Vermont Catholics venerate link from chain of St. Peter

Published: 2008-03-04

BARTON, Vt. (CNS) -- The feast of the Chair of St. Peter, Apostle was celebrated in a special way at St. Paul Church in Barton Feb. 22: A link from the chain that bound the imprisoned St. Peter before he was crucified was loaned to the parish for veneration and education. Parishioner Susan Taylor said she wanted her 19-month-old daughter, Maria, to see the link even if she could not understand its historical and religious significance. "I thought it would be a blessing for her eyes to see this," she told The Vermont Catholic Tribune, newspaper of the statewide Diocese of Burlington. The first bishop of Burlington, Bishop Louis de Goesbriand, acquired the link. On his way to the Holy Land in 1893, he visited Rome where he saw the length of Roman chain venerated as part of the chain that had bound St. Peter. Bishop de Goesbriand asked Pope Leo XIII for a link of the chain, and he eventually granted the request.

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