On the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29, 2026

Dom Prosper Gueranger’s reflection on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul teaches eternal truths that have been rejected by both the conciliar "popes" and by the neo-Gallicanists who comprise the Society of Saint Pius X:

Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? Behold the hour when the answer which the Son of Man, exacted of the Fisher of Galilee, re-echoes from the seven hills and fills the whole earth. Peter no longer dreads the triple interrogation of his Lord. Since that fatal night wherein before the first cock-crow, the Prince of the apostles had betimes denied his Master, tears have not ceased to furrow the cheeks of this same Vicar of the Man-God; lo! the day when, at last, his tears shall be dried! From that gibbet whereunto, at his own request, the humble disciple has been nailed head downwards, his bounding heart repeats, now at last without fear, the protestation which ever since the scene enacted on the brink of Lake Tiberias, has been silently wearing his life away: Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee!

Sacred Day, on which the oblation of the first of Pontiffs assures to the West the rights of Supreme Priesthood! Day of triumph, in which the effusion of a generous life-blood wins for God the conquest of the Roman soil; in which upon the cross of his representative, the Divine Spouse concludes his eternal alliance with the Queen of nations.

This tribute of death was all unknown to Levi; this dower of blood was never exacted of Aaron by Jehovah: for who is it that would die for a slave?—the Synagogue was no Bride! Love is the sign which distinguishes this age of the new dispensation from the law of servitude. Powerless, sunk in cringing fear, the Jewish priest could but sprinkle with the blood of victims substituted for himself, the horns of the figurative altar. At once both Priest and Victim, Jesus expects more of those whom he calls to a participation of the sacred prerogative which makes him pontiff, and that for ever according to the order of Melchisedech. I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth, thus saith he to these men whom he has just raised above angels, at the last Supper: but I have called you friends, because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you. As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love.

Now, in the case of a Priest admitted thus into partnership with the Eternal Pontiff, love is not complete, save when it extends itself to the whole of mankind ransomed by the great Sacrifice. And, mark it well: this entails upon him, more than the obligation common to all Christians, of loving one another as fellow members of one Head; for, by his Priesthood, he forms part of that Head, and by this very title, charity should assume, in him, something in depth and character of the love which this divine Head bears towards his members. But more than this: what, if to the power he possesses of immolating Christ, to the duty incumbent on him of the joint offering of himself likewise, in the secret of the Mysteries,—the plenitude of the Pontificate be added, imposing the public mission of giving to the Church that support she needs, that fecundity which the heavenly Spouse exacts of her? Oh! then it is, that (according to the doctrine expressed from the earliest ages by the Popes, the Councils, and the Fathers) the Holy Ghost adapts him to his sublime role by fully identifying his love with that of the Spouse, whose obligations he fulfils, whose rights he exercises. But then, likewise, according to the same teaching of universal tradition, there stands before him the precept of the Apostle; yea, from throne to throne of all the Bishops, whether of East or West, the Angels of the Churches pass on the word: Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered himself up for her, that he might sanctify her.

Such is the divine reality of these mysterious nuptials, that every age of sacred history has blasted with the name of adultery the irregular abandoning of the Church first espoused. So much is there exacted by such a sublime union, that none may be called thereunto who is not already abiding steadfast on the lofty summit of perfection; for a Bishop must ever hold himself ready to justify in his own person that supreme degree of charity of which Our Lord saith: Greater love than this no man hath, that he lay down his life for his friends. Nor does the difference between the hireling and the true Shepherd end there; this readiness of the Pontiff to defend unto death the Church confided to him, to wash away even in his own blood every stain that disfigures the beauty of this Bride, is itself the guarantee of that contract whereby he is wedded to this chosen one of the Son of God, and it is the just price of those purest joys reserved unto him: These things have I spoken to you, saith Our Lord when instituting the Testament of the New Alliance, that My joy may be in you, and your joy may be filled.

If such should be the privileges and obligations of the bishop of each Church, how much more so in the case of the universal Pastor! When regenerated man was confided to Simon, son of John, by the Incarnate God, His chief care was, in the first place, to make sure that he would indeed be the Vicar of His love; that, having received more than the rest, he would love more than all of them; that being the inheritor of the love of Jesus for His own who were in the world, he would love, as He had done, even to the end. For this very reason, the establishing of Peter upon the summit of the hierarchy coincides in the Gospel narrative with the announcement of his martyrdom; Pontiff-king, he must needs follow even unto the cross, his Supreme Hierarch.

The Feasts of his two Chairs, that of Antioch and that of Rome, have recalled to our minds the Sovereignty whereby he presides over the government of the whole world, and the Infallibility of the doctrine which he distributes as food to the whole flock; but these two feasts, and the Primacy to which they bear witness on the sacred cycle, call for that completion and further sanction afforded by the teachings included in today’s festival. Just as the power received by the Man-God from his Father and the full communication made by him of this same power to the visible Head of his Church, had but for end the consummation of glory, the one object of the Thrice-Holy God in the whole of his work; so likewise, all jurisdiction, all teaching, all ministry here below, says Saint Paul, has for end the consummation of the Saints, which is but one with the consummation of this sovereign glory; now, the sanctity of the creature, and the glory of God, Creator and Savior, taken together, find their full expression only in the Sacrifice which embraces both Shepherd and flock in one same holocaust.

