The Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, a Holyday of Obligation in the Church’s calendar, is this year celebrated on Sunday 28 June, transferred from the traditional date of 29 June.
The monastic community at Ampleforth Abbey extends a warm welcome to all those who wish to participate at Mass in the Abbey church on Sunday 28 June at 9.30am.
The feast commemorates the martyrdom of these two great saints, which is recorded in The Roman Martyrology with this entry for 29 June:
“At Rome, the birthday [day of death] of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, who suffered in the same year on the same day, under the Emperor Nero. The former was crucified in that city, with his dead downward, and was buried in the Vatican near the Via Triumphalis; and there he is honoured with the veneration of the whole world. The latter was slain with the sword, and buried with honour on the Via Ostiensis”.
“Saints Peter and Paul challenge us to think about the vitality of our faith. In our life as disciples, we can always risk falling into a rut, a routine, a tendency to follow the same old pastoral plans without experiencing interior renewal and a willingness to respond to new challenges. The two Apostles, however, can inspire us by the example of their openness to change, to new events, encounters and concrete situations in the life of their communities, and by their readiness to consider new approaches to evangelization in response to the problems and difficulties raised by our brothers and sisters in the faith” (Pope Leo XIV).
