Solemnity of St Peter and St Paul - 60th Jubilee of Ordination for Pope Benedict XVI

From Catholic Culture - Veneration of the two great Apostles, Peter and Paul, has its roots in the very foundations of the Church. They are the solid rock on which the Church is built. They are at the origin of her faith and will forever remain her protectors and her guides. To them Rome owes her true greatness, for it was under God's providential guidance that they were led to make the capital of the Empire, sanctified by their martyrdom, the center of the Christian world whence should radiate the preaching of the Gospel.

St. Peter suffered martyrdom under Nero, in A.D. 66 or 67. He was buried on the hill of the Vatican where recent excavations have revealed his tomb on the very site of the basilica of St. Peter's. St. Paul was beheaded in the via Ostia on the spot where now stands the basilica bearing his name. Down the centuries Christian people in their thousands have gone on pilgrimage to the tombs of these Apostles. In the second and third centuries the Roman Church already stood pre-eminent by reason of her apostolicity, the infallible truth of her teaching and her two great figures, Sts. Peter and Paul.

Continue reading about the feast over at Catholic Culture.

********

On the same day, Pope Benedict will celebrate Mass at St Peter's and impose the pallium on the newly created metropolitan archbishops gathered in Rome for the occassion. The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Pope on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. The pallium is a narrow band, "three fingers broad", woven of white lamb's wool from sheep raised by Trappist monks, with a loop in the centre resting on the shoulders over the vestments of an archbishop and two dependent lappets, before and behind; so that when seen from front or back the ornament resembles the letter Y

*********

Pope Benedict will also celebrate (with his older brother Georg) the occassion of his 60th anniversary of priestly ordination.

Over at News.Va, a reflection on the occassion taken from this weeks edition of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano about the celebration for the Ratzinger brothers who were ordained together - The most important moment of my life - Sixty years ago, 29 June 1951, Joseph Ratzinger was ordained a priest



From USCCB - As part of the celebrations Catholics worldwide are asked to mark the sixtieth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s ordination to the priesthood with sixty hours of Eucharistic prayer for vocations.

The pope will celebrate his anniversary June 29, the Solemnity of St. Peter and Paul. In honor of his anniversary, the Vatican Congregation for Clergy suggested Catholic clergy and faithful be invited to participate in Eucharistic Adoration with the intention of praying for the sanctification of the clergy and for the gift of new and holy priestly vocations.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, highlighted the importance of this celebration.

“An increase in number and sanctity of the priests in service to our dioceses is a sign of health and vitality in the Church,” he said. Prayer for vocations is “a worthy intention” and an appropriate spiritual sacrifice “in gratitude for the example and service of Pope Benedict XVI,” he wrote in a May 17 letter to bishops.

For this occasion, the USCCB Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations has designed a prayer card that can be downloaded from www.foryourvocation.org. The prayer card can be linked to diocesan or parish websites, printed in parish bulletins, and used for dioceses or parishes.