The Chair of St Peter

The central truth is always more important than the surrounding trivia.

But trivia can be fun and interesting.

During the past week, I’ve run into a lot of chair trivia.

Last Thursday I spoke with a historian at Mt. Vernon.

She said the item that made her feel closest to Washington was the desk chair in his study.

He sat in that chair at Mt. Vernon before he was president.

He moved it to his presidential office and used it there for eight years.

And he brought it back to Mt. Vernon and used it for the rest of his life.

A few nights ago I was reading The Day Christ Died.

And that book’s account of Christ before Pontius Pilate stressed the importance of Pilate’s chair.

Pilate initially walked down the stairs and stopped at a landing.

His aides brought his official chair to the landing, and Pilate sat there.

He later descended all the way to the courtyard.

The aides brought the chair along,

Because, by custom, the Prefect rendered his official judgments from that particular chair.

Yesterday, Fr. Gene’s homily touched on the symbolism of the presider’s chair.

And now, today is the feast of the Chair of St. Peter.

The chair in the symbolic sense—as the seat of authority, the seat of wisdom and teaching.

But there actually is an old wood and ivory chair at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

And tradition, and the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1917, say St. Peter probably sat in it as Pope.

Today, February 22, is not only a feast day honoring our first Pope.

It’s also the birthday of our first president.

Another interesting piece of trivial coincidence.

But the less important details of history are not always as they seem.

Dates and interpretations and available facts can change.

Technically, George Washington was not born on Feb 22, 1732—he was born on Feb 11, 1731.

But in 1752 Britain (and the Colonies) switched from the Julian calendar.

To catch up to the Gregorian calendar, they had to jump ahead 11 days.

And at the same time they changed New Years Day from March 25, to January 1.

So what had been February 11, 1731, retroactively became February 22, 1732.

Pope Paul VI had a panel of experts examine St. Peter’s Chair in 1967.

And they concluded that it most likely dated from the 8^th Century.

Many Popes did sit in it, but probably not St Peter.

It is inspiring to go to historic sites and see and maybe even touch historic artifacts.

They do give us a more intense appreciation and connection.

Added sensual perceptions of the reality of the underlying truth they represent.

But in the end, those sites and artifacts are really just trivia.

We may touch them with our eyes or hands.

But that underlying central truth is what touches us.

Today, our Church celebrates one of those underlying central truths.

The truth that Jesus formed us into his Church.

And gave Peter and his successors the earthly authority to guide that Church.

That truth stands solidly upon the word of the Gospel—it doesn’t rest upon any chair.