The Denial and Repentance of Peter
(Mark 14: 66–72)

After his arrest Christ was questioned by Caiaphas, the high priest, in his house. Peter meanwhile was standing in the courtyard when a serving-maid of Caiaphas recognized him and said, 'You were there too, with this man from Nazareth, this Jesus.' But Peter denied knowing him, whereupon a cock crew. He made three such denials and each time it crew. When he realized that Christ's earlier prophecy about him had been fulfilled Peter burst into tears. The scene of the denial itself, with the serving maid and cock, is comparatively rare, sometimes forming a subsidiary element in the scene of Christ before Caiaphas. Peter's repentant weeping occurs frequently in the Counter-Reformation art of Spain and Italy as a devotional image. It was favored by the Church of the Counter-Reformation in propagating devotion to the Seven Sacraments, of which Penance is one.