50 Fun Facts About Saint Peter

What was Saint Peter's birth name?

In two New Testament passages the name is spelled 'Simeon', reflecting the Jewish custom of pairing a patriarch's name with a similar-sounding Greek one.

In which town on the Sea of Galilee was Peter born?

His mother-in-law was healed by Jesus at the family home in Capernaum, which is why he is thought to have been married or widowed.

What was Peter's trade before he followed Jesus?

He worked with his brother Andrew and with James and John, the sons of Zebedee; the popes still wear the Fisherman's Ring in his memory.

The name Cephas, which Jesus gave to Simon, comes from an Aramaic word meaning what?

Petros is the Greek masculinised form; Cephas appears nine times in the New Testament and Petros 156 times.

How many times does the combined name 'Simon Peter' appear in the New Testament?

Some Syriac documents call him Simon Cephas.

Which brother of Peter, a disciple of John the Baptist, brought him to Jesus in John's gospel?

Andrew told him 'We have found the Messiah', and Jesus immediately named Simon 'Cephas'.

Only one gospel describes Peter walking on water toward Jesus before he begins to sink. Which?

Jesus's rebuke, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?', made Peter the exemplar of the forgiven sinner as much as of the rock.

Where, per the synoptic gospels, did Peter confess Jesus was the Christ and receive his name?

Jesus replied 'on this rock I will build my church' and promised him 'the keys of the kingdom of heaven'.

What did Jesus promise to give Peter in the 'rock' dialogue?

The keys became the symbol of papal authority; the passage is read differently by Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox.

According to John's gospel, whose ear did Peter cut off at Jesus's arrest?

Luke adds that Jesus healed the ear, the last of the 37 miracles attributed to him in the Bible.

What did Peter say when Jesus told him, 'If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me'?

He had at first refused to let Jesus wash his feet; the rite is repeated on Maundy Thursday in many churches.

With which two apostles did Peter form the inner three at the Transfiguration?

The three alone were also present at the raising of Jairus's daughter.

Jesus foretold that Peter would deny him how many times before the cock crowed?

Mark's version has the cock crowing twice; Peter's Galilean accent gave him away in the courtyard.

According to one gospel, what betrayed Peter as a follower of Jesus at the third denial?

Luke says a third individual made the accusation rather than a crowd; John does not mention the accent at all.

In the final chapter of John's gospel, how is the threefold denial balanced by the lakeside?

The Church of the Primacy of St. Peter on the Sea of Galilee marks the traditional site of the appearance.

How many fish were caught in the post-resurrection catch described in John's gospel?

John shows Peter fishing again even after the resurrection.

In Paul's list of resurrection appearances in 1 Corinthians, to whom did the risen Jesus appear first?

Paul seems to follow an early tradition that did not survive into the gospel accounts, where the women see the empty tomb first.

Where did Peter have the vision that unclean animals could be eaten, opening the way to Gentiles?

He then met the centurion Cornelius and declared that 'God shows no partiality'.

According to Acts 12, which ruler imprisoned Peter in Jerusalem before an angel freed him?

After his liberation Peter left Jerusalem for 'another place', and the sources give no connected account of what followed.

Which apostle wrote that he opposed Peter 'to his face' at Antioch?

Later tradition nonetheless made Peter the first Patriarch of Antioch, serving there for seven years according to the Liber Pontificalis.

Who eclipsed Peter as leader of the Jerusalem church?

Peter, James and John were known as the three Pillars of the Church; one historian calls Peter the 'bridge-man' between James's and Paul's factions.

Which adversary did Peter debate en route to Antioch, who Eusebius says was worshipped as a god in Rome?

Jerome wrote that Peter went to Rome 'in the second year of Claudius to overthrow Simon Magus'.

Peter's first epistle sends greetings from 'the church at Babylon'. Which city do most scholars think is meant?

Babylon was a common Jewish and Christian nickname for Rome; a minority think of the fortress of Babylon in Egypt.

Under which emperor is Peter traditionally said to have been martyred in Rome?

Early tradition places his death around the time of the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, for which Nero blamed the Christians.

How, according to Origen and Jerome, was Peter crucified?

He is said to have asked for it, feeling unworthy to die as his Lord had; the inverted Petrine Cross derives from the tradition.

According to Jerome, how many years did Peter hold the 'sacerdotal chair' in Rome?

He is said to have arrived in the second year of Claudius and died in the fourteenth year of Nero, AD 67–68.

