Bishop Joseph E. Strickland: Why Do We Celebrate a Chair?

By Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Catholic East Texas, Feb. 22, 2022

As we celebrate the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle on February 22nd, many may ask, why are we celebrating a chair? Certainly this feast in the liturgical calendar of celebrations in our Catholic faith is about much more than a piece of furniture. But at the same time it really is a chair that we celebrate. The physical chair is located under the Holy Spirit window in the Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican. While the visible chair is ornate and symbolic it encloses an actual wooden chair with ancient roots.

The Chair of Saint Peter speaks of ancient tradition and faith which truly does reach back twenty centuries to the days of Simon the fisherman who became Peter the fisher of men and the first pope in the Church which Jesus Christ established. The chair that is at the heart of this feast is a reminder that the apostles were real men who walked this earth, stumbled in sin, celebrated redemption in Jesus and even sat in chairs. …

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