It was for this final end of all pontificate, of all hierarchy, that Peter, from the day of Jesus’s Ascension, traversed the earth. At Joppa, when he was but opening the career of his apostolic labors, a mysterious hunger seized him: Arise, Peter; kill and eat, said the Spirit; and at that same hour, in symbolic vision were presented before his gaze all the animals of earth and all the birds of heaven. This was the gentile world which he must join to the remnant of Israel, on the divine banquet-board. Vicar of the Word, he must share His vast hunger; his preaching, like a two-edged sword, will strike down whole nations before him; his charity, like a devouring fire, will assimilate to itself the peoples; realizing his title of Head, the day will come when as true Head of the world, he will have formed (from all mankind, become now a prey to his avidity) the Body of Christ in his own person. Then like a new Isaac, or rather, a very Christ, he will behold rising before him the mountain where the Lord seeth, awaiting the oblation.

Let us also “look and see;” for this future has become the present, and even as on the great Friday, so now, we already know how the drama is to end. A final scene all bliss, all triumph: for herein deicide mingles not its wailing note to that of earth’s homage, and the perfume of sacrifice which the earth is exhaling, does but fill the heavens with sweet gladsomeness. Divinized by virtue of the adorable Victim of Calvary, it might indeed be said, this day, that earth is able now to stand alone. Simple son of Adam as he is by nature, and yet nevertheless true Sovereign Pontiff, Peter advances bearing the world: his own sacrifice is about to complete that of the Man-God, with whose dignity he is invested; inseparable as she is from her visible Head, the Church likewise invests him with her own glory. Far from her now the horrors of that mid-day darkness, which shrouded her tears when, for the first time, the cross was up-reared. She is all song; and her inspired lyric (Hymn at Vespers) celebrates “the beauteous Light Eternal that floods with sacred fires this day which openeth out unto the guilty a free path to heaven.” What more could she say of the Sacrifice of Jesus Himself? But this is because by the power of this other cross which is rising up, Babylon becomes today the Holy City. The while Sion sits accurses for having once crucified her Savior, vain is it, on the contrary, for Rome to reject the Man-God, to pour out the blood of his Martyrs like water in her streets. No crime of Rome’s is able to prevail against the great fact fixed forever at this hour: the cross of Peter has transferred to her all the rights of the cross of Jesus; leaving to the Jews the curse, she now becomes the true Jerusalem.

Such being then the meaning of this day, it is not surprising that Eternal Wisdom should have willed to enhance it still further, by joining the sacrifice of Paul to that of Peter. More than any other, Paul advanced by his preachings the building up of the body of Christ. If on this day, holy Church has attained such full development as to be able to offer herself, in the person of her visible Head, as a sweet smelling sacrifice, who better than Paul may deservedly perfect the oblation, furnishing from his own veins the sacred libation? The Bride having attained fulness of age, his own work is likewise ended. Inseparable from Peter in his labors by faith and love, he will accompany him also in death; both quit this earth, leaving her to the gladness of the divine nuptials sealed in their blood, whilst they ascend together to that eternal abode wherein that union is consummated. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29.)

We must have the same love and reverence for the papacy as the first Catholics had for Saint Peter himself.

A true pope is the Vicar of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and Dom Prosper Gueranger, writing about the nature of Pope Saint Clement I's pastoral letter to the Corinthians, reminded us that to oppose the Vicar of Christ is to oppose God Himself.

It was considered at the time so beautiful and so apostolic, that it was long read in many churches as a sort of continuation of the canonical Scriptures. Its tone is dignified but paternal, according to St. Peter's advice to pastors. There is nothing in it of a domineering spirit; but the grave and solemn language bespeaks the universal pastor, whom none can disobey without disobeying God Himself. These words so solemn and so firm wrought the desired effect: peace was re-established in the church of Corinth, and the messengers of the Roman Pontiff soon brought back the happy news. A century later, St. Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, expressed to Pope St. Soter the gratitude still felt by his flock towards Clement for the service he had rendered. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Feast of Pope Saint Clement I, November 23.)

There are some very interesting lessons to be learn from this passage in Dom Prosper Gueranger's The Liturgical Year.

First, there is a reminder of the monarchical power of the Roman Pontiff.

Who gave away the symbol of that monarchical power?

Wasn't it Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria/Paul VI?

Who refused to be crowned with the Papal Tiara?

Wasn't it Albino Luciani/John Paul I, Karol Josef Wojtyla/John Paul II, Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, and Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV?

Who took the Papal Tiara off of his coat of arms?

Wasn't it Ratzinger/Benedict XVI?

Yes, conciliarism wants nothing to do with papal monarchical power, having embraced the heretical novelty of episcopal collegiality and the insanity of Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s “synodal path” that Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV has made his own.

Pope Saint Clement I knew otherwise.

Deo gratias!

Second, the lie of episcopal collegiality is disproved by the fact that the Catholics in Corinth looked to Rome, that is, to the Successor of Saint Peter, Pope Clement, and not to the beloved evangelist, Saint John, who had taken care of Our Lady until she died and was assumed body and soul into Heaven. The Catholics of Corinth knew that it was not their "local churches" but Rome that was the seat of the Holy Faith. Deo gratias!

Third, Dom Prosper reminds us that the authority of the Vicar of Christ is absolute, that the pope is one "whom none can disobey without disobeying God Himself." Indeed. Although I was late to have my own eyes opened to the ramifications of this truth, suffice it to say that a legitimate pontiff commands our obedience in all things that do not pertain to sin, in all things that pertain to faith and morals. No one can oppose a legitimate pontiff without opposing Our Lord Himself. And no legitimate pontiff can give us bad doctrine or defective worship. He cannot express in his capacity as a private theologian things contrary to the defined teaching of the Catholic Church.

