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Saint Peter in Gallicantu is a church on the eastern slope of Mount Zion in Jerusalem, built over the traditional site of the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest.
Its name means Saint Peter at the cock's crow, remembering Peter's denial. Beneath the church are ancient rock cut chambers, including a pit where tradition holds Jesus was held through the night after his arrest.
Old stone steps beside the church climb the hillside, steps Jesus himself may have walked between Gethsemane and the city. From its terraces there is a wide view over the Kidron Valley and the City of David below.
Here Jesus was brought before Caiaphas and held overnight, and here, in the courtyard, Peter denied three times that he knew him, just as Jesus had foretold. It is a place of both sorrow and mercy.
"Before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me." (Luke 22:34)
Why does it matter to pilgrims?
It holds together human failure and divine forgiveness. Standing where Peter wept, and where Jesus was held in the pit below, pilgrims feel the weight of the betrayal and the tenderness of the restoration that followed. It is one of the most quietly moving stops in Jerusalem.
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