Celebrate the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

Tuesday 2/22  is the feast of the Chair of St. Peter!  What do we celebrate on this day?  Are we celebrating the relic of a physical chair? 

No, not really.  We are not even sure that the relic contained within an awesome structure built by Bernini and located at St. Peter’s Basilica is actually the original chair of St. Peter.  The old Catholic Encyclopedia says it probably is not.  But the physical chair is not what is important. 

On this feast we celebrate the primacy of St. Peter as the rock and head of the Church and his gift from God to teach “ex cathedra” or “from the chair” (or as we most commonly refer to it, “infallibly”) when proclaiming to teach ex cathedra. 

Pope Benedict in an address on the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter in 2006 quotes St. Jerome:

Among so many testimonies of the Fathers, I would like to refer to that of St. Jerome, taken from a letter of his to the Bishop of Rome, particularly interesting because he makes explicit reference in fact to the “chair” of Peter, presenting it as the safe harbor of truth and peace. Jerome writes thus: “I decided to consult the chair of Peter, where that faith is found exalted by the lips of an Apostle; I now come to ask for nourishment for my soul there, where once you received the garment of Christ. I follow no leader save Christ, so I enter into communion with your beatitude, that is, with the chair of Peter for this I know is the rock upon which the Church is built! (“Le Lettere,” I, 15,1-2).

There is an article by Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz  called The Primacy of Peter that could be read in its entirety by older children and discussed.  We will probably just discuss these quotes (taken from the bishop’s article) around the dinner table:

Saint Augustine of Hippo said, “The old Catholic faith gets its strength and support from the words of the Apostolic See, and it is sinful to have any doubts about this. In the Catholic Church I adhere to the Chair of Peter. Whoever does not wish to stray from the true fold, must follow this voice of Peter.”

And finally, Saint Thomas Aquinas says, “According to the promise of the Lord, the apostolic Church of Saint Peter and its Pontiffs, and in the full faith and authority of Peter remains free from all taint of heresy and deceit. And while other churches are ashamed by errors, she reigns the solitary Church unshakably established, imposing silence and closing the mouths of heretics. And we, of necessity for our salvation, must proclaim and profess this pattern of holy, apostolic tradition.”

Here is one way to bring home the idea of the importance of the chair and position of the Holy Father.  I made a salt dough model of the chair, spray painted it gold and sat a card of Pope Benedict XVI on the chair.  On the feast day it will be the table’s centerpiece.

Here is the recipe:  2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt and 3/4-1 cup of water.  Kneed the mixture for several minutes and preheat the oven to 200.

I then shaped the dough into a rough image of the chair.  I also put a popsicle stick in the back to keep the back of the chair from leaning backwards.:

After it is shaped, I baked it for about 2 hours at 200 degrees.  I actually turned it on its side about half way through because the seat is so thick.  Then I took it to the garage and spray painted it gold.  Why gold?  So it would look special!  BTW, I have my absolute favorite Lent/Easter idea coming up that uses gold spray paint so don’t worry that you will never have a use for it again.

Then I just put a picture that we had of Pope Benedict on it. 

You can do a Gospel reflection on the pertinant passages by following the link to Tuesday’s gospel study.

Here is a coloring page of Jesus giving Peter the keys.  This is our first original coloring page!  It is based on Perugino’s “Christ Delivering the Keys to St. Peter”

Here is a coloring page of Pope Benedict.