Dom Prosper Gueranger’s elegy of praise for Saint Peter reminds us that none of what has emanated from the Vatican in its conciliar captivity can be laid at the feet of Holy Mother Church, she who without stain or spot of any kind, she who makes no terms with error, she who is stable in the midst of a world made unstable by Original Sin and made more unstable by our Actual Sins:

Peter, on thee must we build; for fain are we to be dwellers in the Holy City. We will follow our Lord’s counsel, (Matthew 7:24-27) by raising our structure upon the rock, so that it may resist the storm, and may become an eternal abode. Our gratitude to thee, who hast vouchsafed to uphold us, is all the greater, since this our senseless age, pretends to construct a new social edifice, which it would fix on the shifting sands of public opinion, and hence realizes naught save downfall and ruin! Is the stone rejected by our modern architects any the less, head of the corner? And does not its strength appear in the fact (as it is written) that having rejected and cast it aside, they stumble against it and are hurt, yea broken? (1 Peter 2:6, 8)

Standing erect, amid these ruins, firm upon the foundation, the rock against which the gates of hell cannot prevail, as we have all the more right to extol this day, on which the Lord hath, as our Psalm says established the earth. (Psalms 92:1) The Lord did indeed manifest his greatness, when he cast the vast orbs into space, and poised them by laws so marvelous, that the mere discovery thereof does honour to science ; but his reign, his beauty, his power, are far more stupendous when he lays the basis prepared by him to support that temple of which a myriad worlds scarce deserve to be called the pavement. Of this immortal day, did Eternal Wisdom sing, when divinely foretasting its pure delights, and preluding our gladness, he thus led on our happy chorus: “When the mountains with their huge bulk were being established, and when the earth was being balanced on its poles, when he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters, when he laid the foundations of the earth, I was with him, forming all things; and was delighted every day playing before him at all times; playing in the world, for my delights are to be with the children of men.” (Proverbs 8)

Now that Eternal Wisdom is raising up, on thee, O Peter, the House of her mysterious delights, (Proverbs 9) where else could we possibly find Her, or be inebriated with her chalice, or advance in her love? Now that Jesus hath returned to heaven, and given us thee to hold his place, is it not henceforth from thee, that we have the words of Eternal Life? (John 6:69) In thee, is continued the mystery of the Word made Flesh and dwelling amongst us. Hence, if our religion, our love of the Emmanuel hold not on to thee, they are incomplete. Thou thyself, also, having joined the Son of Man at the Right Hand of the Father, the cultus paid unto thee, on account of thy divine prerogatives, reaches the Pontiff, thy Successor, in whom thou continuest to live, by reason of these very prerogatives: a real cultus, extending unto Christ in his Vicar, and which consequently cannot possibly be fitted into a subtle distinction between the See of Peter, and him who occupies it. In the Roman Pontiff, thou art ever, Peter, the one sole Shepherd and support of the world. If our Lord hath said: No one cometh to the Father but by Me; we also know that none can reach the Lord, save by thee. How could the Bights of the Son of God, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, suffer in such homages as these paid by a grateful earth unto thee? No we cannot celebrate thy greatness, without at once, turning our thoughts to Him, likewise, whose sensible sign thou art, an august Sacrament, as it were. Thou seemest to say to us, as heretofore unto our fathers by the inscription on thine ancient statue: Contemplate the God Word, the Stone divinely CUT IN THE GOLD, UPON WHICH BEING FIRMLY FIXED I CANNOT BE SHAKEN! (Deum Verbum intumini, auro divinitus sculptam petram, in qua stabilitus non concutior.- Dom Mabillion, Vetera analecta, t. iv) (Dom Prosper Gueranger. O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29.)

We must recapture a true reverence for the papacy as we pray every day for the restoration of a true and legitimate Successor on the Throne of Saint Peter, which I believe will not occur until after chastisements of epic proportions that will bring even believing Catholics to their knees once their bread and circuses have been taken away so that they can find their all in the God Who created them, redeemed them, and Who sanctifies them. 

Father Francis X. Weninger’s own reflection on the Prince of the Apostles emphasized the important station to which he was called as the Vicar of Jesus Christ but also, perhaps even primarily, on Saint Peter’s humility that led him to have true contrition for his triple denials of His Divine Master while He was undergoing the mock trail conducting by the leaders of the Sanhedrin:

Although the Catholic Church celebrates the festival of St. Peter and St. Paul today, yet, as the office and Mass of tomorrow are especially appointed for the commemoration of St. Paul, we will give today to St. Peter and tomorrow to St. Paul. Peter, the prince of the Apostles, the visible head of the Christian Church, the Vicar of Christ on earth, was born at Bethsaida, a small town in Galilee, on the Sea of Genesareth. Before he became a follower of Christ, he was called Simon, and his father Jonas or John. He married Perpetua, a daughter of Aristobulus, but left her afterwards for Christ's sake. Andrew, his elder brother, was a disciple of John the Baptist. As soon as the latter had heard, from the lips of his holy teacher, that Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah, and had convinced himself of the fact by a conversation with Christ, he informed his brother Simon of it and went with him to the Saviour. Christ, looking at Simon, said: "Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas; thou shalt be called Cephas," which means the same as Peter or a rock. After having had some discourses with Christ, Peter again went home, and announced to others the advent of the true Messiah.

