February seems to have two feast days within a week of each other whose names are somewhat off-beat. On Feb. 17, we observed the optional memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order, a name that — because of its collective nature — seems anonymous. Today we celebrate the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter.

A non-Catholic (and some Catholics) might ask: “What’s so special about Peter’s Chair? Are we next going to have “St. Paul’s bed?”

Well, no. But why do we celebrate the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter?

Well, the same reason that we call certain churches — the most important church in a diocese — the “cathedral.” It’s not because it’s particularly pretty or architecturally elegant (though many are). It’s because that’s where the cathedra, the “chair” or seat of the bishop.

The episcopal “chair” is the sign of his spiritual role to teach, govern, and sanctify. Especially to teach: that’s why universities have “chairs” in honor of, or held by, particularly distinguished teachers. When your alma mater asks you for money to endow a “chair,” it’s not that they have particularly expensive furniture tastes that could not be satisfied at IKEA. It’s that it wants to invest and sustain teaching in a particular subject or area. And where did universities get that idea from? Well, since universities were created by the Church … there’s your answer.

Getting back to the Church, Peter’s chair is particularly important because Peter, as the head of the apostles (and, thus, the Church) was charged with teaching the faith. If you walk into St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, you will see the nave encircled by a huge golden band with Latin words in black on it. They are two Biblical texts. 

One of them is Luke 22:32: Ego rogavi pro te, o Petre, ut non deficiat fides tua: et tu aliquando converses confirma fraters tuos — “I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail; and after you are converted, confirm your brothers.” In other words, you, Peter, are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the faith of your brethren, the faith of the Church. Jesus told him to do that. He explicitly sanctioned Peter’s role as the one who teaches his brethren what the faith demands. That is what the “chair of Peter” is all about.

The other Biblical text around the nave comes from Matthew 16:19: Quodcumque ligaveris super terra merit ligatum et in coelis et quodcumque solveris super terra merit solutum et in coelis — “Whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth is loosened in heaven.” That refers to the “power of the keys,” another power and symbol of Peter’s office. It’s why we say Peter “has the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” It’s why the Vatican flag has crossed keys on it.

Let’s consider its popular image. Sometimes we see Peter presented at the gates of heaven, even occasionally leafing through a book of our good and bad deeds. Obviously, it is God who judges us after death. But where did that image of the Petrine porter patrolling the pearly gates come from? From Jesus’ teaching about Peter as holding “the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” And even when the image of Peter checking out the book of our lives as our potential admission ticket, there’s a truth there, too: when Jesus gives Peter the power to “bind and loose,” he intended Peter to be able to teach and govern with a binding moral authority. Peter’s (and, therefore, the Church’s) moral teaching is not just another suggestion, even a particularly weighty one that we should then “consider” as we “make up our mind” what God really wants. Matthew 16:19 is clear: God will back up Peter’s authentic moral teaching.

(It’s also why forgiveness of sins is not a “do-it-yourself” exercise but involves the ministry of the Church through a priest.)

So, it ought to be clear: when it comes to Peter’s (and the pope’s) threefold office, the “chair” alludes to the teaching and the “keys” to governing (though, obviously, they interplay with each other). So, what about the “sanctification?”

That’s you, the person reading those words in St. Peter’s (or hearing them anywhere in the world). The whole reason for teaching and governing is sanctifying. Ecclesiastical teaching and governing do not exist to make theories; they exist to make saints.

And that’s why we celebrate the Feast of the Chair of Peter.

Yes, I know that the nature of papal teaching is complex and nuanced, but any complexities and nuances all also flow back to these basic insights about the divine warrant standing behind papal teaching and governance.

Now, since you may be visiting St. Peter’s Basilica (especially in this Holy Year), after reading the inscription over the nave, make your way to the Altar of the Chair. It’s not the main altar that you see at the end of the long, main aisle. That altar stands above St. Peter’s tomb. (There’s a lot of Peter memorabilia in this church).

No, the Altar of the Chair is behind that main altar. It is a glorious work by Bernini that was designed to be a reliquary containing the chair traditionally ascribed to being Peter’s. (In fall 2024, the chair was actually removed and put on physical view in the Basilica, the first time in over 150 years). The chair is now in a gold reliquary, borne up by four giant statues of the four giant theologians of the ancient Church: two East (St. Athanasius and St. John Chrysostom) and two West (St. Ambrose, St. Augustine). They were four of the greatest theological minds of the Church, but their supporting the Chair tells us what theology is for: to serve the Church and its visible head, not to invent novel theories.

Above the reliquary of the Chair is a papal tiara with the crossed keys, again alluding to the roles of teaching and governing. The keys are held not by men — the theologians — but by angels, again affirming that what is bound on earth binds in heaven. And, at the very top of the entire enterprise is he who leads the entire reality of the Church until the Last Day: the Holy Spirit. 

So, that’s why we celebrate the Feast of the Chair of Peter.

(Fun fact: Note that it’s St. Peter’s Basilica, not “St. Peter’s Cathedral.” “Basilica” is a title of honor — like “monsignor” — given to some churches (cathedrals and not) of particular spiritual, historical or architectural importance. Even though the Chair of Peter is now physically kept at St. Peter’s, the pope’s cathedral (the pope is pope because he is bishop of Rome) is actually St. John Lateran. That’s why its name is technically “Archbasilica” with the inscription omnium Urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput — “the mother and head of all churches in the City [Rome] and in the world.”)