In the Quo vadis legend, what did the risen Jesus answer when Peter, fleeing the city, asked 'Quo vadis?'

The story comes from the apocryphal Acts of Peter; shamed, Peter turned back to face his own crucifixion.

On which road outside Rome does the Quo vadis encounter traditionally take place?

Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel Quo Vadis, set in Nero's time, took its title from the story.

Whom did Peter and Paul, according to Irenaeus, appoint as the next bishop of Rome?

Irenaeus's list continues through Anacletus and Clement to Eleutherius; Tertullian says Peter ordained Clement.

Which emperor began the first basilica over Peter's grave in the early 4th century?

The slope of Vatican Hill had to be dug away because Christians were so certain of the burial site.

In which year did Paul VI declare bones under the basilica's altar most likely Peter's?

The bones, found in 1950 and rediscovered by chance by Margherita Guarducci, were those of a man of about 61 from the 1st century.

Which pope presented part of Peter's relics publicly for the first time, in November 2013?

The bone fragments were displayed at a Mass in St. Peter's Square.

On what date do Catholics keep the joint feast of Saints Peter and Paul?

Augustine said the two martyrdoms fell on different days 'but those two were one'; the Liber Pontificalis gives 29 June as Peter's burial date.

The feast of the Chair of Saint Peter is kept in the Roman Rite on which date?

Before 1960 there was also an 18 January feast of the Chair in Rome, and 1 August was Saint Peter in Chains.

The ring worn by the popes in memory of Peter's trade shows him doing what?

The keys used as a symbol of papal authority refer to the 'keys of the kingdom of Heaven' promised to Peter.

Who designed the gilt bronze casing that encloses the relic known as the Chair of Saint Peter?

The wooden throne inside was a gift from Charles the Bald to Pope John VIII in 875, and its oldest parts date from the 6th century.

Which emperor gave the wooden throne now venerated as the Chair of Saint Peter to Pope John VIII in 875?

Studies between 1968 and 1974 concluded it was a single chair whose oldest parts date from the 6th century.

Whose design for the new St. Peter's Basilica was chosen, with the foundation stone laid in 1506?

His dome, like the Pantheon's, was to rest on four great piers; Michelangelo and Carlo Maderno later reshaped the plans.

Which pope solemnly dedicated the completed St. Peter's Basilica on 18 November 1626?

The building had passed through the reigns of some twenty popes since Julius II laid the foundation stone.

The basilica's bronze Saint Peter Enthroned is sometimes attributed to which sculptor?

Some scholars date it as early as the fifth century; pilgrims have worn its right foot smooth with kisses.

By what measure is St. Peter's the largest church in the world?

Bramante, Michelangelo and Carlo Maderno were its principal designers, with Bernini adding the piazza and fittings.

Which gospel is traditionally thought to preserve Peter's preaching, written down by his assistant?

Papias recorded the belief that John Mark wrote down what he heard from Peter; the same man is greeted as 'my son' in 1 Peter.

Which early writer said Peter's wife was executed for her faith by the Roman authorities?

The gospels say nothing about her, and one view holds that Peter was already a widower when he met Jesus.

How is Peter consistently shown in traditional Christian iconography?

He contrasts with Paul, shown bald with a longer beard; the earliest known portrait of Peter dates from the 4th century.

The San Pedro cactus is named for the belief that, like Saint Peter, it does what?

Users are said to 'reach heaven while still on earth'; Peru declared its traditional use cultural heritage in 2022.

In which lakeside town did Jesus heal Peter's mother-in-law, according to the Synoptic Gospels?

The episode, set in Peter's own home, is the main evidence that the apostle was married or widowed.

For how many years does the Liber Pontificalis say Peter served as bishop of Antioch before Rome?

The ninth-century source also suggests he may have left his family in the Greek city before travelling west.

Bones found under St Peter's altar were identified as a 1st-century man of roughly what age?

The re-examination in the 1960s led Paul VI to declare in 1968 that they were most likely the apostle's relics.

Which Church Father wrote that Peter himself ordained Clement as bishop of Rome?

The claim appears in his Prescription against Heretics, the same work that attests Peter suffered a passion like his Lord's.

Twelver Shia Muslims liken Peter's role behind Jesus to which figure's role behind Muhammad?

Both are viewed as vicegerents, the first proper leaders after the prophet; the Quran itself calls the disciples 'helpers' without naming them.