Some time later, Christ walked by the Sea of Galilee and saw Peter and Andrew casting their nets into the sea, for they were fishermen. Christ said to them: "Come ye after me, and I will make you to be fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed Him; and from that moment, Peter left the Saviour no more, but followed Him whithersoever He went. The Gospel allows us no doubt that our Lord showed on all occasions a peculiar affection for Peter. He went into Peter's ship and out of it taught the multitudes pressing to hear Him. He took him to Mount Thabor to His transfiguration. He desired to have him near when He raised Jairus' daughter from the dead, and also when His sufferings commenced on Mount Olivet. He promised to build His Church so strongly upon him, that not even the gates of hell should prevail against it. He said that He would give him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, adding, that whatsoever Peter should bind or loose on earth, should be bound or loosed in heaven. He prayed especially for Peter, that his faith might not fail, and exhorted him to strengthen his brethren. When Peter had denied Him, He looked at him so compassionately that He moved his heart to repentance. After the Resurrection, Christ appeared to him especially and appointed him as the shepherd over His flock, made him His Vicar on earth and the visible head of His church.

We find, however, in the Gospel also, that Peter showed peculiar humility, faith and devotion towards our Lord. When he, obeying Christ's command, let down his net into the sea and filled two boats with fishes, he deemed himself unworthy of the presence of the Lord, and falling down at His feet, he said: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." When the Saviour would wash his feet, he cried in astonishment: "Lord dost thou wash my feet? this shall never be done!" But when he heard Christ's menace: "If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me," he submitted to the Saviour's will and said: "Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head." He evinced clearly his faith in Christ, when he made the magnificent confession: "Thou art Christ, the son of the living God!" His love for the Redeemer was manifested on different occasions. Several disciples of Christ left Him one day, not willing to listen further to His teachings, and Christ asked his Apostles; "Will ye also leave me?" Peter answered: "Lord, to whom should we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." Love would not allow him to think of leaving.

At another time, Christ mentioned His approaching passion, and Peter, not yet comprehending the mystery of the Redemption, would prevent Him, and said: "Lord, be it far from thee: this shall not be unto thee." He would not consent that the object of his affection should suffer. Peter's love to Christ was the cause of his twice throwing himself into the sea to be so much sooner with Him. He would not and could not wait until the boat, in which he was with the other disciples, had landed. Out of the heart of Peter, so full of devotion to his Divine Master, came also the fearless words, that he was ready to go with Him to prison and to death, and that if all were to forsake Him, he would not leave Him. To humble his too great confidence in himself, the contrary happened; for, Peter left Christ in the garden and denied Him three times at the house of Caiphas; but no sooner did the crowing of the cock bring to his memory the prophecy of the Lord, and no sooner had the compassionate eye of the latter fallen on him, than he repented of his fault with bitter tears. There is no doubt that God pardoned him, but it is emphatically stated in the life of the holy Apostle, that he daily repented of this denial as long as he lived; and that in the night, when he heard the cock crow, he shed floods of tears at the remembrance of it.

After Christ's resurrection, Peter was asked three times by the Saviour if he loved Him more than the others. And three times Peter answered: "Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." With this repeated confession of his love, Christ was so well pleased, that He entrusted to him all His flock with the words: "Feed my lambs: Feed my sheep." This charge Peter began to administer soon after Christ's ascension, when he admonished the assembled apostles and disciples to choose another apostle in the place of the traitor Judas; and also when, on Pentecost, after having received the Holy Ghost, he preached the first sermon to the Jews, with such zeal and fervency, that three thousand of them were at once converted. He was also the first who confirmed the teachings of the Gospel by miracles. The first of these he wrought on a lame beggar, who daily asked alms at the gate of the temple. Peter said to him: "Silver and gold I have none; but what I have I give thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk." And at the same moment, the man, who had been lame from his birth, arose and walked.

This first miracle was followed by many others, and as holy Writ relates, Peter's shadow falling upon the sick, was sufficient to restore them to health. When the High Priests of the Jews commanded Peter and the other apostles to preach no more of Christ, Peter replied: "If it be just in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, judge ye." And again, at another time, he said: "We ought to obey God rather than men." Hence he did not discontinue to announce Christ as the true Messiah, although, on account of it, he was cast into prison and scourged. He was also the first, who, following a divine inspiration, preached the Gospel to the Gentiles, as is related in the 10th Chapter of the Acts.

What more this Prince of the Apostles did to disseminate the true faith, cannot be told in a few words. He travelled through all Judaea, and preached and wrought miracles wherever he went. He restored, in one moment, the health of Aeneas, who had been suffering of the palsy for eight years, and raised Tabitha, a pious widow, to life. Later he went into several other countries, laying everywhere the first stone of Christianity, consecrated bishops and priests, who were to govern the newly founded churches. His first See he established at Antioch, and remained there seven years, but announcing also in many other places the Gospel of the Lord. He then went to Rome, where idolatry had built her principal temples. Thence he sent his disciples, who were all animated with apostolic zeal, to Spain, France, Sicily, Germany, and other countries, to preach the Christian faith.

He himself fixed his See at Rome, and by his sermons converted numberless heathens. When, nine years later, he was driven away from Rome, with many Christians, he went to Jerusalem, and visited the newly converted in those parts, comforted and cheered them, preached to those who were still in the darkness of unbelief, and then returned to Rome, where he brilliantly defeated the magician Simon. The latter had, by his magic, not only blinded the Emperor Nero, but also the Roman people, and had prevented many from embracing the true faith. Peter discovered his fraud, and to confirm the doctrines he taught, he raised a dead person to life, which Simon endeavored to do, but had not the power. After this, the magician appointed a day on which he, in evidence of the truth until now taught by him, would ascend visibly to heaven. The day came and Simon, assisted by the devil, was really raised from the ground. Peter, however, prayed, and then commanded the devil to depart and behold! the imposter fell down, broke his legs, and had to be carried away covered with grief and shame.

