Commemoration of St. Paul

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ite_ad_Ioseph
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Isn’t the emphasis on the 29th on St. Peter? The 30th probably puts the emphasis on St. Paul. Traditionally, if one of those two saints have a feast day, the other is commemorated. At least that is my guess.
 
My copy of the Liturgy of the Hours has June 29 as the Solemnity of Peter and Paul, Apostles and June 30 as commeration of the First Martyrs of Rome.
 
preV2tradcath said:
Isn’t the emphasis on the 29th on St. Peter? The 30th probably puts the emphasis on St. Paul. Traditionally, if one of those two saints have a feast day, the other is commemorated. At least that is my guess.
Click to expand...
Wrong. The 29th, as even breviary.net states, is the Feast OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL. Equally, no emphasis on either saint over the other. Each saint also has other commemorations during the year - of the Conversion of St Paul and the Chair of St Peter - so there’s no need for additional separate ‘commemoration’ of either.

Might be a simple typo or an inadvertent holdover from an earlier calendar? I notice, too, that June 30 is listed as a commemoration of ‘the first Martyrs of the See of Rome’, which sounds like St Paul may also have been commemorated particularly on this day as among their number rather than sharing a feast day with St Peter. 🤷
 
Maybe I wasn’t, traditionally speaking, too far off. According to my old Father Lasance Missal, “As June 29th is mainly devoted to the honoring of St. Peter, this day is assigned as the special feast of St. Paul.”
Looking at the Mass for the feast, there is a commemoration of St. Peter.

The missal is a faithful reprint of Fr. Lasance’s from 1945.
 
LilyM said:
Wrong. The 29th, as even breviary.net states, is the Feast OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL. Equally, no emphasis on either saint over the other. Each saint also has other commemorations during the year - of the Conversion of St Paul and the Chair of St Peter - so there’s no need for additional separate ‘commemoration’ of either.
Click to expand...
In the Traditional Propers the Mass and Breviary texts are more focused on St. Peter than St. Paul. It is true that the Collect, Secret and Postcommunion speaks of them both (for the latter two, only as “apostles” in the plural) but all the other Propers are references ot St. Peter not St. Paul. Likewise for the breviary, the antiphons at Vespers and Lauds all refer to St. Peter not to St. Paul. Only the hymns, the versicle (by being in the plural) and the Collect make reference to St. Paul. Even the Magnificat and Benedictus Antiphons at First Vespers and Lauds are of St. Peter. At Matins, the lessons of the first Nocturn and all the 9 responsories have St. Peter as the object and focus.

The historical reason is that the Pope used to officiate twice at the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul, and eventually St. Paul was moved to the next day.

However, the two are so closely linked that in a Mass of one, when the other is not mentioned, he is commemorated. Thus on the Commemoration of St. Paul, the priest will read a second Collect, Secret and Postcommunion for St. Peter.
 
Somewhere between the 4th and 6th century (or some time around there) they were celebrated together on the same day. I believe people would go on a pilgrimage to be at the pontifical masses. A mass was celebrated for each of them starting in the Old St. Peter’s Basilica for the first mass and then everyone would head to “Saint Paul’s Outside the Walls”.

In order to make things easier since this was a lot of traveling in one day, the focus was placed on Saint Peter the first day and Saint Paul the next day. So even though the 29th is the Feast of “Saints Peter and Paul”, the celebration was split for convenience.

(EDIT: Just realized most of this info was in AJV’s answer. My bad.)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top