ROME (Catholic Online) - Monday June 29, 2009 marked the Feast of the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul in the Catholic Church calendar. These two great pillars of Christianity were both martyred for the faith. Their Feast is celebrated together. Priests and deacons throughout the entire world wear Red at the Liturgy, symbolizing that the blood of the Martyrs, as the Second Century Church Father Tertullian so clearly proclaimed, “…is the seed of the Church.”

Tuesday, June 30 continue to wear Red as we commemorate the Martyrs of the First Church of Rome. The word “Martyr” derives from a Greek word which means “witness.” The Catholic Christian faith proclaims that the shedding of ones blood in fidelity to Jesus Christ is the final witness to the Faith.

In the early Church, altars were built over the graves of the martyrs which the early Christians revered. They often became the place where the Eucharist was celebrated. The practice of reverencing the bones of the martyrs showed the respect with which the body was held by the early Christians and their absolute belief in the bodily resurrection, a tenet of the Christian faith.

This Feast of Peter and Paul brings to a close the year of St. Paul, inaugurated by Pope Benedict XVI. The Year was a pastoral effort to focus the entire Church on the extraordinary witness and teaching of the great Apostle to the Gentiles. Its purpose was to bring about a deeper conversion of the faithful and bear witness to the whole world of the truth of the Gospel St. Paul proclaimed and became. Throughout the year the Holy Father instructed the faithful on the profound teaching of the Apostle Paul and called the Christian faithful throughout the world to follow his example.

It was clear throughout the year that the Pope is leading the faithful in this Third Christian Millennium into what he sees as a new missionary age. His instructions have focused Catholics and all Christians on imitating the life and witness of St. Paul in order to deepen their own conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ. He has called all Christians to imitate St. Paul’s heroic virtue and emulate his missionary zeal in our own time.

Reports indicate that it was an emotional Pope Benedict XVI who, while announcing the closing of the Year of St. Paul, made an amazing announcement. He disclosed the results of a scientific probe into the sarcophagus inside the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. It is at this holy site that the faithful have for centuries venerated the bones of St. Paul.

In his homily, broadcast live on Italian television, the Pope told the faithful that the tomb had been “…subject to a scientific investigation. A small hole was drilled in the sarcophagus, unopened for centuries, and a probe was introduced. It found traces of a valuable purple fabric, in linen and gold layer-laminated, and a blue fabric with linen threads. Red incense grains and substances containing proteins and limestone were also discovered. Small fragments of bone were found and radiocarbon dated by experts who did not know their place of origin. Results indicate that they belong to someone who lived between the 1st and 2nd century A.D. This seems to confirm the unanimous and undisputed tradition according to which these are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul. All this fills our soul with deep emotion.”

The Apostle Paul suffered martyrdom at the hands of Roman authorities between 65 and 67 A.D. He was buried by the Christian faithful. About 250 years later the Emperor Constantine built a Basilica built over his tomb. Under the marble tombstone is a Latin inscription which reads “PAULO APOSTOLO MART” (Apostle Paul, Martyr). The Holy Father used this occasion of the announcement of the results of this finding to call the faithful throughout the whole world to fidelity to the full teaching of the Church. He also strongly criticized those who speak against the Teaching Office (Magisterium) of the Church. His homily urged Christians to imitate the courage of St. Paul in this critical hour in human history.

He referred to the teachings of the Apostle in his many New Testament letters and reminded the faithful that “…courage is needed to adhere to the Church’s faith, even if it contradicts the mould of today’s world. Paul calls this non-conformism a ‘grown-up faith’. For him following the prevailing winds and currents of the time is childish. For this reason dedicating oneself to the inviolability of life from its beginning, radically opposing the principle of violence, in the defense precisely of the most defenseless; recognizing the lifetime marriage between a man and a woman in accordance with the Creator’s order, re-established again by Christ is also part of a grown-up faith. A grown-up faith does not follow any current here and there. It is against the winds of fashion.”

The results of the scientific study verifying the bone fragments as those of the Apostle Paul coincided with some other news. Vatican archaeologists have discovered the oldest image of St Paul ever found. It was discovered on the walls of the catacombs beneath Rome and has been dated to be from the late 4th century. The Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, published the image on Sunday. It reveals the face of a man with a pointed black beard on a red background inside a bright yellow halo. The Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology found the Icon on June 19 in the Catacomb of Santa Tecla in Rome.

The Year of St. Paul now flows into a year dedicated to the renewal of the Priesthood in the Catholic Church. The Pope has lifted up another great example of heroic sanctity from the Second Millennium, the Cure of Ars, Saint John Mary Vianney. He is set forth as a model for priests and all of the faithful to emulate and imitate.

Pope Benedict XVI is setting the entire Church on a path of deepening conversion. he is also challenging all who bear the name Christian to live fully the Christian faith in an age which has succumbed to what he has called a “Dictatorship of Relativism.” It is obvious in this Pope’s writings, messages and example that he understands the urgency of the hour and believes that only the Church can bring about the change needed to transform the current “culture of death” into a new “culture of life” and “civilization of love.”