St Peter

Peter also known as Simon Peter is one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. Most of what we know about Saint Peter comes from the Bible as he features in many stories within the New Testament. The first instance where Saint Peter is said to have met Jesus was when Jesus was preaching to a crowd but they didn’t give him enough room. Peter and his brother Andrew were fishing and Jesus asked them if he could join them in the boat to safely address the crowd from a distance. They agreed and then Jesus got them to push the boat out further and cast their nets. As they’d been fishing all night they were sceptical but their nets were suddenly bulging with fish. Peter realised Jesus was very special and thought he was too good for him but Jesus asked them to follow him and help him to be fishers of men instead of fish. After this initial meeting, Saint Peter became one of Jesus’ closest friends. He is seen as very loyal and loving to Jesus, despite his public denial of knowing him after Jesus’ crucifixion. Saint Peter was entrusted to build the early Christian Church in Palestine after Jesus returned to heaven. He was the first leader of the early apostolic community for 34 years and was very influential in the early days of the Catholic Church. Saint Peter remains influential to this day and although the word Pope hadn’t been used in Peter’s lifetime, he is viewed as the very first Pope, with every continuous Pope a successor to him. He is even said to have been buried where St Peter’s Basilica was later built in Vatican City.

Saint Peter is often depicted as holding the keys to the kingdom, showing his importance in Catholic religious beliefs about going to heaven after death. The Feast of Saint Peter is celebrated on 29th of June and he is the patron saint of Popes and of Rome.