Shimon (Bar Yonah) Peter (abt. 1 - 67)

Born about 0001 in Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire

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Biography

St Peter the Apostle (Bar Yonah) Peter is Notable.

Shimon Bar Yonah (Hebrew: שמעון בר יונה) (Simeon, Simon), son of Jonah, was born in Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire around 1AD.^[1][2]

He was also known as Peter the Apostle, Peter the Rock, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, and was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ and one of the first leaders of the early Christian Church.^[1]

He was a Jewish fisherman along with his brother Andrew and the sons of Zebedee, James and John.

He was crucified under Emperor Nero in Nero's Gardens in Rome , where is now buried under St Peter's Basilica on Vatican Hill.^[1]

Flocknote Popes in a Year ^[3] tells us:

St. Peter, first pope and the pearly-gate-keeper in all those jokes about heaven, hardly needs an introduction. It was to Peter whom Jesus said, "On this rock I will build my church" (Matt. 16:18), and it was Peter who consistently appeared in the Gospels as the head of the Twelve Apostles. Plus, he's the only pope who contributed directly to the Bible.

Peter was, well, just a regular guy. He was a fisherman, so odds are good he was built like a linebacker, and sometimes it took him a try or two to get what Jesus was saying. And yet, we mimic Peter's intense love of the Lord when we pray, "To whom shall we go?"

Peter is seen in Scripture often speaking for the Twelve Apostles, but also walking (and sinking) on water, caring for his mother-in-law, affirming Jesus as the Messiah, and wanting to build tents on mountains (see Matt. 17:4). In statues and art, Peter is most often depicted holding a key, representing Jesus' handing to Peter the "keys to the kingdom" in the Gospel of Matthew.

St. Peter's actual remains can be seen in the tombs below St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. In the mid-20th Century, an excavation below the altar of St. Peter's revealed a marble repository containing bones of a man who lived around the time of Christ and, upon further tests, prompted Paul VI to say they had been "identified in a way which we can hold to be convincing" of being those of St. Peter.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Wikipedia Saint Peter
2. ↑ Vatican
3. ↑ Flocknote Popes in a Year