Rather than today being dedicated to celebrating a saint, the Calendar reported by Butler sets aside today to celebrate a chair! Well, not just any chair, but that of St. Peter, located in Rome. Still, it’s the celebration of a chair…or rather of The Chair.

Interestingly, no description of the Chair is itself offered. Was it wooden? Golden? Jewel-encrusted? Stone?

Butler equates this Chair with the founding AND siting of the True Church in Rome, and goes to great pains to explain all the historical and, perhaps, apocryphal facts he can muster to demonstrate that Peter ever went to Rome and that he suffered martyrdom there (all extra-biblical). Butler writes, “Christians justly celebrate the founding of this mother-church, the centre of catholic [meaning worldwide, not denominational] communion, in thanksgiving to God for his mercies on his church, and to implore his future blessings.”

The Chair, actually, is celebrated much like the American Flag or the Constitution–it’s not about the “thing” in and of itself but about the symbol(ism). After all, very little attention is given to flag materials or parchment considerations. Rather, the Chair’s celebration is meant to cement certain beliefs to which people are expected to adhere. As a corollary, those who fail to honor or revere these symbols are apostates, unpatriotic, anarchistic, or otherwise “people to keep your eye on” if you are part of the institutional structure.

When symbols gain the weight of history and tradition, they become even more authoritative. Believers become more invested in protecting the symbol than in the principles connected to that symbol, and challengers become more than people who just don’t find a chair, a swath of cloth, or a piece of paper personally meaningful–they become Enemies.

So–the Saint is a Chair today!