THAT St.
Peter, before he went to Rome, founded the see of Antioch is attested by many
Saints. It was just that the Prince of the Apostles should take this city under
his particular care and inspection, which was then the capital of the East, and
in which the faith took so early and so deep root as to give birth in it to the
name of Christians. St. Chrysostom says that St. Peter made' there a long stay;
St. Gregory the Great, that he was seven years Bishop of Antioch; not that he
resided there all that time, but only that he had a particular care over that
Church. If he sat twenty-five years at Rome, the date of his establishing his
chair at Antioch must be within three years after Our Saviour's Ascension; for
in that supposition he must have gone to Rome in the second year of Claudius.
In the first ages it was customary, especially in the East, for every Christian
to keep the anniversary of his Baptism, on which he renewed his baptismal vows
and gave thanks to God for his heavenly adoption: this they called their
spiritual birthday. The bishops in like manner kept the anniversary of their
own consecration, as appears from four sermons of St. Leo on the anniversary of
his accession or assumption to the pontifical dignity; and this was frequently
continued after their decease by the people, out of respect for their memory.
St. Leo says we ought to celebrate the chair of St. [paragraph continues] Peter
with no less joy than the day of his martyrdom; for as in this he was exalted
to a throne of glory in heaven, so by the former he was installed head of the
Church on earth.
Reflection.—On this
festival we are especially bound to adore and thank the Divine Goodness for the
establishment and propagation of His Church, and earnestly to pray that in His
mercy He preserve the same, and dilate its pale, that His name may be glorified
by all nations, and by all hearts, to the boundaries of the earth, for His divine
honor and the salvation of souls, framed to His divine image, and the price of
His adorable blood.
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