By Fr. Alex Kramer
On Monday, November 18, the Church Universal celebrates the dedication of the great sister churches of Rome, the Basilicas of St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Outside the Walls. These two magnificent churches face each other from across the city, with St. Peter’s facing to the East and St. Paul’s to the West. These two great shrines to the princes of the Apostles remind all those who go to the eternal city, why Rome is the heart of the Church and not Jerusalem.
Each of these churches sits atop a particular spot around which the church buildings were built. Emperor Constantine wanted these churches constructed in locales which were not suitable for building, but having the main altar of these churches situated not simply in the vicinity of, but on top of the tombs of Peter and Paul, respectively. The two Apostles, who witnessed the events of the gospel and sought to spread it across the known world, even to Rome. It was here that Peter and Paul poured out their blood as martyrs and consecrated the capital of the world to the God who had died for them.
We celebrate these two churches which are icons of the Catholic Church throughout the world. It connects us here in Iowa to the Church in Rome, which celebrates these churches, built not as small secret places of worship for the elites, but rather massive and bright warehouses of worship for all, where the whole world can gather to give honor and glory to God, as did Ss. Peter and Paul, some 2,000 years ago!