This splendid miracle opened the eyes of many unbelievers, who desired to be baptized. But Nero, of whom Simon was a great favorite, was enraged against St. Peter, and had him cast into a dungeon with St. Paul. The faithful, with tearful eyes, begged St. Peter to escape in order to preserve his life and take care of them. Love to his flock persuaded the holy apostle to fulfil their wish. Having already arrived at the gates of the city, he met Christ, and, amazed as this vision, he asked Him: "Master, whither goest thou?" "I go into the city to be crucified again," replied the Lord. The apostle, comprehending these words, returned to his prison and remained there until Nero gave the order, that Peter, as a Jew, should be crucified, and Paul, as a Roman citizen, should be beheaded.

When the appointed day had arrived, Peter was scourged and then fastened to a cross. The joy which he manifested in suffering thus for his faith awakened the admiration of all present. He requested that the cross might be raised in such a manner that his head would hang down, as he deemed himself unworthy to die like his Saviour. His wish was complied with, and the Saint thus painfully ended his holy life. Marcellus, a priest, buried him upon the Vatican Hill, where his relics are still honored by the Christian world. The books of the holy Fathers are filled with praise of the deeds of this glorious Apostle, this first Pope and Vicar of Christ.

Practical Consideration

How sad a downfall! Peter, who had been during three years a devoted follower of Christ, and had, only a short time before, publicly recognized Him, in the presence of all the other disciples, as the son of the living God, who, a few hours before, had boldly declared that he would not be scandalized in Christ if all others were, and that he would follow Him to death;-- denied Christ thrice in one night. How sad a fall! According to the opinion of St. Augustine, our Lord permitted this, first, because Peter relied too much on his own strength: secondly, that Peter, whom Christ intended to be His Vicar, should feel compassion when great sinners would come to him and ask forgiveness of their misdeeds; as he would know, by his own experience, how weak man is and how easily he falls. May you derive from it the following lesson. Despise no one who has committed great wrong, especially if such a one has repented and is on the way to a better life. Never reproach him with his crimes; but think that you have perhaps committed as great sin or would have done so, had you been placed in the same dangers, the same temptations, the same sufferings. If you have not fallen like him, be not conceited; but give thanks to the Almighty for shielding you so graciously, and take care that you do not fall. Secondly: never trust too implicitly in your own strength, and when you make the resolution to avoid this or that sin, or to do a good work, always pray to God to give you grace to keep your promise. This is especially necessary, early in the morning, when you ought to pray to God to assist you in all dangers and temptations. Lay the above deeply to heart, that it may take root and bear life-giving fruit.

As soon as Christ looked compassionately on Peter, thus reproaching him with his fault, the latter, weeping bitterly went away from the place where he had sinned, and with his whole heart, repented of his misdeed. This repentance he continued while he lived, although he had the assurance that Christ had forgiven him. Let this be an example of true penance to you. Do not continue in the sin you have committed; repent with your whole heart, out of love to the Almighty, and confess it, as soon as possible, to a priest. Avoid all occasion to do wrong; else your repentance is not true, your confession void, your penance false and without benefit. But even when you have done all that was necessary to free you from your guilt, still, so long as life lasts, never cease to repent of the evil you committed, and to beg God to pardon you, as you are not certain, as Peter was, that your sins are forgiven, although you may hope it. All true penitents act in this manner. King David, in the old Testament, was assured, by the mouth of the prophet, that his sins were forgiven; yet he repented of them; daily. How often he asked God to forgive him may be seen in his Psalms. "I will wash my bed, I will water my couch with my tears," says he. (Ps. vi.) Somewhere else he says, that he has shed rivers of tears, at the remembrance of his iniquities. "In one night he committed sin," writes Saint Chrysostom, "and he wept over it all other nights." " Today," writes St. James of Nisibis, "people pass many whole nights in sin, and think that a single hour's weeping over them is sufficient."

May you not act thus. Follow the examples of King David and St. Peter, and let not a day pass without repenting of your sins and praying to God to forgive them. "We must wash away, by continual tears, the iniquity of which we have even once been guilty," is another admonition of St. James. (Father Francis X. Weninger, S.J, Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29.)

Yes, we are never to trust in our own strength as without Our Lord we can do nothing, and we must always have the humility to acknowledge the fact that we are sinners and in need of seeking out the ineffable Mercy of the Divine Redeemer in the Sacred Tribunal of Penance at the hands of a true priest if this is all possible near where you live.

Also, we should consider the passage from the Acts of the Apostles read as the Lesson at Holy Mass concerns how Saint Peter was rescued from imprisonment by an angel after he had been arrested upon the orders of Herod. Our first pope was in chains. He was rescued miraculously:

[1] And at the same time, Herod the king stretched forth his hands, to afflict some of the church. [2] And he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. [3] And seeing that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to take up Peter also. Now it was in the days of the Azymes. [4] And when he had apprehended him, he cast him into prison, delivering him to four files of soldiers to be kept, intending, after the pasch, to bring him forth to the people. [5] Peter therefore was kept in prison. But prayer was made without ceasing by the church unto God for him.

[6] And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. [7] And behold an angel of the Lord stood by him: and a light shined in the room: and he striking Peter on the side, raised him up, saying: Arise quickly. And the chains fell off from his hands. [8] And the angel said to him: Gird thyself, and put on thy sandals. And he did so. And he said to him: Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. [9] And going out, he followed him, and he knew not that it was true which was done by the angel: but thought he saw a vision. [10] And passing through the first and the second ward, they came to the iron gate that leadeth to the city, which of itself opened to them. And going out, they passed on through one street: and immediately the angel departed from him.

