Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/822

 PETER

752

PETER

expense of the Byzantine imperial family. Either the solemn eonseoration took place on 1 AuRust, or this was the clay of iledication of the earlier church. Perhaps this day was sclccled to replace the heathen festivities which took place on 1 August. In this church, which is still staudin;!; (S. Pietro in Vincoli), were prohalily prc-^erved from the fourth century St. Peters chains, which were greatly venerated, small fihngs from the chains being regarded as precious relies. The church tlius early received the name in Vinruli.t, and the feast of 1 August became the the feast of St. Peter's Chains (Duchesne, op. cit., 286 sqq.; Kellner, loc. cit., 216 sqq.). The memory of both Peter and Paul was later associated also with two places of ancient Rome: the Via Sacra, outside the Forum, where the magician Simon was said to have been hurled down at tlie prayer of Peter, and the prison TuUianum, or Career Mamerlinus, where the Apostles were supposed to have been kept until their execution. At both these places, also, shrines of the Apostles were erected, and that of the Mamertine Prison still remains in almost its original form from the early Roman time. These local commemorations of the Apostles are based on legends, and no special celebrations are held in the two churches. It is, how- ever, not impossible that Peter and Paul were actually confined in the chief prison in Rome at the fort of the Capitol, of which the present Career Mamertinus is a remnant.

VI. Representations op St. Peter. — The oldest extant is the bronze medallion with the heads of the Apostles; this dates from the end of the second or the beginning of the third century, and is preserved in the Christian M useum of the Vatican Library. Peter has a strong, roundish head, prominent jaw-bones, a receding forehead, thick, curly hair and beard. (See illustr.'i- tion in C.\t.\coiibs.) The features are so individual that it partakes of the nature of a portrait. This type is also found in two representations of St. Peter in a cham- ber of the Catacomb of Peter and Marcellinus, dating from the second half of the third century (Wilpert, "Die Malerein der Katakomben Rom", plates 94 and 96). In the paintings of the catacombs Sts. Peter and Paul frequently appear as interceders and advocates for the dead in the representations of the Last Judg- ment (Wilpert, 390 sqq.), and as introducing an Orante (a praying figure representing the dead) into Paradise.

In the numerous representations of Christ in the midst of His Apostles, which occur in the paintings of the catacombs and carved on sarcophagi, Peter and Paul always occupy the places of honour on the right and left of the Saviour. In the mosaics of the Roman basilicas, dating from the fourth to the nmth cen- turies, Christ appears as the central figure, with Sts. Peter and Paul on His right and left, and besides these the saints especially venerated in the particular church. On sarcophagi and other memorials appear scenes from the life of St. Peter: his walking on Lake Genesareth, when Christ summoned him from the boat; the prophecy of his denial; the washing of his feet ; the raising of Tabitha from the dead ; the capture of Peter and the conducting of him to the place of execution. On two gilt glasses he is represented as Moses drawing water from the rock with his staff; the name Peter under the scene shows that he is regarded as the guide of the people of God in the New Testament.

Particularly frequent in the period between the fourth and sixth centuries is the scene of the delivery of the Law to Peter, which occurs on various kinds of monuments. Christ hands St. Peter a folded or open scroll, on which is often the inscription Lex Domini (Law of the Lord) or Dnminin! legem dal (The Lord gives the law). In the mau.soleum of Constantina at Rome (S. Costanza, in the \'ia Nomentana) this scene is given as a pendant to the deUvery of the Law to

Moses. In representations on fifth-century sarco- phagi the Lord presents to Peter (instead of the scroll) the keys. In carvings of the fourth century PetCT often hears a staff in his hand (after the liftli century, a cross with a long shaft, carried liy the Apostle on his shoulder), as a kind of sceptre indicative of Peter's otlice. Prom the end of the sixth century this is replaced by the keys (usually two, but some- times three), which henceforth became the attribute of Peter. Even the renowned and greatly \-enerate(l bronze statue in St. Peter's poss<'s,ses them; this, the best known representation of the .\|)ostle, dates from the last period of Christian antiquity (Grisar, "Ana- lecta romana", I, Rome, 1899, 627 sqq.).

