Simon Peter

Simon Peter, the son of John, from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, was the brother of Andrew the apostle and was himself chief of the apostles. He was bishop of the church of Antioch, and he preached to the Dispersion, the believers of the circumcision, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. Then, in the second year of Claudius, he pushed on to Rome to overthrow Simon Magus, and he held the priestly chair there for twenty-five years, until the last year of Nero, that is, the fourteenth. At Nero’s hands he received the crown of martyrdom. He was nailed to the cross with his head toward the ground and his feet raised on high, for he declared that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same way as his Lord. [a]

He wrote two letters which are called catholic. The second of them is considered by many not to be his, because its style differs from the first. Then too the Gospel according to Mark, who was his disciple and interpreter, is ascribed to him. On the other hand, the books of which one is entitled his Acts, another his Gospel, a third his Preaching, a fourth his Revelation and a fifth his Judgment are rejected as apocryphal. He was buried at Rome in the Vatican, near the triumphal way, and he is venerated by the whole world.