Justin Appel

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today is the feast of the Confession of Peter, in which we recall the Disciple’s profession of faith in his master: ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of God’ (Matthew 16:16).

To this declaration, Jesus responds by proclaiming his intention to build his church on Peter, whose Aramaic name, Cephas, means ‘rock’.

This narrative juxtaposition — of the very foundations of the Church being built on the likes of Peter, the denier — suggests both a marvelous irony and resolution. Jesus makes this clear when he states that the truth of Peter’s confession was not revealed to him by a mere human — by ‘flesh and blood’ — but by the Father in heaven (v. 17).

In other words, Jesus’ intent to built his Church was absolute: neither the weakness and mutability of humans (like Peter) nor the very ‘gates of Hades’ could prevent his purpose.

In this context, it is fitting to introduce a specific setting of the ‘Tu es Petrus’ text. Rather than being emblazoned in six-foot azure letters, as in Michelangelo’s dome in St. Peter’s Basilica, this setting of Tu es Petrus inhabits a subdued musical landscape, written for verses from a calamitous 17th-century play, The Maid’s Tragedy: entitled Lay a Garland. Robert Pearsall (1795-1856) wrote a beautiful eight-part madrigal to these verses, but later set the Tu es Petrus text to the same music.

This contrafactum, to use the medieval’s name for this kind of setting, allows us to absorb various connotations from the original setting. The play’s lyrics highlight themes of jilted love and pathos, which seem to lie at odds with the affirmation Jesus offers to Peter. However, I think this unlikely combination suggests an inner message of the Gospel lesson: that Jesus, who is indeed the Son of God, builds his Church on sinful human beings, whom God has the power to transform into somebody like Peter: a ‘rock’ and a bold Apostle.

Here is a performance of Lay a Garland and another of Tu es Petrus.

Yours in Christ,
Justin