Jerome. Lives of Illustrious Men 1
1 Simon Peter PL 23, 608
Simon Peter the son of John, from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, brother of Andrew the apostle, and himself chief of the apostles, after having been bishop of the church of Antioch and having preached to the Dispersion—the believers in circumcision, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia—pushed on to Rome in the second year of Claudius to overthrow Simon Magus, and held the sacerdotal chair there for twenty-five years until the last, that is the fourteenth, year of Nero. At his hands he received the crown of martyrdom being nailed to the cross with his head towards the ground and his feet raised on high, asserting that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord. He wrote two epistles which are called Catholic, the second of which, on account of its difference from the first in style, is considered by many not to be by him. Then too the Gospel according to Mark, who was his disciple and interpreter, is ascribed to him. On the other hand, the books, of which one is entitled his Acts, another his Gospel, a third his Preaching, a fourth his Revelation, a fifth his “Judgment” are rejected as apocryphal.
Buried at Rome in the Vatican near the triumphal way he is venerated by the whole world.
827 Simon Petrus, filius Joannis, provinciae Galileae, e vico Bethsaida, frater Andreae apostoli , et princeps Apostolorum, post episcopatum Antiochensis Ecclesiae, et praedicationem dispersionis eorum qui de circumcisione crediderant, in Ponto, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, et Bithynia , secundo Claudii imperatoris anno, ad expugnandum Simonem magum, Romam pergit, ibique viginti quinque annis Cathedram Sacerdotalem tenuit, usque ad ultimum annum Neronis, id est, decimum quartum. A quo et affixus cruci, martyrio coronatus est, capite ad terram verso, et in sublime pedibus elevatis: asserens se indignum qui sic crucifigeretur ut Dominus suus. Scripsit duas Epistolas, quae Catholicae nominantur: quarum secunda a plerisque ejus esse negatur, propter styli cum priore dissonantiam. Sed et Evangelium juxta Marcum, qui auditor ejus et interpres fuit, hujus dicitur. Libri autem, e quibus unus Actorum ejus inscribitur, alius Evangelii, tertius Praedicationis, quartus Apocalypseos, quintus Judicii, inter apocryphas scripturas repudiantur. Sepultus Romae in Vaticano, juxta viam Triumphalem, totius orbis veneratione celebratur.
828 Σίμων Πέτρος, ἀπόστολος, υἱὸς Ἰωνᾶ, ἐπαρχίας Γαλιλαίας, κώμης Βηθσαϊδὰ, ἀδελφὸς Ἀνδρέου Ἀποστόλου, καὶ ἀρχηγὸς τῶν Ἀποστόλων, μετὰ τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν τῆς Ἀντιοχέων ἐκκλησίας, καὶ τὸ κήρυγμα τῶν διασπαρέντων, καὶ ἐκ τῆς περιτομῆς πιστευσάντων, ἐν Πόντῳ, Γαλατίᾳ, Καππαδοκίᾳ, Ασίᾳ καὶ Βιθυνία, τῷ δευτέρῳ Κλαυδίου ἔτει εἰς τὸ ἐκπολεμῆσαι Σίμωνα τὸν μάγον τῇ Ῥώμῃ ἐφίσταται, ἔνθα εἴκοσι πέντε ἐνιαυτοὺς τὸν θρόνον τῆς ἱερωσύνης κατέσχεν, ἔως τοῦ τελευταίου ἐνιαυτοῦ Νέρωνος, τουτέστι τοῦ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτου, ἐφ' οὗ καὶ σταυρωθεὶς ἐμαρτύρησε, τὴν κεφαλὴν κατὰ γὴν ἔχων, τοὺς πόδας δὲ ἐν μετεώρῳ, φάσκων ἀνάξιον ἑαυτὸν εἶναι, τὸν ὅμοιον τρόπον σταυρωθῆναι τῷ πάντων Κυρίῳ. Ἔγραψε δύο ἐπιστολὰς τὰς ὀνομαζομένας καθολικὰς, ἀφ' ὧν τὴν δευτέραν οἱ πλείους οὐκ ἐγκρίνουσιν αὐτοῦ τυγχάνειν, διὰ τὸν χαρακτῆρα, καὶ τὴν διαφωνίαν τῆς πρώτης ἐπιστολῆς. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ κατagr; Μάρκον Εὐαγγέλιον, ὃς μαθητὴς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἑρμηνευτὴς ἐγένετο, τούτου λέγεται εἶναι. Τὰ δὲ συγγράμματα, τουτέστι πρῶτον, ὃ ἐπιγέγραπται Πράξεις αὐτοῦ· δεύτερον, Εὐαγγέλιον· τρίτον, Κήρυγμα· τέταρτον, Ἀποκάλυψις· πέμπτον, Κρίσις, ὡς ἀπόκρυφα ὄντα ἀποδοκιμάζεται. Κηδευθεὶς δὲ ἐν Ῥώμῃ ἐν τῷ Βατικάνῳ πλησίον τῆς ὁδοῦ τῆς ἐπίκλην Τριουμφαλίας, μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ σεβάσματος παρὰ τῶν Ῥωμαίων θρησκεύεται.