Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/835

 PETER

763

PETER

the Bishopric of Ravenna in 433. There are indica- tions that Ravenna held the rank of metropoUtan before his time. His piety and zeal won for him univer- sal admiration, and his oratory merited for him the name Chrysologus. He shared the confidence of Leo the Great and enjoyed the patronage of the Empress Galla Placidia. After his condemnation by the Synod of Constantinople (448), the Monophysite Eutyches endeavoured to win the support of Peter, but without success.

A collection of his homilies, numbering 176, was made by Felix, Bishop of Ravenna (707-17). Some are interpolations, and several other homilies known to be written by the saint are included in other collec- tions under different names. They are in a great measure explanatory of Biblical texts and are brief and concise. He has explained beautifully the mys- tery of the Incarnation, the heresies of Arius and Eutyches, the Apostles' Creed, and he dedicated a series of homilies to the Blessed Virgin and St. John the Baptist. His works were first edited by Agapitus Vicentinus (Bologna, 1.534), and later by D. Mita (Bologna, 1634), and S. Pauli (Venice, 1775)— the lat- ter collection having been reprinted in P. L., LII. Fr. Liverani ("Spicilegium Liberianum", Florence, 1863, 125 seq.) edited nine new homilies and published from manuscripts in Italian libraries different readings of several other sermons. Several homilies were trans- lated into German by M. Held (Kemptta, 1874).

B\RDENHEWER, Patrolofjy, tr. Sh.\han, 526 sqq.; Dapper, Der hi. Pelrus Chrysologus (Cologne, 1S67) ; Stablewski, Der hfilifje KiTchenvater Petrus von Ravenna Chrysologus (Posen, 1871); LoosHORN, Der hi. Petrus Chrysologus und seine Schriften in Zeit- schriftf. kathol. Theol., Ill (1879), 238 seq.; Wayman, Zm Pelrus Chrysologus in Philologus, LV (1896), 464 seq.

Ignatius Smith.

Peter Claver, Saint, the son of a Catalonian farmer, was b. at Verdu, in 1.581; d. 8 September, 1654. He obtained his first degrees at the Uni- versity of Barcelona. At the age of twenty he en- tered the Jesuit novitiate at Tarragona. While he was studying philosophy at Majorca in 1605, Alphon- sus Rodriguez, the saintly door-keeper of the college, learned from God the future mission of his young asso- ciate, and thenceforth never ceased exhorting him to set out to evangelize the Spanish possessions in Amer- ica. Peter obeyed, and in 1610 landed at Cartagena, where for forty-four years he was the Apostle of the negro slaves. Early in the seventeenth century the masters of Central and South America afforded the spectacle of one of those social crimes which are en- tered upon so lightly. They needed labourers to cultivate the soil which they had conquered and to exploit the gold mines. The natives being physi- cally incapable of enduring the labours of the mines, it was determined to replace them with negroes brought from Africa. The coasts of Guinea, the Congo, and Angola became the market for slave dealers, to whom native petty kings sold their sub- jects and their prisoners. By its position in the Ca- ribbean Sea, Cartagena became the chief slave-mart of the New World. .A thousand slaves landed there each month. They were bought for two, and sold for 200 icus. Though half the cargo might die, the trade re- mained profitable. Neither the repeated censures of the pope, nor those of Catholic moralists could prevail against this cupidity. The missionaries could not suppress slavery, but only alleviate it, and no one worked more heroically than Peter Claver.

Trained in the school of Pere .■Alfonso de Sandoval, a wonderful missionary. Peter declared himself "the slave of the negroes forever", and thenceforth his life was one that confounds egotism by its superhuman charity. Although timid and lacking in self-confi- dence, he became a daring and ingenious organizer. Every month when the arrival of the negroes was signalled, Claver went out to meet them on the pilot's

boat, carrying food and delicacies. The negroes, cooped up in the hold, arrived crazed and brutalized by suffering and fear. Claver went to-each, cared for him, and showed him kindness, and made him under- stand that henceforth he was his defender and father. He thus won their good will. To instruct so many speaking different dialects, Claver assembled at Cartas gena a group of interpreters of various nationalities, of whom he made catechists. While the slaves were penned up at Cartagena waiting to be purchased and dispersed, Claver instructed and baptized them in the Faith. On Sundays during Lent he assembled them, inquired concerning their needs, and defended them against their oppressors. This work caused Claver severe trials, and the slave merchants were not his only enemies. The Apostle was accused of indiscreet zeal, and of having profaned the Sacraments by giving them to creatures who scarcely possessed a soul. Fashionable women of Cartagena refused to enter the churches where Father Claver assembled his negroes. The saint's superiors were often influenced by the many criticisms which reached them. Nevertheless, Claver continued his heroic career, accepting all humiliations and adding rigorous penances to his works of charity. Lacking the support of men, the strength of God was given him. He became the prophet and miracle worker of New Granada, the oracle of Cartagena, and all were convinced that often God would not have spared the city save for him. During his life he baptized and instructed in the Faith more than 300,000 negroes. He was beatified 16 July, 1850, by Pius IX, and canonized 15 Jan., 1888, by Leo XIII. His feast is celebrated on the ninth of September. On 7 July, 1896, he was proclaimed the special patron of all the Catholic missions among the negroes. Alphonsus Rodriguez was canonized on the same day as Peter Claver.

Lives of the saints by de .\ndrada (Madrid, 1657), Domin- GUEZ, DE Lara, Su.4rez. Fernandez, Fleurian; Sommervogel, Bibl. de la Comp. de Jesus (Brussels, 1890 — ); Waser (Paderborn, IS52); SoiA (Barcelona, 1888); Hover (Dulmen, 1888); an excel- lent article by Lehmkuhl in Slimmen aus Maria-Laach, XXIV, 380 sqq.

Pierre Suau.

Peter Comestor, theological writer, b. at Troyes, date unknown; d. at Paris about 1178. He was first attached to the Church of Notre-Dame at Troyes and habitually signed himself as "Presbyter Trecensis". Before 1148 he became dean of the chapter and re- ceived a benefice in 1148. About 1160 he formed one of the Chapter of Notre-Dame at Paris, and about the same year he replaced Eudes (Odon) as chancellor. At the same time he had charge of the theological school. It was at Paris that Peter Comestor com- posed and certainly finished his "Historia Scholas- tica" ; he dedicated it to the Bishop of Sens, Guillaume aux Blanches Mains (1169-76). Alexander III or- dered Cardinal Peter of St. Chrysogonus to allow the chancellor Peter to exact a small fee on conferring the licence to teach, but this authorization was altogether personal. A short time afterwards the same cardinal mentioned the name of Peter to Alexander III, as among the three most cultured men of P>ance. 'I'he surname of " Come-stor ", given to Peter during his life, also proves the esteem in which his learning was held: he was a great bookworm; he often refers to his sur- name in his sermons and in the epitaph said to be com- posed by him :" Petrus eram . . . dictusque comestor. nunc comedor." He afterwards withdrew to the Abbey of St. Victor and made profession of canonical life. He was buried at St. Victor; and the necrology of the canons mentions him as one of themselves (21 October). His works include commentaries on the Gospels, allegories on Holy Scripture, and a moral commentary on St. Paul, all of which are as yet unpublished.

His "Historia Scholastiea" is a kind of sacred