Peter's Pence

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Peter's Pence is the practice of lay members of the Roman Catholic Church providing financial support to the Holy See. While the regular tithe goes to the local parish or diocese, the Peter's Pence goes directly to Rome. The practice originated in the eighth century A.D. when Anglo-Saxons decided to send a regular annual sum to the Pope in Rome.

The event by which this payment was enacted is as follows:

Ethelbert, king of the east Angles, having reigned single some time, thought fit to take a wife; for this purpose he came to the court of Offa, king of Mercia, to desire his daughter in marriage. Queenrid, consort of Offa, a cruel, ambitious, and blood-thirsty woman, who envied the retinue and splendour of the unsuspicious king, resolved in some manner to have him murdered, before he left their court, hoping by that to gain his immense riches; for this purpose she, with her malicious and fascinating arts, overcame the king–her husband, which she most cunningly effected, and, under deep disguises, laid open to him her portentous design; a villain was therefore hired, named Gimberd, who was to murder the innocent prince.

The manner in which the heinous crime was effected was as cowardly as it was fatal: under the chair of state in which Ethelbert sat, a deep pit was dug; at the bottom of it was placed the murderer; the unfortunate king was then let through a trap-door into the pit; his fear overcame him so much, that he did not attempt resistance. Three months after this, Queenrid died, when circumstances convinced Offa of the innocence of Ethelbert; he therefore, to appease his guilt, built St. Alban's monastery, gave one-tenth part of his goods to the poor, and went in penance to Rome–where he gave to the Pope a penny for every house in his dominions.^[1]

In Anglo-Saxon England, the tax was called the Rome shot or Romescot.^[2] Later, the term "Peter's Pence" came to be used for the penny paid to Rome. This custom of donation, called the Denarius Sancti Petri, or "Alms of Saint Peter", then spread throughout Europe.

It was formalised in 1871 by Pope Pius IX who gave it his approval in the Encyclical Letter Saepe Venerabilis (5 August 1871).^[3]

At present this collection is taken each year on the Sunday closest to June 29, the Solemnity of both Saint Peter and Saint Paul, according to the Roman Church.