Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter & Paul
In Dedicatione Basilicarum Ss. Petri et Pauli Apostolorum
This feast honours the dedication of the two great basilicas built over the tombs of the chief Apostles — Saint Peter at the Vatican and Saint Paul on the road to Ostia — in the city of Rome.
On the eighteenth of November the Church keeps the dedication of the two basilicas raised in Rome over the resting places of the princes of the Apostles: the basilica of Saint Peter on the Vatican hill, and the basilica of Saint Paul on the road that leads to Ostia. These churches mark the spots hallowed by the burial of the two Apostles who, by their preaching and their martyrdom, made Rome the centre of the Christian world.
The churches over the Apostles’ tombs
From the earliest centuries the faithful venerated the tombs of Saint Peter and Saint Paul at Rome. When the Church gained her freedom under the Emperor Constantine, great basilicas were built over these sacred places, that the people might gather there in worship. In the course of the centuries these churches were renewed and rebuilt — most famously the present basilica of Saint Peter, completed in the age of the Renaissance — yet they remain rooted in the same holy ground, sanctified by the bodies of the Apostles.
The dedication of a church is itself a holy thing, for the building of stone is set apart and consecrated to be a house of prayer and a sign of the living temple which is the Church, built upon the foundation of the Apostles, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In these two basilicas, the dedication is joined to the memory of Peter and Paul, whose faith and blood are the Church’s firm foundation.
A feast of the whole Church
Though these basilicas stand in Rome, their dedication is celebrated throughout the Church, for they belong to all the faithful as monuments of the apostolic faith and as goals of pilgrimage from every nation. The feast invites Christians everywhere to honour Saints Peter and Paul, to give thanks for the unity and stability of the Church founded upon them, and to make of their own souls fitting temples of the living God.
The Collect
Patronage
The feast honours the basilicas of Saint Peter at the Vatican and Saint Paul-outside-the-Walls, two of the principal churches of Rome and goals of pilgrimage for the whole Church.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar this feast is observed on 18 November as an optional memorial.
Common Questions
When is the Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul?
It is kept on 18 November in both the 1962 Roman Missal (Third Class) and the modern calendar (optional memorial).
Which two churches does this feast honour?
It honours the basilica of Saint Peter on the Vatican hill and the basilica of Saint Paul on the road to Ostia (Saint Paul-outside-the-Walls), both built in Rome over the tombs of the two Apostles.
Why is the dedication of a church celebrated as a feast?
When a church is consecrated, it is set apart forever as a house of God and a sign of the Church herself, the spiritual temple built on the Apostles with Christ as the cornerstone. The anniversary of such a dedication is kept as a feast of thanksgiving, and in these basilicas it is joined to the veneration of Saints Peter and Paul.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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