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An icon of Saint Peter with a cross-staff, from Saint Catherine’s Monastery at Sinai, seventh century

Saint Peter the Apostle

The fisherman Jesus named the rock, who denied him and was told to feed his sheep

Patron of
fishermen, net makers, shipbuilders, Rome, with Saint Paul
Western calendar
29 June, with Saint Paul
Orthodox calendar
29 June, with Saint Paul (12 July on the old calendar)

Simon was a fisherman of Bethsaida with his own boat at Capernaum when Jesus called him with his brother Andrew, and gave him the name Cephas, the rock. It was Peter who answered at Caesarea Philippi, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God", and Peter who denied him three times on the night before the Crucifixion, and after the Resurrection the Lord asked him three times whether he loved him and told him to feed his sheep. He preached from Pentecost on, came at last to Rome, and was put to death there under Nero, crucified, Origen says, "with his head downwards, as he himself had desired to suffer", and he was buried on the Vatican Hill.

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What is a saint’s feast day?

It is the day each year when the Church remembers a saint in its prayers, and for most saints it is the day they died and went home to God. Many saints here have two dates, because the Western and Orthodox Churches keep their own calendars, and some Orthodox churches still count by the old Julian calendar, which runs thirteen days behind ours.

What is a patron saint?

A patron saint is one we ask to pray for us in a particular place, work or need, as many ask Anthony of Padua for help when something is lost, and as Ireland looks to Patrick. A few patronages were declared by a pope, and most grew from long custom. A card says “Patron of” only where a source we checked names one.

A saint I’m looking for is missing. Can you add it?

Yes. Try the name another way first, or the saint’s feast day, because some saints are better known by a title. If they are still not here, send us the name through our contact page, and we will add the saint once we have checked their life and feast days in sources we trust.

Why did you choose these saints and not others?

We began with the saints people search for most, by name, by need and by date, along with the apostles and the saints Orthodox Christians look for. Then we made sure every day of the year has at least one saint. That gives 378 so far, and we keep adding the saints readers ask for.

Every saint here, by feast day