Feast of Saints Peter and Paul - Year C

The book The Days of the Martyrs, written by C. Bernard Ruffin, recounts the bloody history of the early Church—from the moment the apostles received the Holy Spirit to the year 313 A.D., when the Edict of Milan was issued, marking the first official reconciliation between the Roman Empire and the Catholic Church. In this book, we find accounts that are both sorrowful, due to the cruelty inflicted upon people whose only “crime” was being Christian and believing in one God and in Jesus Christ, God made man, and astonishing, due to the immense faith these Christians showed even in the face of great brutality.

It’s no wonder that in the early Church there was no distinction between saint and martyr: the martyr was the saint, and the saint was the martyr. Nor was there a lengthy process like today, studying the holy life of someone before declaring them a saint. If someone died a martyr, they were venerated as a saint. Martyrdom—dying for Jesus—was considered the clearest and greatest declaration of a person's holiness.

What is particularly striking is how the book ends: the author notes that although many thousands were killed for their faith in the early centuries of the Church—and indeed in later centuries too—the century in which the greatest number of people were killed for their faith was the twentieth century. This is confirmed by the fact that Pope John Paul II recently declared over 170 victims of the Spanish Civil War, killed between 1936 and 1938, as martyrs. They were all killed out of hatred for the Catholic Faith.

Today, we unite with the universal Church to celebrate the martyrdom of its two greatest apostles: St Peter—who, according to tradition, was crucified upside down because he told his executioners he was unworthy to die like his Master—and St Paul, who was beheaded. Both apostles received the crown of martyrdom in Rome, and tradition holds that they were likely imprisoned together. They were both buried in Rome: one where St Peter’s Basilica now stands, and the other where the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls is found.

A natural question arises: what did these men discover in our Faith that was so extraordinary that they were ready to die for it? First, we must remember that they were human beings like us. This is clearly shown in the writings of the apostles and their disciples in the New Testament, where we see that they had faults and weaknesses just like we do. Nor were they changed instantly the moment they met Jesus and became His disciples. It was after they saw Him risen from the dead and received the Holy Spirit that they were transformed completely.

The word “disciple” means someone who builds their life by walking in the footsteps of the one they follow. So, for the disciples, the most important thing in their lives became the desire to resemble Him more and more. And this remained their deepest commitment throughout their lives—even to the point of death.

These disciples of Jesus were also called apostles. The word “apostle” comes from the Greek of the New Testament and means someone who is sent on a mission. And what was the apostles’ mission? They dedicated their lives to bringing Jesus and His teachings to the world. No one paid them for this—on the contrary, they were persecuted, and in the end, many were killed for what they believed. To those who do not believe, these men are the greatest fools the world has known. But to those who do believe, they are the foundation of our faith—because not only did they encounter Jesus personally, not only did they preach Him with all their strength, they were also willing to die for Him. It’s no surprise, then, that the Christian community has never ceased praising God on their feast days.

Let us ask ourselves: what does Faith mean to me? What place does it hold in my life?

We pray to you, Lord: grant us your grace so that, like your apostles, we may place Faith in the first and most important place in our lives, and never give up on our journey to become more and more like you, just as they did. Amen.