The Daily Pilgrimage

Today in the Roman year

Today the Church turns the pilgrim toward apostolic order: the faith received, guarded, preached, and suffered for. In exile this is not an abstraction. The faithful must love the visible form Christ gave His Church without confusing office, truth, and fidelity.

Perform one hidden act of charity without seeking notice or return.

Roman Martyrology

July 6

The Octave of the holy apostles Peter and Paul. — In Judea, the holy prophet Isaias. In the reign of king Manasses he was put to death by being sawed in two and was buried beneath the oak Rogel, near a running stream. — At Rome, the birthday of St. Tranquillinus, martyr, father of the Saints Mark and Marcellian, who were converted to Christ by the preaching of the martyr St. Sebastian. Baptized by the blessed priest Polycarp, he was ordained priest by pope St. Caius. He was arrested while praying at the tomb of blessed Paul on the Octave of the Apostles, and stoned to death by the Pagans, and thus consummated his martyrdom. — At Fiesoli, in Tuscany, St. Romulus, bishop and martyr, disciple of the blessed apostle Peter, who commissioned him to preach the Gospel. After announcing Christ in many parts of Italy, he returned to Fiesoli, and was crowned with martyrdom with other Christians in the reign of Domitian. — In Campania, St. Dominica, virgin and martyr, in the time of the emperor Diocletian. For having destroyed idols, she was condemned to the beasts, but being uninjured by them, she was beheaded and departed for heaven. Her body is kept with great veneration at Tropea, in Calabria. — The same day, St. Lucia, martyr, a native of Campania. Being arrested and severely tortured by the lieutenant-governor Kictiovarus, she converted him to Christ. To them were added Antoninus, Severinus, Diodorus, Dion, and seventeen others, who shared their sufferings and their crowns. — In the vicinity of Treves, St. Goar, priest and confessor.

Gospel of the Day

Upon this rock I will build my Church.

Octave of Ss. Peter and Paul, Apostles - Matthew 16:13-19

“Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church.”

Stay with the apostolic pillars a little longer. The Church teaches by returning, repeating, and letting holy truths sink deeper.

Highlighted saint

Octave of Ss. Peter and Paul

The apostolic foundation remembered again.

The Martyrology keeps July 6 as the Octave of the holy apostles Peter and Paul.

The octave day returns the faithful to the Roman apostolic foundation: Peter's keys, Paul's mission, and the Church's public witness sealed by blood.

Do not hurry away from the apostles. The octave day teaches the soul to return to foundations until obedience becomes steadier than reaction.

Breviary Witness

The apostles remembered on the octave day.

Matins - Octave of Ss. Peter and Paul

• The Roman year keeps the Octave of Ss. Peter and Paul so the apostolic foundation is not passed over quickly.
• The Church returns to Peter and Paul because authority and mission, confession and preaching, must remain together.

Return to foundations without embarrassment. A Catholic in exile needs Peter's confession and Paul's labor more than private improvisation.

From Matins

Rome made bright by the twin pillars of the Church.

Matins - Second Nocturn - Octave of Ss. Peter and Paul, Apostles

St. John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople, Sermon on Ss. Peter and Paul

“Your tongues were blessed instruments; it was for the Church's sake that your limbs were bloody.”

• The Octave Day keeps the Church before the toil, preaching, sufferings, and martyrdoms of the two great Apostles.
• St. John Chrysostom honors Peter and Paul as soldiers of Christ whose prisons, fetters, wounds, and blood made the Churches glad.
• Rome is praised not chiefly for earthly grandeur, but because the bodies of Peter and Paul adorn her as two bright eyes and two pillars of the Church.

Measure Catholic greatness by apostolic sacrifice, not worldly splendor. The Church is made illustrious by faith preached, suffering borne, and blood spent for Christ.

Truth of the Faith

The Cross Is Daily

The disciple of Christ must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Our Lord in obedience, penance, and perseverance.

Prayer

O Lord, make my charity patient without weakness, firm without harshness, and always ordered toward the salvation of souls.