A simple fisherman from Galilee, St Peter, first called Simon, was the brother of St Andrew who first introduced him to Jesus Christ. Jesus met the two fishing in the Sea of Galilee and said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men". Peter did just that, becoming, as we can see from the New Testament, the clear leader and spokesman for the Twelve Apostles. Wherever the apostles are listed, St Peter is always listed first, whenever Jesus addresses the apostles, or they wish to address Him, it is Peter who speaks for the rest. When Christ was teaching about the Eucharist, saying that only those who eat His flesh and drink His blood will have eternal life, it was Peter who vowed to believe and follow Jesus even if His words were hard to understand. Peter was the most devout, but also the most impulsive and a man with weaknesses. When Jesus was walking on the water, it was Peter who rushed out to meet him, but was overcome by fear before reaching Him and started to sink. Peter was always the one who did not look before he leaped.
Jesus rebuked Peter, at least once, for his weakness, but the key moment came when Peter declared that Jesus was "the Christ", the Messiah and the Son of God. Jesus said that this had been revealed to Peter by God in Heaven and there gave him his new name, no longer was he Simon son of John, but he was Cephas, or Peter which means "rock" and told Peter, "on this rock, I will build my Church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven: and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven." This is certainly one of the most important Biblical passages. Never before or since was anyone invested with such awesome responsibility and authority on earth as in Heaven. Later, St Peter is so zealous he tries to defend Christ by force from being taken, but then his weakness shows and he denies having known Christ at all three times.
After the resurrection of Christ, St Peter is the first apostle to see him and leaps from his boat to swim to shore so overcome with devotion is he to see his master. Later, three times in recognition of Peter's denial, Christ commands St Peter to look after His flock when Christ returns to Heaven. St Peter takes this duty very seriously. After Pentecost, St Peter converts multitudes to the faith, and he presides over the first council of bishops which decides to accept the Gentiles and abolish the old ceremonial laws of Judaism. St Peter, being the proud Jew that he is, has some trouble with this, but the truth is revealed to him, setting the precedent that the Pope, and councils meeting in union with him, will always be given the truth by God and protected by the Holy Spirit from teaching error.
From Church history and Scripture we know that St Peter later went to Rome itself where he established the Christian community there, becoming the first Bishop of Rome. About the same time as St Paul, during the persecution of Christians by the Emperor Nero, St Peter is martyred for the faith. Tradition says that St Peter was fleeing Rome until he sees a vision of Christ, with His cross, going to Rome to die again because Peter has forsaken his death. Shamed by this vision, St Peter determines that this time he will not falter, and so returns to Rome where he is quickly taken by the authorities. At his own request, St Peter was crucified upside down, since, as he said, he was not worthy to die in the same manner as Christ. St Peter was executed at the circus on Vatican Hill and buried nearbye. Later, first during the reign of Emperor Constantine, a basilica was built over the spot where St Peter rests. His tomb is still there today, under the High Altar at St Peter's Basilica in Rome.
AMEN.