BlRKS. Slurlies of Ike Life and Character of St. Peter (London, 1S87): Taylor. Peter the Apostle, newed. by Burnet and Isbister (London, 1900); Barnes. St. Peter in Rome and his Tomb an the Vatican Hill (London, 1900); Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, 2nd ed., pt. I.vol. II (London, 1890). 481 sq.. St. Peter in Rome: FoUARD, Les origines de VEgtise: St. Pierre et les premihes amUes du christianisme (."Jrd ed.. Paris, 189,'i) ; Fillion. Saint Pierre (2nd cd., Paris. 1906); collection Les Sainli:: RAMBArn. Histoire de St. Pierre apdtre (Bordeaux. 1900); Oi-mMin l.i: rmne de St Pierre d Rome inQuestions dliist. et d'arrh, ,1 ,i.,,/ i I '■>! i^, 1906);

Focoim, Deromano D.Petri itinere et epi II' t ,1741);

RiNlERi, iS. Pietro in Roma ed i primi f''; ,■■>' letusti

cataloghi della chiesa Romana (Turin, I'JU'.i . l'j.u.\y i, J' cnstiane- simo in Roma prima dei gloriosi apostoli Pietro e Pa oh, e s ulle diverse venule de' principi degli apostoli in Roma (Rome, 1906) ; Polidori, .Aposlolato di S. Pietro in Roma in Cirilla CattoHca. series 18, IX (Rome, 1903). 141 sq.; Marucchi, Le memorie degli apostoli Pietro e Paolo in Roma (2na ed., Rome, 1903) ; Lecler, De Romano S. Petri episcopatu (Louvain, 1888); Schmid, Petrus in Rom oder Novir Vindiciie Petrina: (Lucerne. 1892); Esser. Des hi. Petrus AufenthaU, Episkopat und Tiut in Rom (Hreslau. 1889); Kneller. St. Petrus, Bischof von I/.u,, ,,, /, ■i.nfl f. kath. Theol., XXVI (1902). 33 sq., 225 sq.; M Sunon Petrus als Mittel

und Ausgangspunkt der. / irche (Kempten, 1906);

Grisar, Le tombe apos!i>l! ' - / 1 ' 'in,, ed alia via Ostiense in Arialeda Romana, I (Rome, 1.S91I), 2r>i> sq.

J. P. KlRSCH.

Peter, Epistles op Saint. — These two Epistles will be treated under the following heads: I. Authen- ticity; II. Recipients, occasion, and object; III. Date and place of composition; IV. Analysis.

I. First Epistle. — A. Authenlicity. — The authen- ticity, universally admitted by the primitive Church, has been denied within the past century by Protes- tant or Rationalist critics (Baur and the Tiibingen School, Von Soden, Harnack, Jtilicher, Hilgenfeld, and others), but it cannot seriously be questioned. It is well established: (1) by extrinsic arguments: (a) Quotations from or allusions to it are very numerous in writings of the first and second centuries, e. g., Jus- tin's letter to the Churches of Lyons and Vienne, Irena;us, Clement of Alexandria, Papias, Polycarp, Clement of Rome, the "Did.ache", the "Pastor" of Hernias, and others. The Second Epistle of St. Peter, admitted to be very ancient even by those who question its authenticity, alludes to an earlier Epistle written by the Apostle (iii, 1). The letter therefore existed very early and was considered very authoritative, (b) Tradition is also unanimous for St. Peter's author- ship. In the second and third centuries we have much explicit testimony to this effect. Clement and Origen at Alexandria, Tertullian and Cyprian in Africa, the Peshitto in .Syria, Irena;us in Gaul, the ancient Itala and Ilippolytus at Rome all agree in attributing it to Peter, as do also the heretics, Basilides and Theo- dore of Byzantium, (c) All the collections or lists of the New Testament mention it as St. Peter's; the Muratorian Canon, which .alone is at variance with this common tradition, is obscure and bears evident marks of textual corruption, and the subsequent restoration suggested by Zahn, which seems much more probable, is clearly favourable to the authen- ticity. Moreover Eusebius of Ca-sarea does not hesi- tate to place it among the undisputed Scriptures.

(2) By intrinsic arguiiu-iits. — i;x;imin;ition of the Epistle in itself is wholly f:ivounible to its authen- ticity; the author calls himself Peter, the Apostle of Jesus Christ (i, 1); Mark, who, accoriling to the Acts