[11] And Peter coming to himself, said: Now I know in very deed, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. [12] And considering, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, who was surnamed Mark, where many were gathered together and praying. [13] And when he knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, whose name was Rhode. [14] And as soon as she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for joy, but running in she told that Peter stood before the gate. [15] But they said to her: Thou art mad. But she affirmed that it was so. Then said they: It is his angel.

[16] But Peter continued knocking. And when they had opened, they saw him, and were astonished. [17] But he beckoning to them with his hand to hold their peace, told how the Lord had brought him out of prison, and he said: Tell these things to James, and to the brethren. And going out, he went into another place. [18] Now when day was come, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was become of Peter. [19] And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not; having examined the keepers, he commanded they should be put to death; and going down from Judea to Caesarea, he abode there. [20] And he was angry with the Tyrians and the Sidonians. But they with one accord came to him, and having gained Blastus, who was the king's chamberlain, they desired peace, because their countries were nourished by him. (Acts 12: 1-19.)

It was Our Lady who had prayed for our first pope while he was in chains. Her prayers secured the angel who rescued him miraculously from the clutches of Herod and the Jews. The event was so miraculous that the mother of Saint Mark the Evangelist, Saint Peter's trusted disciple, saw that our first pope stood before her. Those with her refused to believe her. They refused to believe that the first pope had been miraculously rescued. Saint Peter had to continue to knock to gain entry!

As we know, Saint Peter preached to both the Jews of the Holy Land and to the pagans in Rome, starting on Pentecost Sunday when he gave his discourse that converted over three thousand Jews from all over the Mediterranean:

Ye men of Judea, and all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known to you, and with your ears receive my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day:

But this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass, in the last days, (saith the Lord,) I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And upon my servants indeed, and upon my handmaids will I pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will shew wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath: blood and fire, and vapour of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord come.

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him, in the midst of you, as you also know: This same being delivered up, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you by the hands of wicked men have crucified and slain. Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the sorrows of hell, as it was impossible that he should be holden by it. For David saith concerning him: I foresaw the Lord before my face: because he is at my right hand, that I may not be moved.

For this my heart hath been glad, and any tongue hath rejoiced: moreover my flesh also shall rest in hope. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life: thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Ye men, brethren, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch David; that he died, and was buried; and his sepulchre is with us to this present day. Whereas therefore he was a prophet, and knew that God hath sworn to him with an oath, that of the fruit of his loins one should sit upon his throne.

Foreseeing this, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ. For neither was he left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised again, whereof all we are witnesses. Being exalted therefore by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath poured forth this which you see and hear. For David ascended not into heaven; but he himself said: The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy enemies thy footstool.

Therefore let all the house of Israel know most certainly, that God hath made both Lord and Christ, this same Jesus, whom you have crucified. Now when they had heard these things, they had compunction in their heart, and said to Peter, and to the rest of the apostles: What shall we do, men and brethren? But Peter said to them: Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are far off, whomsoever the Lord our God shall call. And with very many other words did he testify and exhort them, saying: Save yourselves from this perverse generation.

They therefore that received his word, were baptized; and there were added in that day about three thousand souls. And they were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: many wonders also and signs were done by the apostles in Jerusalem, and there was great fear in all. And all they that believed, were together, and had all things common. Their possessions and goods they sold, and divided them to all, according as every one had need. (Acts 2: 14-41.) 

Alas, the conciliar revolutionaries have had such utter contempt for true nature of the papacy that and the inerrancy of Sacred Scripture as to question whether Saint Peter even gave this sermon!

For example, here is how Saint Peter's Pentecost Sunday sermon was deconstructed by Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XIV in his Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection:

From a theological understanding of the empty tomb, a passage from Saint Peter's Pentecost sermon strikes me as important, when Peter for the first time openly proclaims Jesus' Resurrection to the assembled crowds. He communicates it, not in his own words, but by quoting Psalm 16:8-10 as follows: "... my flesh will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my son to Hades, nor let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life" (Acts 2:26-28). Peter quotes the psalm text using the version found in the Greek Bible. The Hebrew text is slightly different: "You do not give me up to Sheol, or let your godly one see the Pit. You show me the path of life" (Ps. 16:10-11). In the Hebrew version the psalmist speaks in the certainty that God will protect him, even in the threatening situation in which he evidently finds himself, that God will shield him from death and that he may dwell securely: he will not see the grave. The version Peter quotes is different: here the psalmist is confident that he will not remain in the underworld, that he will not see corruption.

Peter takes it for granted that it was David who originally prayed this psalm, and he goes on to state that this hope was not fulfilled in David: "He both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day" (Acts 2:29). The tomb containing his corpse is the proof of his not having risen. Yet the psalm text is still true: it applies to the definitive David. Indeed, Jesus is revealed here as the true David, precisely because in him this promise is fulfilled: "You will not let your Holy One see corruption."

We need not go into the question here of whether this address goes back to Peter and, if not, who else may have redacted it and precisely when and where it originated. Whatever the answer may be, we are dealing here with a primitive form of Resurrection proclamation, whose high authority in the early Church is clear from the fact that it was attributed to Saint Peter himself and was regarded as the original proclamation of the Resurrection. (Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, pp. 255-256.) 

