Our Lady's R.C. Church, Aspull

THOUGHTS
St Peter was the brother of St Andrew and a Galilean fisherman. He was called by the Lord and, despite his obvious human weaknesses, was eventually chosen as the leader of the Twelve, the “Rock” on which the Church was built.

After Pentecost he became particularly associated with Antioch in Syria and then Rome. He was crucified in the reign of Emperor Nero and buried in a cemetery on the Vatican hill in Rome.

St Paul was a tentmaker and repairer from Tarsus, then capital of the Roman Province of Cilicia, now in Turkey, a Pharisee and a Roman citizen. A man of tremendous missionary energy and a powerful thinker. He was initially a persecutor of Christians but was converted by the Lord on his way to Damascus.

He became the Apostle of the Gentiles, preaching the Gospel to the uncircumcised, reaching Greece, Italy, Malta where he was shipwrecked and possibly even Spain.

He was beheaded along the Via Ostiense, outside Rome, and buried where the Basilica bearing his name now stands.