Peter of Verona

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For other people called Peter Martyr, see Peter Martyr.
Saint Peter of Verona
Saint Peter the Martyr by Pedro de Berruguet
Martyr
Born 1205, Verona, Italy
Died April 6, 1252, on the road from Como to Milan, Italy
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church
Canonized March 25, 1253 by Pope Innocent IV
Feast April 29
Attributes Martyr; Dominican holding a knife; Dominican in a forest being stabbed; Dominican with a gash across his head; Dominican with a knife in his shoulder; Dominican with a knife splitting his head; Dominican with an axe splitting his head; Dominican with a large knife in his head; Dominican with his finger on his lips; Dominican with the Virgin and four female saints appearing to him; Dominican writing credo in unum deum in the dust as he dies; man with a knife in his head and a sword in his breast
Patronage Guaynabo, Puerto Rico; Inquisitors; midwives
Saints Portal

Saint Peter of Verona, O.P. also known as Saint Peter Martyr (1206 – April 6, 1252), was a 13th century Dominican preacher and Inquisitor in Lombardy, and a canonized Catholic saint.

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[edit] Biography

He was born in the city of Verona, into a family perhaps sympathetic to the Cathars, adherents of the dualist faith, which posits a good God and an evil god as equal and opposing powers; the evil god is usually responsible for or at the very least in control of the material world. This religion had many adherents in Northern Italy in the thirteenth century. Peter went to a Catholic school, and later to the University of Bologna, where Peter is said to have maintained his orthodoxy and at the age of fifteen, met Saint Dominic. Peter joined the Order of the Friars Preachers (Dominicans) and became a celebrated preacher throughout northern and central Italy.

In 1252, because of what was said to be his virtues, severity of life and doctrine, talent for preaching, and zeal for the orthodox Catholic faith, Pope Innocent IV appointed an Inquisitor in Lombardy; he had been fighting against what the Church deemed heretics since the 1230s under Pope Gregory IX. He spent about six months in that office and it is unclear whether he was ever involved in any trials. His one recorded act was a declaration of clemency for those confessing heresy or sympathy to heresy.

Peter evangelized nearly the whole of Italy, preaching in Rome, Florence, Bologna, Genoa, and Como. Crowds came to meet him and followed him; and conversions were numerous. In his sermons he is reported to have attacked Catholics who confessed the Faith by words, but in deeds denied it. The Cathars, against whom he preached, were a heretical group that adhered to elements of dualism and Manichaeism and rejected the authority of the Church and many Christian teachings.

He was killed by Carino, an assassin hired by Milanese Cathars, on April 6, 1252, when returning from Como to Milan. According to legend, his murderer struck his head with an axe, and then gave Peter's companion Dominic several fatal wounds. According to that story, upon rising to his knees, Peter recited the first article of the Symbol of the Apostles (the Apostle's Creed), and offering his blood as a sacrifice to God he dipped his fingers in it and wrote on the ground the words: "Credo in Unum Deum". The story of writing his profession of faith in blood is certainly false as the blow that killed him cut off the top of his head, but the testimony given at the inquest into his death confirms that he began reciting the Creed as he was attacked. His murderer eventually confessed his crime and ended his days as a lay brother in the Dominican monastery of Forli, where he enjoys a local veneration as a blessed.

[edit] Veneration

His body was carried to Milan and laid in the Church of Sant'Eustorgio, where an ornate mausoleum, the work of Balduccio Pisano, was erected to his memory.

His assassin, Carino, later converted and eventually became a Dominican at Forlì and is the subject of a local cult as "Blessed Carino of Balsamo".

Many miracles were attributed to him while alive, and even more after his martyrdom.

St Peter was canonized by Pope Innocent IV on March 9, 1253 after an interval of only 337 days, making him the fastest papally canonized saint in history.

Saint Peter the Martyr's feast day today is June 4; before the calendar reform of the 1960s, it was April 29. The Church of Santa Maria Antiqua in Verona is co-entitled to him.

The Assassination of Saint Peter Martyr, by Giovanni Bellini.

The fire miracle of Saint Peter Martyr by Antonio Vivarini.

Murder of St. Peter the Martyr by Domenichino.

Murder of St. Peter the Martyr. Church at Boccioleto.

[edit] References

  • Antoine Dondaine, O.P. "Saint Pierre Martyr" Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum 23 (1953): 66-162.
  • Donald Prudlo, The Martyred Inquisitor: The Life and Cult of Peter of Verona (+1252), Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2008.
  • Donald Prudlo, "The Assassin-Saint: The Life and Cult of Carino of Balsamo", Catholic Historical Review, 94 (2008): 1-21.

[edit] Sources

This article incorporates text from the entry St. Peter of Verona in the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.