Every June 29 the Church celebrates the great feast day ofSts. Peter and Paul, the Apostles who conquered for Christ the imperial city ofRome. St. Peter arrived in Rome about the year 42, after having served asBishop of Antioch for seven years. He ruled as Bishop of Rome for 25 years. St.Paul was delivered to Rome as a prisoner, having appealed to Caesar to judgehis case. The two Apostles spent the last eight months of their lives chainedup together with four dozen other “criminals” in the Mamertine Prison, a fetiddungeon off the northwest corner of the Roman Forum. During those months, theyconverted to the Faith all their fellow prisoners and their two soldier-guards,whom we now honor as the martyrs St. Processus and St. Martinianus.

One of the most powerful lessons of St. Peter’s life anddeath is that of forgiveness. It was St. Peter who once asked Our Lord howoften he should forgive someone who offended him. St. Peter proposed seven timesas a generous number, but Christ told him “not seven times, but seventy timesseven times.” Later, St. Peter was to appreciate the generosity of that Divineforgiveness when, after having shamefully denied Our Lord, the Risen Christsimply asked him three times to profess his love and devotion.

Later, when Peter was giving scandal by joining only fellowJews at table, and avoiding eating with the converts from paganism, St. Paul(the late-comer and former Pharisee) publicly rebuked him. It was a measure ofSt. Peter’s spiritual progress and new-found humility that the first Vicar ofChrist and superior of the Apostles publicly accepted this rebuke and publiclycorrected his behavior. Truly, power is made perfect in weakness, and dignityis made perfect in humility.