Santi Pietro e Paolo

Peter and Paul are joined in a single feast because the Church of Rome was built upon the blood of both: the Rock on whom Christ founded his Church, and the Apostle who carried the Gospel to the nations. From the earliest centuries Rome honoured them together on June 29 as her twin founders, their basilicas — St Peter’s on the Vatican hill and St Paul’s Outside the Walls — marking the places of their burial. Together they signify the whole apostolic mission: Peter the shepherd of the flock, Paul the herald to the nations, one feast for the unity and universality of the Church they served unto death.