Last updated on December 16, 2024
The Catholic Church marks June 29 as the deaths of both Peter and Paul. The reason I know this is that our family visited Vatican City on June 30, 2018, and we learned that this was one of the busiest days of the year because everything was closed the day before to commemorate their lives and deaths.
On July 19, in the year AD 64, a fire broke out in Rome, and it raged for nine days. 71% of the city was destroyed in that time. Emperor Nero was initially blamed. He needed a scapegoat, so he chose the Christians in Rome. Over the next few years, Christians would be persecuted. They would be killed in horrible ways, often for the entertainment of Nero. Some were sewn in the skins of animals and left for wild dogs. Others were coated in wax and lit up in his gardens as human torches. This persecution would last until AD 68, when Nero was banished from Rome and committed suicide.
It was during this time that both Peter and Paul were killed, though probably not on the same day. Because Paul was a Roman citizen, his mode of execution was beheading, a humane way to go compared to how many died under Nero’s reign. Peter was not a Jew, so he was sentenced to death via crucifixion. Church tradition says that because he didn’t feel worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord, he chose to be crucified upside down.
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