Today (June 29) is the Feast of St. Peter for the APA in the 1928 Prayer Book. This day holds true in the 1789 and 1549 BCP. But Romans, Episcopalians, Lutherans and CofE (among others I’m sure) celebrate today the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. As a “major feast” it’s up there in importance. I’m just a simple layman but curious if there was a meaningful, liturgical reason for the change over the years among the different faiths?
I looked up yesterday in older calendars in C of E BCPs (1662 & 1928) and, indeed, it was the feast of St. Peter. Nowadays, of course, it's generally observed as St Peter and St Paul. I don't know why this change was made. It may be an ecumenical reason. I'm assuming Roman Catholics have always observed both these very important saints on 29th June rather than only St Peter. Perhaps that's why it changed in Anglican and other communions. I'd be interested to read the answer to your question. Let's hope someone comes along and gives a definitive answer.
And in some circles, today is the Festival of St. Paul. In the calendars I referenced above this doesn't occur until January. The mystery continues.....
I assume it's a case of "monkey see, Vatican II," but would love to be proven wrong. It looks like the Eastern churches (including the Copts and Ethiopians) have commemorated them together, so it may be that Cranmer removed the second Pauline celebration for some reason.
I think that the most logical reason why the two share a date, is because the date was the date that the remains of Peter and Paul were moved to the Basilica sometime in the 4th century.
Never considered that. Interesting especially since I read this a few minutes ago and this is on twitter, there is this being posted.
As an additional data point, on my copy of the ACNA's calendar it says, "Peter and Paul, Apostles." On my personal calendar, it's just another day.
I believe 30th June is the Commemoration of St. Paul whereas his feast in january is the Conversion of St. Paul.
Thank you everyone for your input. I don’t intend to draw this out but if I come up with something else I’ll be sure to share on the forum.
In which circles? I believe the former feast is primarily a Catholic one. It used to be in the Roman Catholic calendar. It is not in their current one where 30th June is the First Martyrs of Rome. I know Catholic Anglicans follow the Roman Catholic calendar in this respect. In the C of E BCP there is no feast on 30th June. The Conversion of St. Paul (25th January) is there so I suspect that date has been kept as that feast for several centuries.
I don’t know the full answer to that question as I have not looked at all calendars. Now I don’t have all my materials in front of me but referring back to the prayer books I alluded to previously, there is no festival of any sort on June 30 . But with the point you brought up of a Roman observance (which I don’t doubt in the least) makes me want to look again at my great aunt’s missal and my Anglican Missal. But as to the Feast of the Conversion it appears universal (or close to it). Again, I would think with an apostle the date(s) of observance would be universal dating back to the early churches.
Today our household will celebrate the feast of my son's birthday! We're having steak, and perhaps some Franziskaner Weissbier. He's a saint, too!
If you run a Google search for "Augustine feast of Saints Peter and Paul" you'll find articles that reference one of that saint's Homilies which indicate the feast was (in his day) observed for both apostles together. I'm not sure why the Prayer Book tradition cut Paul and emphasized a different feast day for him (as it retained other feast days that commemorate two apostles together), but as others have noted most modern Anglican books have returned to the traditional Peter & Paul combo.
I really appreciate the help. I just checked the 1549 Kalendar and on June 29 it’s just Peter. I have not seen what the Romans were doing but my light research indicates they celebrated both since 3rd or 4th century. More likely this was a Cranmer move as he consolidated all the various missals/ prayer books/offices into one. For whatever reason, I’m more certain this was not a decision of a Council or Synod of some sorts but one of semi-fiat.
Our Rector truly enjoyed last night’s homily about Sts Peter and Paul since, according to the Anglican Missal, since we were within the feast’s octave he needed to preach about their service to Christ. He even acknowledged the Kalendar inconsistency with the 1928 BCP and “the rest of the Christian world”. He has no idea about my struggle….