Left unaddressed in this classic piece of Modernist deconstruction of Sacred Scripture that was a blasphemous affront to God the Holy Ghost and to Saint Peter was the little matter that three thousand Jews from all over the Mediterranean converted because of the stirring words delivered by our first pope moments after he had received the Seven Gifts and Twelve Fruits of God the Holy Ghost, being blessed at that moment with the charism of infallibility of doctrine. Ratzinger/Benedict had to place into question, no matter how subtly by way of refusing address the question that he raises, the fact that Saint Peter delivered this sermon as to admit openly that it is the case is to damn himself for refusing to speak to Jews as Saint Peter did.

Moreover, as we know that Saint Peter did deliver this sermon and that the Acts of the Apostles was written by Saint Luke under the inspiration of God the Holy Ghost, to assert that Saint Peter was wrong about the authorship of Psalm 16, attributing it "incorrectly" to King David, is to mock the papal infallibility with which our first pope had just been clothed by the same God the Holy Ghost. 

Consider this fact, my friends. Consider it if only for a moment.

Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, that "master" of true Scripture exegesis who believed his insights were always superior to those of Holy Mother Church's Fathers and Doctors, including the Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas Aquinas, had identified the first "papal error" for us, committed moments after Saint Peter received the Gifts and Fruits of God the Holy Ghost. If only Saint Peter had had the benefit of Ratzinger/Benedict's training with all of its "access" to sources not known to the fisherman from Galilee, he would not have made such a blunder.

Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI was an epic blasphemer as well as being a false claimant of the Throne of Saint Peter.

Also consider the fact that, unlike the conciliar “popes,” Saint Peter fearlessly preached the Holy Name of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to the Jews:

[26] Then went the officer with the ministers, and brought them without violence; for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. [27] And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, [28] Saying: Commanding we commanded you, that you should not teach in this name; and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and you have a mind to bring the blood of this man upon us. [29] But Peter and the apostles answering, said: We ought to obey God, rather than men. [30] The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom you put to death, hanging him upon a tree.

[31] Him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins. [32] And we are witnesses of these things and the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to all that obey him. [33] When they had heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they thought to put them to death. [34] But one in the council rising up, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, respected by all the people, commanded the men to be put forth a little while. [35] And he said to them: Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do, as touching these men.

[36] For before these days rose up Theodas, affirming himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all that believed him were scattered, and brought to nothing. [37] After this man, rose up Judas of Galilee, in the days of the enrolling, and drew away the people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as consented to him, were dispersed. [38] And now, therefore, I say to you, refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this council or this work be of men, it will come to nought; [39] But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest perhaps you be found even to fight against God. And they consented to him. [40] And calling in the apostles, after they had scourged them, they charged them that they should not speak at all in the name of Jesus; and they dismissed them.

[41] And they indeed went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus. [42] And every day they ceased not in the temple, and from house to house, to teach and preach Christ Jesus. (Acts 5: 26-42.)

Saint Peter wrote two epistles that, among so many other things, included his admonition to us not to use our liberty as a cloak for malice, something that is very important to consider anew as we approach the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of a country founded on a rejection of Christ the King and His true Church and the celebration of a “liberty” that is unfettered by “monkish superstition.

The papacy today, as we know, is held in chains by the conciliar robber barons, which is why is is good to consider Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B.’s discussion of the miraculous rescue of Saint Peter as follows in his reflection on the Feast of Saint Peter’s Chains, August 1:

Rome, making a god of the man who had subjugated her, consecrated the month of August to Caesar Augustus. When Christ had delivered her, she placed at the head of this same month, as a trophy of her regained liberty, the feast of the chains wherewith, in order to break hers, Peter the Vicar of Christ had once been bound. O divine Wisdom, who hadst a better claim to reign over this month than had the adopted son of Caesar, Thou couldst not have more authentically inaugurated Thy empire. Strength and sweetness are the attributes of Thy works, and it is in the weakness of Thy chosen ones that Thou triumphest over the powerful. Thou Thyself, in order to give us life, didst swallow death; Simon, son of John, became a captive, to set free the world entrusted to him. First Herod and then Nero, sowed him the cost of the promise he had once received, of binding and loosing on earth as in heaven: he had to share a love of the supreme Shepherd, even to allowing himself, like Him, to be bound with chains for the sake of the flock, and led where he would not.

Glorious chains! never will yet make Peter’s successors tremble any more than Peter himself; before the Herods and the Caesars of all ages ye will be the guarantee of the liberty of souls. With what veneration have the Christian people honoured you, ever since the earliest times! One may truly say of the present feast that its origin is lost in the darkness of ages. According to ancient monuments, St. Peter himself first consecrated on this date the basilica on the highest of the seven hills, where the citizens of Rome are gathered to-day. The title of Eudoxia, by which the venerable Church is often designated, seems to have arisen from certain restorations made on occasion of the events mentioned in the lessons. As to the sacred chains which are its treasure, the earliest mention now extant of honour being paid to them occurs in the beginning of the second century. Balbina, daughter of the tribune Quirinus, keeper of the prisons, had been cured by touching the chains of the holy Pope Alexander; she could not cease kissing the hands that had healed her. ‘Find the chains of blessed Peer, and kiss them rather than these,’ said the pontiff. Balbina, therefore, having fortunately found the apostle’s chains, lavished her pious veneration upon them, and afterwards gave them to the noble Theodora, sister of Hermes.

