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Ordinary Time
Sts. Peter and Paul
Also called: Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul, SS. Pietro e Paolo (Italian), Den hellige Peter og Paul (Norwegian)
June 29 (fixed)
CatholicEastern OrthodoxAnglicanLutheran
Peter and Paul were the two giants of the early church — a fisherman who denied Jesus then became the first Pope, and a persecutor who became Christianity's greatest missionary. Catholics celebrate them together on 29 June with special Mass at St Peter's Basilica in Rome.
It is a public holiday in Rome; fireworks light the Tiber. Both were martyred in Rome under Emperor Nero.
Eden lists pilgrimages to Rome and the Vatican.
At a glance
- Type
- solemnity
- Date type
- Fixed (same date every year)
- Regions
- Global
- Themes
- Apostles
- Liturgical colour
- Red
Common questions
Sts. Peter and Paul is observed on June 29 (fixed). Moveable feasts shift each year; fixed feasts stay on the same calendar date.
The feast honoring the two "princes of the apostles," St. Peter (first bishop of Rome, crucified upside down c. AD 64–68) and St. Paul (beheaded c. AD 64–68), who are believed to have been martyred in Rome on the same day. In Rome, a special Mass is celebrated at St. Peter's Basilica, and the Pope blesses the pallia (church calendar vestments) worn by new metropolitan archbishops. A public holiday in R
It is associated with Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran. It falls in the Ordinary Time season of the liturgical year.
Related holidays
- Nativity of St. John the BaptistJune 24 (exactly six months before Christmas; Luke 1:26 sets Gabriel's visit to Mary six months after Elizabeth's conception)Read guide
- All Saints' DayNovember 1Read guide
- Assumption of the Blessed Virgin MaryAugust 15 (fixed)Read guide
- Christ the King22 November 2026 (semi-fixed)Read guide