PETER
curriculum vitae
(before 7th century BC-
– June 29, AD 67)
Simon or Shimon, from the Hebrew samac ‘to hear’. When he was made an apostle Christ renamed him Cephas or Peter (Kefas, Petros, ‘rock’). Founder of the Christian Church and considered to be the first Pope of Rome.
He was born in the town of Bethsaida, to the north east of the Sea of Galilee. An Israelite, his parents belonged to the tribe of Simeon. His father was Jonah and his brother the apostle Andrew. Peter’s mother is unknown.
Of medium height. According to iconographic tradition he had curly hair with a streak of grey and a rounded beard. The bridge of his nose is markedly concave. The most ancient representation is on a 3rd-century onyx intaglio depicting the Walking on the Water. Had a pronounced Galilean accent. Was married to the daughter of Aristobulus, brother of Barnabas, originally named Joseph, one of the seventy disciples. Had a son and daughter.
Before becoming a disciple he was closely associated with the Judaic New Testament sect (the Essenes). Worked as a fisherman. As an apostolic missionary he visited Phoenicia, the island of Arados, Phrygia, Syria, Antioch, Cappadocia, Galatia, Pontus, Paphlagonia, Bythynia, Mysia (Troada), Macedonia, Patras, the island of Sicily, Tauromenia, Rome, Spain, Carthage, Egypt, Gaul (Mediolan) and Brittany. Author of two Epistles included in the New Testament canon and a number of apocrypha.
In AD 26 he was arrested by the Judaic Sanhedrin for publicly preaching Christianity in the narthex of the temple, but then released to avoid public unrest. Arrested for a second time by King Herod Agrippa I in 41 AD during celebration of the Unleavened Bread and delivered to the people’s court. Released under unexplained circumstances and those pronounced guilty were executed. In 67 Peter was arrested in Rome by order of the Emperor Nero for converting two of his favourites to Christianity. He was condemned to death and at his own request crucified head-downwards in the Mamertus Fortress, Rome.
Peter was buried on the Vatican Hill and his remains were later moved to St Peter’s Basilica, built on the same spot. His head is kept in the Lateran Basilica, Rome.
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