Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/843

 PETER

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PETER

sent, at the age of fourteen, to the University of Sala- manca. Returning home, he became a Franciscan in the convent of the Stricter Observance at Manxar- fetes 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 fol- lowing year made guardian of the convent of St. Mary of the Angels at Robredillo. A few years later he be- gan preaching with much success. He preferred to preach to the poor; and his sermons, taken largely from the Prophets and Sapiential Books, breathe the tenderest human sympathy. The reform of the "Dis- calced Friars" had, at the time when Peter entered the order, besides the convents in Spain, the Custody of Sta. Maria Pietatis in Portugal, subject to the General of the Observants.

Having been elected minister of St. Gabriel's prov- ince in 153S, Peter set to work at once. At the chap-

.St. Peter of Alcantaiia Claudio Coello, Piuakothek, Munich

ter of Plasencia in 1540 he drew up the Constif ution.s of the Stri(^l('r Oliservants, but his severe ideas met with such ])psition that he renounced the office of provincial and retired with Father John of Avila into the mountains of Arabida, Portugal, where he joined Father Martin a Santa Maria in his life of eremitical solitude. Soon, however, other friars came to join him, and several little communities were established, Peter being chosen guardian and master of novices at the convent of Pallais. In 1560 these communities were erected into the Province of Arabida. Returning to Spam in 1553 he spent two more years in solitude, and then journeyed barefoot to Rome, and obtained permission of Julius HI 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 province under the title of St. Joseph. Not discour- aged 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, Blessed John of Avila, and St. Louis of Granada. In St. Ter- esa, Peter perceived a soul chosen of God for a great work, and her success in the reform of Carmel was in great measure due to his counsel, encouragement, and defence. (See Carmelites.) It was a letter from St. Peter (14 April, 1562) that encouraged her to found her first monastery at Avila, 24 Aug. of that year. St. Teresa's autobiography is the source of much of our information regarding Peter's life, work, and gifts of miracles and prophecy.

Perhaps the most remarkable of Peter's graces were his 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 ec- tasy. 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. In confirmation of his virtues and mission of reformation God worked nu- merous miracles through his intercession and by his very presence. He was beatified by Gregory XV in 1622, and canonized by Clement IX in 1669. 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 the languages of Europe. His feast is 19 Oct. (See Pascal Baylon, Saint; Peter Baptist, Saint; Jap.\nese Martyrs.)

Lives bv John of Santa Maria, Min. Obs. Ale. Chron. Prov. S. Jns., 1, I;" and Marchesio (Rome, 1667); Paulo, Vila S. Pelri Ale. (Rome, 1669); Waddino, Annates, an. 1882: Leo, Lives oj I he Saints and Blessed of the Three Orders of St. Francis, IV (Taun- ton, 1888) ; Acta SS., Oct., VIII, 636 aq.

Nicholas Reagan.

Peter of Alexandria, Saint, became Bishop of ■Uexandria in 300; martyred Nov., 311. According to Pliilip of Sidetes he was at one time head of the fa- mous catechetical school at Alexandria. His theo- logical importance lies in the fact that he marked, \eiy proliably initiated, the reaction at Alexandria niiiiinst cxlrcinc rigriii.sm.

When duriuf: the Diocletian persecution Peter left .\lexandria for concealment, the Meletian schism broke out. There are three different accounts of this schism: (1) According to three Latin documents (translations from lost Greek originals) published by Maffei, Meletius (or Melitius), Bishop of Lycopolis, took advantage of St. Peter's absence to usurp his patriarchal functions, and contravened the canons by consecrating bishops to sees not vacant, their occu- pants being in prison for the Faith. Four of them re- monstrated, but Meletius took no heed of them and actually went to Alexandria, where, at the instigation of one Isidore, and Arius the future heresiarch, he set aside those left in charge by Peter and appointed others. Upon this Peter excommunicated him. (2) St. Athanasius accuses Meletius not only of turbulent and schismatical conduct, but of sacrificing, and de- nouncing Peter to the emjieror. There is no incom- patibility between the Latin documents and St. Atha- nasius, but the statement that Melelius sacrificed must be received with caution; it was iimbafily \kis('.iI upon rumour arising out of the immunity which he ap- peared to enjoy. At all events nothing was heard about the charge at the Council of Nica;a. (3) Ac- cording to St. Epiphanius (Haer., 68), Meletius and St. Peter quarrelled over the reconciliation of the lapsi (q. v.), the former inclining to sterner views. Epit)ha- nius probably derived his infonnulion from a l^Iele- tian source, and his story is full of historical blunders. Thus, to take one example, Peter is made a fellow- prisonerof Meletius and is martyred in prison. Accord- ing to Eusebius his martyrdom was unexpected, and therefore not preceded by a term of imprisonment.

There are extant a collection of fourteen canons issued by Peter in the third year of the persecution