Dedication of Saints Peter and Paul
The Dedication of Saints Peter and Paul is a Catholic feast day celebrated on November 18. It honors the dedication of two important churches in Rome—St. Peter’s Basilica and the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. Both basilicas were built in the 4th century under Emperor Constantine the Great to honor the apostles believed to be buried there. A colonnade once joined the two basilicas, connecting them across a long distance.
The feast also highlights a duty for bishops to visit Rome every five years to report on their dioceses and to visit the tombs of the Apostles, known as ad limina. This requirement was set in 1585 by Pope Sixtus V in the papal bull Romanus Pontifex. In 1909, Pope Pius X ordered that bishops must report to the pope about their dioceses every five years, starting in 1911.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 13:04 (CET).