Peter the Apostle

Simon was a fisherman from Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee, the son of Jonah (or John) and the brother of Andrew, who first brought him to Jesus. Jesus gave him the Aramaic name Kepha, Peter in Greek, meaning Rock, at their first meeting (John 1:42), and confirmed it solemnly at Caesarea Philippi after Peter’s confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16-18).

Peter was the first of the Twelve called, the first to be named in every list of the apostles, and the leader of the apostolic college. He presided at the election of Matthias (Acts 1), preached the first Christian sermon on Pentecost (Acts 2), performed the first healing miracle (Acts 3), and was the first to receive the Gentiles into the Church, the conversion of Cornelius (Acts 10). He presided at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15).

Peter established the church at Antioch before eventually settling in Rome, where he served as the first Bishop and was martyred under Nero c. AD 64. Tradition records that he was crucified upside down at his own request, deeming himself unworthy to die as his Lord had died. His tomb is beneath the high altar of St Peter’s Basilica, confirmed by archaeological excavations in the 1940s–60s. The bones found there were formally identified by Pope Paul VI in 1968.

As Benedict XVI wrote in his catechesis on Peter:

“The figure of Peter occupies a special place in the New Testament. His name appears in the various lists of the apostles always in first place… Above all, it is important to understand the particular meaning of his new name, Kepha. In the Old Testament, the word rock usually referred to God. To apply it to a man was unprecedented… He was to be the Rock, the visible foundation on which the whole spiritual edifice of the Church is built.”