🗓️Jan 18Chair of St. Peter at Rome

🏛️This distinguished liturgical feast celebrates the establishment of the Pontifical See in Rome by Saint Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, symbolizing the teaching authority, the primacy of jurisdiction, and the unity of the Catholic Church under the Vicar of Christ. In the traditional calendar prior to 1960, the Church distinguished this commemoration from the Chair of Antioch (February), specifically honoring on this day Peter's definitive establishment in the Eternal City, the center of the ancient world, which he consecrated with his blood. Saint Peter suffered martyrdom in Rome, crucified upside down under the persecution of Emperor Nero, around the year 64 or 67 AD. The venerated "Chair" (Cathedra) is not merely a material object, but the theological symbol of the power of the keys conferred by Christ, ensuring the infallible magisterium that confirms the brethren in the faith and preserves the unity of Christian doctrine throughout the centuries.

🎼Introit (Ecclus 45:30 | Ps 131:1)

Státuit ei Dóminus testaméntum pacis, et príncipem fecit eum: ut sit illi sacerdótii dígnitas in ætérnum. Ps. Meménto, Dómine, David: et omnis mansuetúdinis ejus. The Lord made to him a covenant of peace, and made him a prince: that the dignity of priesthood should be to him for ever. Ps. O Lord, remember David: and all his meekness.

📜Epistle (1 Pet 1:1-7)

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers dispersed through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, unto the sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy hath regenerated us unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that can not fade, reserved in heaven for you, who, by the power of God, are kept by faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein you shall greatly rejoice, if now must be for a little time you are made sorrowful in divers temptations: that the trial of your faith (much more precious than gold which is tried by the fire) may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the appearing of Jesus Christ our Lord.

✠Gospel (Mt 16:13-19)

At that time, Jesus came into the quarters of Cesarea Philippi: and he asked his disciples, saying: Whom do men say that the Son of man is? But they said: Some John the Baptist, and other some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. Jesus saith to them: But whom do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

💭The Primacy of Peter and the Unity of the Church

🗝️The celebration of the Chair of Saint Peter invites us to meditate deeply on the visible foundation of unity and truth in the Church, instituted by Christ not upon the human frailty of Simon, but upon the rock of faith which he confessed by divine revelation. As Saint Augustine teaches in his explanation of this mystery, "upon this rock which thou hast confessed, I will build My Church; for Christ was the Rock, upon whose foundation Peter himself was also built" (Tractate on the Gospel of John, 124, 5). In today's Gospel, the delivery of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven symbolizes the supreme jurisdiction to bind and loose, a power that emanates from the very royal authority of Jesus and is entrusted to His Vicar for the salvation of souls. This authority is not tyrannical, but a service of charity and truth, ensuring that the Church remains one and undivided. The Epistle of Saint Peter reminds us that this faith, "much more precious than gold," must be tried by the fire of tribulations; so too has the Chair of Rome been, throughout history, the bulwark against the storms of heresies. The promise that "the gates of hell shall not prevail" assures the indefectibility of the Church, sustained by the prayer of Christ who prayed that Peter's faith might not fail. Therefore, to honor the Chair is to submit docilely to the perennial magisterium that keeps us in the incorruptible inheritance mentioned in the Epistle, recognizing that where Peter is, there is the Church, and where the Church is, there is no death, but eternal life.

👉See English version of the critical articles here.