that depict the two apostles embracing and we see the apostles celebrating the same feast day.  St John Chrysostom wrote: “Not so bright is the heaven, when the sun sends forth his rays, as is the City of Rome, sending out these two lights (Peter and Paul) into all parts of the world… Therefore, I admire the City… for these pillars of the Church” (Homily on St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, 32, 24).  From the ministry of these two apostles the Church has gone out from Rome into every corner of the world.

     On the Solemnity of Peter and Paul the Church confers on every new archbishop the Pallium.  The Pallium is a sign of the authority of the metropolitan archbishop which must be exercised in service and humility.  The Pallium is woven out of the pure wool of an unblemished lamb that has been taken on the feast of St. Agnes and then, after its construction, has been placed in the Confessio under the high altar of St. Peter’s basilica.  It’s a circular band of white wool, about two inches wide, adorned with six black crosses, and worn over the chasuble.  The Pallium represents the gentle yoke of Jesus.  The archbishop, in leading his archdiocese, must be yoked to the will of God.  The Pallium is a reminder to the archbishop that his authority does not derive from his will but must be surrendered to the will of God.  This band of pure wool, marked with crosses and nails, is also a reminder that every archbishop must be willing to sacrifice his life for the sheep entrusted to his care.  Like Jesus, the Lamb of God, each archbishop must be willing and prepared to lay down his life for his sheep.  True love is made visible in sacrifice.  The world is still in need of those who are willing to be witnesses to love through sacrifice, humility and gentle pastoral care of others, especially those who are lost and need to be found and placed on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd and brought home.