Monday is the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. This great feast of the Apostles commemorates the Prince of the Apostles, St Peter, placed by Christ along with his Successors over the entire Church, and St Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, who was entrusted in a special way with the proclamation of the Gospel to those beyond the Jewish Religion. We give thanks for the witness and teaching of these holy men whose writings, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, form a large part of the New Testament. Honoured as martyrs, we ask God on this feast that the inspiration and example of the Apostles may sustain us in all our sufferings, attending to the teaching of St Peter: “Rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Pet. 4:13). There are additional Masses at 1.10pm (Extraordinary Form, Latin) and 5.30pm (solemn, sung) on Monday.
… from the outset, Christian tradition has considered Peter and Paul to have been inseparable, even if each had a different mission to accomplish. Peter professed his faith in Christ first; Paul obtained as a gift the ability to deepen its riches. Peter founded the first community of Christians who came from the Chosen People; Paul became the Apostle to the Gentiles. With different charisms they worked for one and the same cause: the building of Christ’s Church.
[…[ the liturgy offers us for meditation this well-known text of St Augustine: “One day is assigned for the celebration of the martyrdom of the two Apostles. But those two were one. Although their martyrdom occurred on different days, they were one. Peter went first, Paul followed. We celebrate this feast day which is made sacred for us by the blood of these Apostles” (Sermon 295, 7, 8).
And St Leo the Great comments: “About their merits and virtues, which surpass all power of speech, we must not make distinctions, because they were equal in their election, alike in their toils, undivided in their death” (In natali apostol., 69, 7).
Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, First Vespers of the Solemnity of St Peter and St Paul, 2007.