| | St. Peter (died in A.C. 67) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ of the New Testament. His name Simone was the original (Hebrew Shim 'on "listen"), but was nicknamed Peter, which means rock in greek (Petros). St. Paul called him Cephas, or Cephas, which is the Aramaic equivalent of the nickname. Before becoming a disciple of Jesus, Simon (Peter) was a fisherman. The following account comes from the Gospel of Luke (see also Gospel): Simone meets for the first time Jesus when He got into his boat to preach to a crowd that had gathered on the shore of Lake Genesaret. After he had finished preaching, Jesus asked Simon to take the boat out to sea to catch fish. Simon expressed doubt that they would catch any fish because they had been fishing all the previous night and caught nothing. But they did a large number of fish that day, and Simon was ashamed beecause he doubted of Jesus. However, Jesus called him to be a disciple, saying, "Do not be afraid, from now on you'll take people and not fish." According to the Gospels, Simon was the first person to profess the faith that Jesus was the Son of God and the event accelerates the adoption of its new name, "Peter". The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus asked his disciples who they thought He was, and Simon answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, so Jesus said, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because neither the flesh and blood has not revealed you this, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven " The twenty-first chapter of John's Gospel indicates that Peter was martyred by crucifixion, and Clement of Rome, A.C. 95, places his death at the time of Nero. The following tradition says that the Romans crucified him upside down (at his request, beecause he did not want to compare himself to Jesus). On the way to his execution, people say, he met Jesus and asked, "Domine, Quo Vadis?" ("Lord, where are you going?"). Other versions of the story claim that this happened while Peter was fleeing Rome to avoid execution, after the meeting he went back. You can read of his life in the Gospels, but what do we know of his death in the first century? The news of what happened in the first century to Christians, in relation to the persecution started after the episode of the burning of Rome by Nero, are from pagan sources only. After the fire, which was terrible and had deeply shocked the people, all suspected of Nero, and so they had to commit to find "guilty" to defend himself (Tacitus writes: ". Then followed expiatory ceremonies in honor of the gods and were consulted on the books of the Sibyl. But the human aid, the donations of the sovereign or religious ceremonies to allay the suspicion that the fire was caused. were not enough. Then to truncate every rumor, Nero was forced to seek the guilty and tortured with the most refined tortures those whom the common people called Christians, and that they had made for their heinous crimes. Christ, the founder of this sect, was put to death by the procurator Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius., and again: "At first those, who confessed to be Christians were arrested , then, upon revelation, was put in prison a great multitude, not so much on the charge of having set fire to Rome, as for their hatred against mankind. To the torture was added a note of atrocious mockery: some victims were covered with the skins of wild beasts and made death eaten by dogs, others were crucified and made burning in the night like a torch ...). Numerous sources that say that the apostles Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom in Rome during the persecution. The exact year of the martyrdom is not known. Writes Lactantius. "For some years reigned Nero, when he arrived in Rome, the apostle Peter, and made some miracles by the power and the power that God had bestowed upon him, converted many to the true faith and raised a temple to God faithful and long lasting. Nero, evil tyrant and wicked as he was, when he was told of this and came to know that every day, not only in Rome, but everywhere, many people deserted the worship of the old gods and condemned the old religion, passed the new, he gave himself with all his strength to break down the celestial kingdom raised by the apostle and destroy the true faith: first persecuting the servants of the Lord, crucify him Peter and Paul beheaded. " According to Origen, quoted by Eusebius, Peter was crucified upside down by his own choice (in fact he says. "Finally arrived in Rome, he was crucified head down, a form of martyrdom that he had just seen."). A final source (Caio quoted by Eusebius) provides information on the burial place of the two apostles. He says. "I could show you the tombs of the Apostles: if you wanted to go to the Vatican or the Ostiense street, you will find, really, the tombs of those who have raised our church." This is the oldest evidence of the tombs of the apostles, news and recent excavations have confirmed. Peter of Bethsaida in Galilee, Prince of the Apostles received from Jesus Christ the supreme Pontifical Powers be transmitted to his successors. Resided first in Antioch, then, it refers Chronograph year 354, to 25 years in Rome, where he was martyred or 64 or 67. Both the ancient and the current Vatican basilica was built on the burial chamber of the Prince of the Apostles. Next to the tomb of Peter the early saints were buried the popes. "Peter pray for the holy Christian men buried close to your body," so the written near the grave. The Confessio Petri blessed is still under the papal altar, discovery announced to the world by Pius XII in his radio address on Christmas Eve of 1950. A reliquary of St Peter keeps his finger. The relic of the head is at the Lateran. Patronage and iconography St. Peter is the patron saint of fishermen and fishmongers, for the chains with which he was tied, the smelters and smiths of harvesters and manufacturers of baskets because, like them, "league", as the holder of the keys is the protector of the porters, and the manufacturers of locks, and, by extension, watchmakers, and other manufacturers of appliances, precision, for his name is the patron saint of bricklayers. Because in comparison with Simon Magus routed dogs that they had incited other hand, protects against animal bites, attacks of madness, anger. The iconographic attributes are taken from the episodes of his life: first the keys, then fishing nets, the rooster, the inverted cross, the chains of imprisonment. As the founder of papal authority can be represented by the triple crown or papal cross with three crossbars, signifying the temporal power, spiritual and regal. St. Paul is the patron saint of Greece and Malta. To have been thrown from a horse is the patron of knights, for he regained his sight is invoked against blindness. For having resisted the Christian doctrine, and then to his preaching, is the patron saint of theologians. Lowered in a basket from the wall of Damascus, is the patron saint of basket makers and rope-makers, because he was killed with a sword, is the patron of swordmakers. Since during the journey to Rome was wrecked, and Malta was bitten by a viper, is invoked against storms and sea against the bite of snakes. The most frequent depictions present him with the sword of martyrdom and the book of doctrine. | |
