The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-28
THE APOSTLE ST. PETER
LAST DAYS OF THE FIRST BISHOP or
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
Near the Site of His Martyrdom Risen
Earth's Most Beautiful Temple, the
Work of Michael Angelo.
lpscIal coresponaence to the journal.


ROME, Italy, Nov 15-There are any
number of memorials and monuments here
10 st. Peter. No matter which way you
turn, evidence OF the life and labors of the
great apostle is everywhere seen. Not only
does the largest church in Christendom tes-
tify to this truth but also the humble
chapel outside the old Porta Capena, as
we'll as a score of shrines, statues and spots
sacred to his memory Even legends are
given "a local habitation and name"
st. Peter, as is generally known, was
the first bishop of Rome. According to the
Catholic Church he founded and presided
over the early Christian community here
for space of twenty-five years. The ex-
preston, "the years of ST. Peter" conse-
quently means a quarter of a century.
And yet, although the great apostle lived
and laboree in Rome so long. there are few
historic places and points of interest that
can be actually authenticated The fact is,
the details of the closing scenes in ST. Pes
ters career. like those in st. Paul's. have
been lost. The only trace we have OF him
in his latter days is from tradition.
The Catholic Church accepts the faith
of the fathers" as given by their early
writer's and teachers, that st. Peter was
the visible head of the Christian colony
here for twenty-five years. And the En-
cyclopedia Britannica, which evidently
speaks ex cathedra and impartially on the
subject, says:
1T is difficult to suppose SO large body
of traditions Degrading ST. Peters pres
ence in Romeo had no foundation in fact"
The great apostle spent very busy life
in preaching and teaching in Rome accord
ing to the best records we have. All classes
in the empire were represented among his
| a -Ia4
conservation" as in st. Pauls case: with
others it was clandestine meeting at mid
night, as when Nicodemus came to the
great Nazarene. For Peter was foremost
among the apostles by virtue of his natural
force of character as well as by his af-
fection.-te and ardent disposition The
churches of S. Prassede and S. Prudential
here preserve the tradition that much of
the latter part of his life was spent in the
house of Pudens on the Viminal hill.
AT WORK IN PRISON.
When the persecution of the Christians be-
gan, after the great fire. st. Peter was
among the first to be caught in Neros net.
And we are told that he languished in the
Mamertine prison in company with st. Paul
for nearly year. In this gloomy hole,
which described in my article on the last
days of st. Paul. st. Peter labored and
prayed with the soldiers who kept guard.
The result was that they, too, embraced
the faith, and were baptized then and there
from the waters of spring, which you can
still see. 1t was Cicero who employed the
single word ''vixerunt' (they have ceased
to live) in announcing the death of the Cati-
line conspirators in this dungeon to the
crowd in the Forum. The great Roman ora
tor might have used the same verb in the
Mt and tn
the two great apostles. For the Mamertine
has now become a Mecca for the faithful.
Not a day passes but the old prison is
visited by the devout of all lands.
1t is interesting to note just here that the
church of S. Pietro in Vincolo contains
what are said to be the very chains to
| which the apostle was fastened dur
| ing his Incarceration in the Mamertine.
| These sacred relics are kept in a cabinet
under the high altar of the church, and are
| exposed Aug / of every year, the anniver-
| sary of his Imprisonment. There are in re-
| atty two pieces of chain, but now they are
welded together. The story is that one
| piece was found in Rome and the other In
| Constantinople, and that they were both
! identified and recovered. Pope Leo / was
more than pleased to secure these sacred
| trophies and while gazing at them with
|
and mystical union take place, so that when
| he came to lift the pieces, ne round lnem
welded together
Tfey were certainly welded in the glass
case on the high altar, just as if an expert
| blacksmith had done the work. And
! they were real strong chains, too, such as
/ I have seen fastened to convicts in the
| South who were working on the street. The
misfortune was that st. Peter could not
have escaped from prison here, as he once
| did before, when an angel delivered him
/ from a jail in Jerusalem into which Herod
| had cast him.
| AS I stood watching the venerable relics
| hundreds of devout people prayed before
| the altar, and seemed to gather inspira-
| ton from these evidences of the apostles
Incarceration. The church. by the way, is
| one of the biggest in theVcity. Its name (St.
| Peter in Chains) tells the story to the
| world of this one scene in st. Peters tri-
umphant career.
/ 1t should be remembered, in this con-
| necticn, that the apostles farewell address.
| as given in the second epistle of Peter Tin
| the New TestamenD, is supposed to have
/ been written to "the brethren from the
| Mamertine prison.
/ PETERS VISION.
| The next event in the life of the apos-
/ tie prior to his execution, was his parting
/ with st. Paul on the Ossian way, the
/ place now commemorated by a chapel.
/ described this sad spot in my article on
st. Paul, and will therefore only say here
that the two apostles must have felt the
separation keenly, for they had lived and
labored long while together, and 1t was
for the purpose of visiting "Cephas" that
Paul made his first journey to Jerusalem
after his conversion. 1t was not strange,
therefore, that st. Peter should go a part
of the way with him outside the walls on
his last journey, nor the spot should be
marked even now by his nineteenth-cen-
tury followers.
About this time, as the legend goes. Peter
seemed to have been prevailed upon to flee
| from Rome in order to escape the terrible
prosecutions of the Christians Whether he
was anxious for his own safety, or for that
of 1.-The brethren is not known; but the
story is that he desired to get as far away
from Neros clutches as he possibly could
He accordingly made his escape from the
city by the old Porta Cajerna. and, with
pilgrim staff in hand was fleeing along the
Appian way to the foot hills of the Cam
pagna, when the Savior appeared before
him. The apostle was awe-stricken at the
sight OF the Master with bleeding hands