Dec 4

Dec 4 Peter’s Crucifixion by Caravaggio

Tradition informs us that Paul, who was a Roman citizen, was beheaded, but Peter was crucified like Jesus. The event is described in another ancient writing called the Acts of Peter. With great humility, Peter knew that he was not worthy to die in the same manner of our Lord, and so he asked to be crucified upside down. This scene of Peter being crucified upside down was depicted in dramatic fashion in a Renaissance painting by Caravaggio, and the realism is powerful. Peter is a strong, muscular man, even in his old age. Three men are crucifying him, but the weight of his powerful frame makes it difficult for them to lift the cross. You have one man with his back bent over at the top of the cross with a rope, and it isn’t clear whether the rope will be strong enough. There is another man at the middle of the cross and a third at the bottom. All three are straining to raise the cross. As the sun sets, you see the light fall on Peter. This is not the typical depiction of an idealized Peter with a halo and bright colors in a majestic setting. Rather, the painting is very realistic. Caravaggio even painted Peter’s bare feet with dirty bottoms. Nailed to the cross, his feet stick out at the viewer, hiding nothing of the horror he endured willingly for the Lord and his flock.

Caravaggio was commissioned to paint this depiction of Peter’s crucifixion in honor of the great jubilee year that took place in 1600. He also painted a similarly powerful depiction of the conversion of St. Paul. The hope of that jubilee year, which followed the height of the Protestant Reformation, was to encourage pilgrimages to Rome and inspire a new evangelization that would help bring fallen-away Catholics back to the Church. For this reason, these two paintings were placed in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo, a prominent church in one of the larger piazzas on the northern side of Rome near the entrance of the main road from the north. The hope was that pilgrims entering Rome from the north would stop by this church and be inspired by these dramatic paintings. It was the hope that the pilgrims, seeing the conversion of Paul and the crucifixion of Peter, would understand the importance and truth of the papacy. Peter and Paul, the patron saints of Rome, were used for outreach in the “new evangelization” focused on re-converting Catholics who had entered into Protestantism.