Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

Today is the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. Seeing as how St. Peter is my patron saint, I would be in trouble if I didn't post about it.

The Cair of St. Peter is is a relic, enclosed in a gilt bronze casing, located in St. Peter's Basilica. The gilt bronze casing was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and executed 1647-53. It was a gift from Charles the Bald to the Pope in 875. In Latin, the chair of the bishop is called a cathedra.

Early martyrologies show that two liturgical feasts used to be celebrated in Rome, as opposed to just one. The dates of these two celebrations were January 18 (Chair of St. Peter in Rome) and February 22 (Chair of St. Peter in Antioch). The feasts became associated with an abstract understanding of the "Chair of Peter". As mentioned before, the ninth-century form of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum associated the January 18 feast with his stay in Rome, and the February 22 feast with his stay at Antioch.

I celebrate the feast similar to the early celebrations in-so-far as I celebrate the idea, not the actual relic. I celebrate that we Catholics have a visible head, a representative and ambassador of Christ. I celebrate that we are united under one banner, as opposed to several bishops or our own interpretations of Scripture.

I celebrate that G-d has given the Catholic Church a great teacher and theologian in Pope Benedict XVI, that the Holy Spirit grants the Church infallibility and indefectibility, and that Christ can take a poor and uneducated nobody that denies Him thrice and make him the head of the Church Militant!

Saints

1.Pope Adeodatus I
2.Pope Adrian III
3.Pope Agapetus I
4.Pope Agatho
5.Pope Alexander I
6.Pope Anacletus
7.Pope Anastasius I
8.Pope Anterus
9.Pope Benedict II
10.Pope Boniface I
11.Pope Boniface IV
12.Pope Caius
13.Pope Callixtus I
14.Pope Celestine I
15.Pope Celestine V
16.Pope Clement I
17.Pope Dionysius
18.Pope Eusebius
19.Pope Eutychian
20.Pope Evaristus
21.Pope Felix III
22.Pope Felix IV
23.Pope Gelasius I
24.Pope Gregory I
25.Pope Gregory II
26.Pope Gregory VII
27.Pope Hilarius
28.Pope Hormisdas
29.Pope Hyginus
30.Pope Innocent I
31.Pope John I
32.Pope Julius I
33.Pope Leo I
34.Pope Leo II
35.Pope Leo III
36.Pope Leo IV
37.Pope Leo IX
38.Pope Lucius I
39.Pope Marcellus I
40.Pope Mark
41.Pope Martin I
42.Pope Nicholas I
43.Pope Paschal I
44.Pope Peter
45.Pope Paul I
46.Pope Pius I
47.Pope Pius V
48.Pope Pius X
49.Pope Pontian
50.Pope Silverius
51.Pope Sylvester I
52.Pope Simplicius
53.Pope Siricius
54.Pope Sixtus I
55.Pope Sixtus III
56.Pope Stephen I
57.Pope Urban I
58.Pope Vitalian
59.Pope Zephyrinus

Blesseds
1.Pope Benedict XI
2.Pope Eugene III
3.Pope Gregory X
4.Pope Innocent V
5.Pope Innocent XI
6.Pope John XXIII
7.Pope Pius IX
8.Pope Urban II
9.Pope Urban V
10.Pope Victor III
11.Pope John Paul II (effective May 1, 2011)

Venerables
1.Pope Pius XII

Servants of God
1.Pope John Paul I
2.Pope Paul VI