St. Peter’s first “chair” may have been in the Upper Room

One of the more puzzling feasts on the liturgical calendar is the feast of the “Chair of St. Peter.”

At face value it appears that Catholics are worshipping a chair!

Yet, that is not the case at all, as the feast of the Chair of St. Peter is a much more encompassing celebration that honors the spiritual authority given to St. Peter by Jesus Christ.

This authority was initially symbolized by an actual chair (called the cathedra petri in Latin) that St. Peter sat on while reigning as the first pope. Officials in the Roman Empire would sit on chairs when administering judgments or when engaged in official ceremonies. Having arisen within the Roman Empire, this tradition was replicated in the Roman Catholic Church and survives to this day. 

Pope Benedict XVI mentioned in a general audience in 2006 the possibility that St. Peter possessed a chair in the Upper room:

So what was the “Chair” of St Peter? Chosen by Christ as the “rock” on which to build the Church (cf. Mt 16: 18), he began his ministry in Jerusalem, after the Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost. The Church’s first “seat” was the Upper Room, and it is likely that a special place was reserved for Simon Peter in that room where Mary, Mother of Jesus, also prayed with the disciples.

Pope Benedict XVI is specifically referring to the following passage from the Acts of the Apostles:

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away; and when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

Acts: 1-12-14

After leading the nascent Church in Jerusalem, tradition places St. Peter in Antioch, and then in Rome, where he would receive a martyr’s death.

Today the feast of the Chair of St. Peter recalls these “chairs,” but more importantly, is a day to pray for the current successor of St. Peter, the pope, and to rejoice in the authority that has been given to him by Jesus Christ.

Read more:You know the baldachin, but do you know St. Peter’s Chair?

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