See Phaebeus, de Cathedra in qua S. Petrus Romae sedit, et de antiquitate
et praestantia solemnitatis Cathedrae Romanae. Romae, 1666, 8vo.; also
Chatelain, Notes on the Martyrology, p. 326.
ST. PETER having triumphed over the devil in the East, pursued him to
Rome in the person of Simon Magus. He who had formerly trembled at the
voice of a poor maid, now feared not the very throne of idolatry and
superstition. The capital of the empire of the world, and the centre of
impiety, called for the zeal of the prince of the apostles. God had
established the Roman empire, and extended its dominion beyond that of
any former monarchy, for the more easy propagation of his gospel. Its
metropolis was of the greatest importance for this enterprise. St. Peter
took that province upon himself; and, repairing to Rome, there preached
the faith and established his Episcopal chair, whose _successors_ the
bishops of Rome have been accounted in all ages. That St. Peter founded
that church by his _preaching_, is expressly asserted by Caius,[1] a
priest of Rome under pope Zephyrinus; who relates also that his body was
then on the Vatican-hill, and that of his fellow-laborer, St. Paul, on
the Ostian road. That he and St. Paul planted the faith at Rome, and
were both crowned with martyrdom at the same time, is affirmed by
Dionysius,[2] bishop of Corinth, in the second age. St. Irenaeus,[3] who
lived in the same age, calls the church at Rome "The greatest and most
ancient church, founded by the two glorious apostles, Peter and Paul."
Eusebius, in several places,[4] mentions St. Peter's being at Rome, and
the several important transactions of this apostle in that city. Not to
mention Origen,[5] Hegesippus,[6] Arnobius,[7] St. Ambrose,[8], St.
Austin,[9] St. Jerom,[10] St. Optatus,[11] Orosius,[12] and others on
the same subject.[13] St. Cyprian[14] calls Rome the _chair_ of St.
Peter, (as Theodoret[15] calls it his _throne_,) which the general
councils and ecclesiastical writers, through every age, and on every
occasion, repeat. That St. Peter at least preached in Rome, founded that
church, and died there by martyrdom under Nero, are facts the most
incontestable by the testimony of all writers of different countries,
who lived near that time; persons of unquestionable veracity, and who
could not but be informed of the truth, in a point so interesting, and
of its own nature so public and notorious, as to leave them no
possibility of a mistake. This is also attested by monuments of every
kind; also by the prerogatives, rights, and privileges, which that
church enjoyed from those early ages; in consequence of this title.
It was an ancient custom, as cardinal Baronius[16] and Thomassin[17]
show by many examples, observed by churches, to keep an annual festival
of the {176} consecration of their bishops. The feast of the chair of
St. Peter is found in ancient Martyrologies, as in one under the name of
St. Jerom, at Esternach, copied in the time of St. Willibrord, in 720.
Christians justly celebrate the founding of this mother-church, the
centre of Catholic communion, in thanksgiving to God for his mercies on
his church, and to implore his future blessings.
* * * * *
Christ has taught us {by} the divine model of prayer which he has
delivered to us, that we are bound to recommend to him, before all other
things, the exaltation of his own honor and glory, and to beg that the
kingdom of his holy grace and love be planted in all hearts. If we love
God above all things, and with our whole hearts, or have any true
charity for our neighbor, this will be the centre of all our desires,
that God be loved and served by all his creatures, and that he be
glorified in the most perfect manner, in our own souls. By placing this
at the head of our requests, we shall most strongly engage God to crown
all our just and holy desires. As one of his greatest mercies to his
church, we must earnestly beseech him to raise up in it zealous pastors,
eminently replenished with his Spirit, with which he animated his
apostles.
Footnotes:
1. Apud Eus. l. 2, c. 24, alias 25.
2. Ibid.
3. L. 3, c. 3.
4. L. 2, c. 13 & 15, &c.
5. Ib. l. 3, c. 1.
6. L. de. Excid. Hier. {}.
7. L. 3.
8. Ser. de Basilicis.
9. L. de Haeres. c. 1, &c.
10. L. 17, ad Marcell.
11. Adv. Parm.
12. L. 7, c. 1.
13. The general opinion with Eusebius, St. Jerom, and the Roman
calendar, fixes the first arrival of St. Peter at Rome in the second
year of Claudius. If this date be true, the apostle returned into
the East soon after; for he was imprisoned in Judaea, by Agrippa, in
the year of Christ 43. Lactantius does not mention this first coming
of St. Peter to Rome, but only the second, saying, that he came to
Rome in the reign of Nero, who put him and St. Paul to death. L. de
Mort. Persec. n. 2.
14. Ep. 55, ad. Cornel. pap.
15. L. 2, c. 17.
16. Notae in Martyr.
17. Tr. des Fetes, l. 2, c. 10.