Peter of Alcantara

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Saint Peter of Alcantara
The apparition of John of Capistrano to Peter of Alcantara. Luca Giordano.
Born	1499
Died	October 18, 1562
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Beatified	1622 by Gregory XV
Canonized	1669 by Clement IX
Feast	October 18 (local feast)
Patronage	Brazil; Extremadura; Nocturnal Adorers
Saints Portal

Saint Peter of Alcantara (1499—October 18, 1562) was a Spanish Franciscan. He was born at Alcántara, Spain. His father, Peter Garavita, was the governor of the place, and his mother was of the noble family of Sanabia. After a course of grammar and philosophy in his native town, he was sent, at the age of fourteen, to the University of Salamanca.

Returning home, he became a Franciscan of the Stricter Observance in the convent at Manxaretes in 1515. At the age of twenty-two he was sent to found a new community of the Stricter Observance at Badajoz. He was ordained priest in 1524, and the following year made guardian of the convent of St. Mary of the Angels at Robredillo. A few years later he began preaching with much success. He preferred to preach to the poor; his sermons, taken largely from the Prophets and Sapiential Books, breathe the tenderest human sympathy. The reform of the "Discalced Friars" had, at the time when Peter entered the order, besides the convents in Spain, the Custody of Santa Maria Pietatis in Portugal, subject to the General superior of the Observants.

Having been elected minister (i.e. superior) of St. Gabriel's religious province in 1538, Peter set to work at once. At the chapter of Plasencia in 1540 he drew up the Constitutions of the Stricter Observants, but his severe ideas met with such opposition that he renounced the office of provincial and retired with John of Avila into the mountains of Arabida in Portugal, where he joined Father Martin a Santa Maria in his life of eremitical solitude, but soon other friars came to join him, and several little communities were established; Peter was chosen guardian and master of novices at the convent of Pallais. In 1560 these communities were erected into the Province of Arabida.

Returning to Spain in 1553 he spent two more years in solitude; then he journeyed barefoot to Rome and obtained permission of Julius III to found some poor convents in Spain under the jurisdiction of the general of the Conventuals. Convents were established at Pedrosa, Plasencia and elsewhere; in 1556 they were made a commissariat, with Peter as superior, and in 1561 a religious province under the title of St. Joseph. Not discouraged by the opposition and ill-success his efforts at reform had met with in St. Gabriel's province, Peter drew up the constitutions of the new province with even greater severity. The reform spread rapidly into other provinces of Spain and Portugal.

In 1562 the province of St. Joseph was put under the jurisdiction of the general of the Observants, and two new custodies were formed: St. John Baptist's in Valencia and St. Simon's in Galicia (see Friars Minor). Besides the above-named associates of Peter may be mentioned St. Francis Borgia, John of Avila and Venerable Louis of Granada. In St. Teresa, Peter perceived a soul chosen of God for a great work, and her success in the reform of Carmel (see Carmelites) was in great measure due to his counsel, encouragement and defence. It was a letter from St. Peter (14 April, 1562) that encouraged her to found her first monastery at Avila, 24 August of that year. St. Teresa's autobiography is the source of much of our information regarding Peter's life, work, gifts of miracles and prophecy.

Peter had the gift of contemplation and the virtue of penance. Hardly less remarkable was his love of God, which was at times so ardent as to cause him, as it did St. Philip Neri, sensible pain and frequently rapt him into ecstasy. The poverty he practised and enforced was as cheerful as it was real, and often let the want of even the necessaries of life be felt.

He fought the three perceived enemies of the soul, namely; worldliness, the flesh, and the devil through sacrifices, fasting and prayer. He slept for only one and a half hours each day, inside his room which had a floor area of only four and a half square feet. While in prayer and contemplation, he was often seen in ecstasies and levitation. In his deathbed, he was offered a glass of water which he refused, saying that "Even my Lord Jesus Christ thirsted on the Cross...". He died while on his knees on October 18, 1562 in a monastery at Arenas.

[edit] Legacy and veneration

Besides the Constitutions of the Stricter Observants and many letters on spiritual subjects, especially to St. Teresa, he composed a short treatise on prayer, which has been translated into all European languages. In confirmation of his virtues and mission of reformation God worked numerous miracles through his intercession and by his very presence.

He was beatified by Gregory XV in 1622, and canonized by Clement IX in 1669.

His liturgical feast is on October 18. Since the reform of the general Roman calendar in 1969, it is observed only in local and particular liturgical calendars. The town of San Pedro de Alcántara in the province of Málaga is named after him. He is also the patron saint of Nocturnal Adorers.

In 1826, St. Peter of Alcantara was named patron saint of Brazil, and in 1962 (the fourth centenary of his death), of Estremadura. He is also venerated as patron saint of Saint Peter of Alcantara Parish in Taal, Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines which is composed of Bgys. Caingin, Taal, Tambubong and Batia, under the canonical jurisdiction of the Diocese of Malolos.