A St. Peter's Cross is an inverted Latin cross. The origin of this symbol comes from the fact that the Catholic Church claims St. Peter was crucified upside down, as he felt he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner that Christ died (upright). It is often used with two keys, symbolizing the keys of heaven.

The Alexandrian scholar Origen is the first to report that St. Peter 'was crucified head downward, for he had asked that he might suffer in this way'. Some Catholics use this cross as a symbol of humility and unworthiness in comparison to Christ.

It is also often associated with Satanism. Aleister Crowley believed this cross to be a symbol of inverted grace, or falling away from Christ's grace. During the late Pope John Paul II's visit to Israel, a picture of him with a backdrop of St. Peter's cross was widely circulated on the Internet and this has propagated the belief of the Catholic Church's association with Satanism but is in fact related to the Christian tradition that St. Peter was martyred in Rome (and as Catholic tradition views the Pope as the successor of Peter, it is a logical symbol for the Roman Pontiff).

It is also one of the traditional symbols used by Petrine Orthodox Sebomenoi.

External links

• Inverted Cross Issue
• St Peter - Catholic Encyclopedia

Christian symbols | Cross symbols

Petruskreuz | Peterskors | Krzyż św. Piotra | Pietarin risti | Petruskors