From the desk of the Tar Heel disciple:
February 24, 2026 (#78)
The Feast of the Chair of St. Peter
During the holy season of Lent, all “memorials” of the saints are treated as optional commemorations. Solemnities, such as those of the Annunciation and Saint Joseph, are, however, still observed. If those days, March 25 and March 19, respectively, fall on a Sunday in Lent, they are transferred to the next available date, according to the liturgical norms. In addition, “feasts” are also observed in Lent, such as the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, which is celebrated on February 22, according to the General Roman Calendar. However, when that date falls on a Sunday in Lent, as it does in 2026, the feast is not kept liturgically in that year. But readers may still find its origin of interest.
At first, it might seem quite odd to have a feast commemorating an object, such as a piece of furniture. But in fact, the feast commemorates the mission and person of Saint Peter the Apostle, the first bishop of Rome, in much the same way as a reference to “the Crown” in certain cultures refers to the royal institution of the monarchy and the person who is currently reigning. Another analogy might be seen in the perhaps more common reference to an endowed chair at a university, which might commemorate the donor, a particular field of study, and the professor currently “holding the chair.”
There is a wooden chair enshrined at Saint Peter's Basilica which tradition holds was in fact used by Saint Peter when he presided over the primitive Roman Church. Historical studies have identified the chair as a gift from the Emperor Charles the Bald to Pope John VIII, in 875, though it is possible that it might contain older elements. That chair/throne, which was exposed in Saint Peter's Basilica in the fall of 2024, is more permanently enshrined in the apse of the same basilica, in the famous gilt bronze reliquary designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and completed in 1653.
During the first millennium, in different places, the Church often celebrated two feasts of the Chair of St. Peter, on January 18 and on February 22. The first feast was associated with Saint Peter presiding over the Church in Rome, and the second feast with his presiding over the church in Antioch. (It is conceivable that the January 18 commemoration was originally instituted in some local churches where all feasts of the saints during Lent were impeded.) In 1960, Pope St. John XXIII deleted the January 18 observance, thus leaving only the February 22 feast day in the 1962 Roman Missal. The reform of the General Roman Calendar in 1969 maintained this reform.
The relic of the chair of St. Peter, exposed for veneration, at St. Peter’s Basilica, in 2024.
Books, medals, statues, etc., related to St. Peter can be found at:
https://inhisname.com/search?options%5Bprefix%5D=last&q=St.+Peter
