Together on the Journey: A Weekly Word from Archbishop Hebda
This past Saturday, the Church celebrated the Feast of the Chair of Peter. As a young altar server, I found the name of the feast odd. I remember asking our young parochial vicar when we were going to celebrate the “table of Paul” to go with the “chair of Pete.” Not having a sense of humor, he gave me a long lecture in the sacristy about how the feast really celebrates the gift of the papacy to the Church as a source of unity and stability. It was long enough that I have never forgotten it.
In the 18 years that I lived in Rome, I came to a new appreciation of the feast. I would always love going to St. Peter’s for vespers on that occasion. They would put out the rarest of relics on the main altar and even dress up the Basilica’s famous bronze statue of St. Peter for the feast with a cope and tiara.
Behind the main altar at St. Peter’s, moreover, is a “secondary” altar called the Altar of the Chair, marked by an iconic Bernini sculpture of four great Fathers of the Church holding up a bronze throne, symbolizing their theological support for the teaching office of the Pope. The location is significant for me because I was ordained a deacon at that altar in 1989 and then had the privilege as a young bishop of ordaining 30 deacons there in 2010 (including two Minnesotans!).
While it’s easy to point out those two amazing sculptural masterpieces as relating to this weekend’s feast, it’s by no means an overstatement to say that the whole basilica, built at the spot where Peter was buried, is intended to teach about the importance of Peter and his successors in the life of his Church. The inside of the dome bears a Latin inscription with letters taller than I am reminding us of Christ’s appointment of Peter to lead the Church. I had the privilege of being at St. Peter’s when both Pope Benedict (2005) and Pope Francis (2013) began their pontificates, and I will never forget the Sistine choir chanting the powerful Latin text memorialized in that inscription: Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam (You are Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church).
It was in the shadow of that inscription that Pope Francis gave me, and the other metropolitan archbishops named in 2016, the pallium that I wear to symbolize our province’s connection and communion with the Successor of Peter. The pallium is an unusual ecclesiastical accessory: a thin strip of white wool, worn only by the Pope and metropolitan archbishops, that bears three symbolic “nails.” It was first placed on my shoulders by our papal nuncio, Pope Francis’ representative in the United States.
The wool of the pallium always serves to remind the Pope and his brother archbishops that they are supposed to be like the good shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep, while the nails remind them of the sacrifice that Jesus, the true Good Shepherd, offered for us on the cross, calling us to embrace sacrifice as well, always while drawing our strength from the cross.
As we celebrated the Chair of Peter this year, the Successor of Peter was not at the Basilica. He instead was hospitalized and experiencing the cross in a new way. We’re told that Pope Francis remains in critical condition. At the age of 88, he continues to pour himself out in service, as have his predecessors, stretching all the way back to Peter. I ask you to join me and Catholics around the globe in praying for the Holy Father at this critical time. As he bears the responsibility of his unique office, may he always feel the closeness of Christ, the Good Shepherd, and the protection of Mary, Help of the Sick.
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Updated Feb. 25, 2025
