ST. PETER’S CHAIR AT ROME

See Phæbens, de Cathedra in qua S. Petrus Romæ sedit, et de antiquitate et prætantià solemntails Cathedra Romanæ. Romæ, 1668, 8vo.; also Chatelan, Notes on the Martyrology, p. 326.

ST. PETER having triumphed over the devil in the East, pursned 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 Dioaysius,2 bishop of Corinth, in the second age. St. Irenæus,3 who lived in the same age, calls the church at Rome “The greatest and most ancient church, founded by the two glarious 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.* St. Cyprian13 calls Rome the chair of St. Peter, (as Theodoret14 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 Baronius15 and Themassin16 show by many examples, observed by churches, to keep an annual festival of the 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 as taught us 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.