Text from The Saint Andrew's Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.
Saint Peter's Chair at Rome.
Feast Day 18 January.
Greater-Double.
White Vestments.
Chair of Saint Peter,
in Saint Peter's Basilica,
The Vatican.
Artist: Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Year: 1647-1653.
Photo: 3 May 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Sergey Smirnov.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The manifestation of the Divinity of Jesus, which characterises the Season after Epiphany, demands of us the recognition of His Kingship over our Souls.
Christ is the Head of the Church. But as He is to re-ascend some day to Heaven, He communicates His Divine Power to man, for, after the Incarnation, it is to human intermediaries that God wills normally to establish His dealings with us.
The man whom Jesus constitutes "Prince" of Souls (Introit), and "on whom He builds His Church" (Gospel), is Saint Peter. As Vicar of Christ, he will sit in the Chair once occupied by Jesus and will hold in his hands the keys as symbols of supreme authority (Collect, Gospel).
Gian Lorenzo Bernini's
"Cathedra Petri" (or Chair of St. Peter).
Gilded bronze, gold, wood, stained glass, 1647-53,
(Apse of Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, Rome).
Available on YouTube at
We read in the Epistle, the beginning of the Fist Letter of Saint Peter. All the Letters of the Apostle bear the mark of his primacy. Rome is to be the capital of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. It is to Rome that Peter will come, it is on Rome's Blessed soil that he will shed his blood, he will be Bishop of Rome.
Wherefore, we must see in this Feast, a Liturgical testimony to the primacy of honour and jurisdiction attached to the Chair of Rome. This material Chair is still preserved in the Apse of the Basilica of Saint Peter.
Saint Paul, during his sojourn at Corinth, in the year 58 A.D., wrote an Epistle to the Romans. Towards the year 62 A.D., he was led to Rome a captive and remained there two years. Imprisoned again in the year 67 A.D., he was put to death, like Saint Peter, in the henceforth Eternal City. Wherefore, the Liturgy associates, in a Second Collect, the glorious name of the Apostle with that of the first Bishop of Rome.
Let us, today, Pray for the Pope, successor of Saint Peter, that he may freely exercise the Divine Powers communicated to him by Jesus, Son of God.
Mass: Státuit ei Dóminus.
Commemoration: Saint Prisca.
English: Interior of the Basilica of Saint Peter's, Vatican.
Français: Vatican, Basilique St Pierre, Intérieur.
The Chair of Saint Peter can be seen
directly through the Baldachin,
in the middle of the photo.
Source: Own work.
Author: Jean-Christophe BENOIST.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.
The name derives from the Latin Cathedra, meaning chair or throne, which is used to denote the Chair or Seat of a Bishop. The Cathedra, in Saint Peter's Basilica, was once used by the Popes. Inside the Chair, is a wooden throne, which, according to tradition, was used by Saint Peter. It was, however, actually a gift from Charles the Bald to Pope John VIII in 875 A.D.