The irons which had bound the arms of the Doctor of the Gentiles, without being able to bind the word of God, were also after his martyrdom treasured more than jewels and gold. From Antioch in Syria, St. John Chrysostom, thinking with holy envy of the lands enriched by these trophies of triumphant bondage, cried out in a sublime transport: ‘What more magnificent than these chains? Prisoner for Christ is a more beautiful name than that of Apostle. Evagelist, or Doctor. To be found for Christ’s sake is better than to dwell in the heavens; to sit upon the twelve thrones is not so great an honour. He that loves can understand me; but who can better understand these things than the holy choir of apostles? As for me, if I were offered my choice between these chains and the whole of heaven, I should not hesitate; for in them is happiness. Would that I were now in those places, where it is said the chains of these admirable men are still kept! If it were given me to be set free from the care of this church, and I had a little health, I should not hesitate to undertake such a voyage only to see Paul’s chains. If they said to me: Which wouldst thou prefer, to be the angel who delivered Peter or Peter himself in chains? I would rather be Peter because of his chains’

Though always venerated in the great basilica which enshrines his tomb, St. Paul’s chain has never been made, like those of St. Peter, the object of a special feast in the Church. This distinction was due to the preeminence of him ‘who alone received the keys of the kingdom of heaven to communicate them to others,’ and who alone continues, in his successors, to bind and loose with sovereign power throughout the whole word. The collection of letters St. Gregory the Great proves how universally, in the sixth century, was spread the cultus of these holy chains, a few filings of which enclosed in gold or silver keys was the richest present of the Sovereign Pontiffs were wont to offer to the principal churches, or to princes whom they wished to honour. Constantinople, at some point not clearly determined, received a portion of these precious chains; she appointed a feast on January 16, honouring the day the Apostle Peter, as the occupant of the first See, the foundation of the faith, the immovable basis of dogma. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year: Time After Pentecost Book IV—Volume 13, pp. 229-231.)

It is no accident that the wreteched Modernist, Angelo Roncalli/John XXIII, abolished the feast of Saint Peter's Chains in 1960. Roncalli's action could have been a subtle way for the devil to boast that the papacy at that time was itself in chains, where it remains sixty-seven years later. The last thing in the world that the adversary would want to do is have Catholics reminded of this true but nevertheless still prophetic event in the chapter of Holy Mother Church in her infancy.

Additionally, Roncalli was very sensitive to the feelings of the Jews, and the account in the Acts of the Apostles at Holy Mass on June 29, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul and on the Feast of Saint Peter’s Chains, August 1, speaks to us of the fact that Saint Peter's captivity was done at the behest of the Jews, who were very pleased to see the first pope imprisoned.

Well, the Talmudists of today are just as happy to have played the role in holding the papacy itself captive and in attacking those who seek to defend the truths of the Holy Faith, including the truth that Judaism is a false religion and that those who adhere to its false tenets and who observe its abolished liturgical rites need to be exhorted to convert unconditionally to the true Faith before they die. No, it is no accident at all that this feast was abolished in 1960 at the very dawning of the age of conciliarism under the Judaizer Roncalli.

The Biblical Jews of Our Lord’s time and their secular Talmudic descendants of today have always sough to oppose Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and His Catholic Church, whose first pope, Saint Peter, was martyred on Vatican Hill on this very day one thousand nine hundred fifty-nine years ago, a fact discussed by William Thomas Walsh in his biographical novel, Saint Peter the Apostle:

From the later words and acts of Simon bar Jonas, it is plain that his conception of the Messiah, as he advanced toward manhood, was that of the vast majority of the Jewish people. Few could imagine the Holy One coming to suffer in atonement for the sins of the world, much less for the sins of Israel. Everyone knew that Moses had been punished for disobedience, that the Babylonian captivity had been the penalty for connivance with idolatry. Yet the old sense of sinfulness had yielded to a certain proud complacency, born in part, no doubt, of an awareness of very real virtues. The Jewish leaders forgot that they were a Chosen People not through any special excellence of their own, but through God's favor to Abraham. This sort of smugness easily takes possession of classes long established in wealth and power.

The doctrine of original sin in particular had been almost wholly forgotten in Israel. True, it still stood boldly forth on the first pages of the Book of Genesis. This makes it all the more astonishing that no one preached it, and hardly any believed it. Perhaps their recent sorrows had made the Jews forget the primal tragedy which was the beginning of human history. Perhaps the vision of towering wheat fields had little by little come to blot out of their minds the memory of the tree of knowledge, the locked garden, the flaming sword. A future woven out of hopeful dreams had become more real than a past as aching and tangible as the rocks of Judea.

It is a curious fact that this sort of idealizing is sometimes the very stuff of which materialists are made. It is because they love this world, its satisfactions and its power, that they turn away from its imperfections to an imaginary world in which they want those gratifications to be fully realized – but in the flesh, in the here and now. Only a mystery of grace could turn such mundane aspirations into a spiritual hope. (William Thomas Walsh, Saint Peter the Apostle, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1948, pp. 24-25.)

Saint Peter exhorted his own people to convert to the true Faith but most did not do so because they no longer believed in the plain words of Holy Writ and it is in like manner today that the conciliar revolutionaries do not follow the example of Saint Peter but are content to leave adherents of false religions, including Talmudism, in their falsehoods until they die.

The papacy is held in chains today.

However, Our Lady will rescue the papacy just as miraculously as she rescued our first pope by means of her prayers. We must believe that she will do so as the Church Militant undergoes her Mystical Passion, Death and Burial in these our days. She is indeed our life, our sweetness and our hope. Saint Peter relied upon her. So must we!

We can plant the seeds for true change, that is, of a conversion of all men and their nations to the Catholic Faith, outside of which there is no salvation and without which there can be no true social order, by relying upon Our Lady just as Saint Peter did. She has given us the Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel as our shield and her Most Holy Rosary as our spiritual weapon. Let us use them well as we fulfill the pledges associated with the Brown Scapular and pray as many Rosaries each day as our state-in-life permits.