Happy feast of Saints Peter and Paul!

Or is it just Peter? All our prayer books before the liturgical revolution of the 1970’s list this as the feast of Peter only. Yet the idea that this is the commemoration of the martyrdom of both of them can be found in earlier times.

I don’t presume to know the details of how and why these changes came about. I do know that the English reformation had an emphasis on simplifying the calendar and liturgy so it focuses on the main things with fewer distractions. But what I can observe is this:

Whichever prayer book you look at, there is a balance between Peter and Paul. The historic prayer books had one feast for each of them: (the conversion of Paul on January 18 and Saint Peter on June 29). The modernist family of prayer books (like the 1979, Common Worship, and the 2019) has two feasts each:

• Confession of Peter (18 Jan )
• Conversion of Paul (25 Jan.)
• Peter & Paul (29 June)

So there’s your little bit of trivia for the day.

I’m out of state this weekend and preparation for this trip caused me to fail to prepare this entry ahead of time. Back to normal service next week… let us continue to pray for one another.