Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/848

 PETER

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PETIT-DIDIER

to desert the army, but was prevented by Tanrrod. In spite of this cowardice he was one of "the envoys sent to Kcrl)i1t;:i. On his return to Europe he founded the inonusterv of Neufmoutier. See CnrsADF.s.

D'Ol-l.TliKMAN. La vie du Vfnlrabh Pierre VErmite (Mons, 1612). reprinted (Clermont, 1895), givea the traditional point of view; Haoenmeyer, Peter tier Eremite (Leipzig, 1879), Fr. tr., ic rraV et le faux stir Pierre VErmite (Paris, 1879); Kurth, Pierre VErmite (I.ii^Ke, 1892); Donnet, Pierre Vllermite et la Jamille Lhermile ,r A, uers (Antvcrp, ISm). LODIS Br£hIER.

Peter the Venerable, Abbot op Cluny. See MoNTBoissiER, Peter of, Blessed.

Peter Urseolus (Orseolo), Saint, b. at Rivo idto, Province of Udina, 928; d. at Cuxa, 10 January, 9S7 (997 is less probalile). Sprung from the wealthy and noble Venetian family, the Orseoli, Peter led from his youth an earnest Christian life. In the service of the republic, he distinguished himself in naval b.attles against the pirates. In 946 he married a noble Vene- tian lady, Felicitas; a son of this marriage, who bore the same name as his father, also became Doge of Venice (991-1009). On 11 Aug., 976, the Doge Pietro Candiano fell a \-ietim to a conspiracy, whose mem- bers, in their anxiety to obtain possession of him, set fire to his palace, thereby destroying not only this building, but also the churches of San Marco, San Teodoro, and Santa Maria di Zobenigo, as well as about three hundred houses. On the following day Pietro Orseolo was chosen doge in San Pietro di Cas- tcllo, but it was only out of regard for his obligations towards his native land that he allowed himself to be prevailed upon to accept the office. The tradition recorded bv Peter Damian (Vita s. Romualdi, V, in P. L., CXLIV, 960), that Peter had taken p.art in the conspiracy and that his later retirement from the world was due to his desire to expiate therefor, is with- out foundation. As one might expect from his per- sonal piety, the new doge showed himself a zealous patron of churches and monasteries as well as an able ruler. He had the doge's palace and the church of San Marco rebuilt at his own expense, procuring in Constantinople for the latter the first golden altar- covering {Pala d'oro), and bequeathed one thousand pounds to persons injured by the fire and a similar sum to the poor. He renewed the treaty with Capo- distria, and succeeded in averting from the republic the vengeance of Candiano's family, especially of his wife Waldrada, niece of Empress Adelaide, and his son Vitalis, Patriarch of Grado. About this time, through the influence of Abbot Guarinus of Cuxa (a Benedic- tine monastery at the foot of the Pyrenees, in the terri- tory of Roussillon), he decided to enter a monastery, leaving Venice secretly with the abbot and two com- panions in the night of 1-2 September, 987. As a monk in the abbey of Cuxa, he presented to his spir- itual brothers a model of humility, zeal for prayer, and charity. For a period he was under the spiritual guidance of St. Romuald (q. v.). As early as the eleventh century the veneration of Peter Urseolus as a saint was approved by the Bishop of Elne. In 1731 Clement XII ratified this cult, and appointed 14 Jan- uaiy as his feast.

AlABlLLON, Acta SS. ordinis 8. Benedicti, V, 878 sqq.; Biblio- theca hagiographica latina, II. 986; Tolra, St Pierre Ors(oto (Paris. 1897): Schmid, D. hi. Petrun Orseolo, Doge von Venedig u. Benediclirter, in Sludien und Milteilungen aus dem Bened. u. Cts- tcrzienscTorden (1901), 71 sq., 2.51 sq.; Kretschmat, Gesch. von Venedig, I (Gotha, 190.5), 115 sq., 438 sq. J. p. KiRSCH.

Petinessus (Pitnistts), titular see in Galatia Se- cunda (Salutaris). This city is mentioned by Strabo, XII, .567; Ptolemy, V, 4, iO; Hierocles, "Synecde- mus", 697, 7, and Stephanus Byzantius, s. v. Ac- cording to the first of these authors it was situated in the salt desert, to the west of Lake Tatta (at the pres- ent time Touz Gueul), between Lycaonia and Hai- mama. The "Notitia; episcop.atuum" mention it among the suffragan sees of Pessinus, created by Theodosius between 386 and 395, and existing as late as

the thirteenth century. There is a record of but one bishop, Pm.s, present at the Council of Chalcedon, 4,';i (Le Quien, "Orient rl.Hsliaiuis", I, .t!!.)) 'I'he exact name and position „f the eitv, wliieh differs greatly aceordmg to various documents, is not known. Rani- say (Asia Minor, 227), mentions the place as near the site of Pin Begli or a httle to the east of it.

S. P£trid{;s. Petit, Jehan (Le Petit). See John Parvus. Petit-Didier, MArrniEr, Benedictine theologian and ecelesi;,stic;a historian, b. at Saint-Nicolas-du- Port in Lorraine, IS December, 16.59; d. at Senoncs, 15 July (June.^), 172S. After studving at the Jesuit college at Nancy he joined the Benedictine Congre- gation of St-Vannes, in 1675, at the monastery of bt-Mihiel. In 1682 he was appointed professor of philosophy and theology. In 1699 he was canonically elected Abbot of Bouzonville, but could not take possession because the Duke of Lorraine had given the abbey in commendam to his own brother. He was elected Abbot of Senones in 1715, but got possession only after a lengthy dispute with another claimant. He became president of his congregation in 1723 and two years later Benedict XIII appointed him Bishop of Acra in parlibus infidelium in reward for his opportune "Traits sur I'autoritd et I'infaillibilitfi du pape" (Luxemburg, 1724). The work was for- bidden in France and Lorraine by the Parliaments of Pans and Metz; it was translated into Italian (Rome, 1746); and into Latin by Gallus Cartier, O.S.B. (Augsburg, 1727, it is printed also in Migne, "Cursus theol.", IV, 1141-1416). The work was especially pleasing to the pope, because Petit-Didier, misled by the "Declaration of the French Clergy" in 16S2, had formerly been an appellant from the Con- stitution "Unigenitus". The remaining works of Petit-Didier are: "Remarques sur la Biblioth^que I'l ecclesiastiquede M. Dupin " (Paris, 1691-93), in which ■ he points out many errors; "Dissertation historique P et thdologique dans laquelle on examine quel a ^'te le ' sentiment du Concile de Constance et des principaux Theologiens qui y ont assists, sur I'autorite du pape et sur son infaillibilitd" (Luxemburg, 1724), in which the author defends the opinion that the decree of the Council of Constance concerning the superiority of a general council over the pope was intended only for the time of a schism; "Dissertationes historico-eritico- chronologicsE in Vetus Testamentum " (Toul, 1699); "Justification de la morale et de la discipline de Rome et de toute ITtalie" (1727), a reply to an anonymous treatise entitled: "La morale des J^suites et la con- stitution Unigenitus comparSe k la morale des pay ens".

His brother, Jean-Joseph, a Jesuit theologian and canonist, was bom at Saint-Nicolas-du-Port in Lorraine, on 23 October, 1664; and died at Pont-^- Mousson, on 10 August, 1756. Entering the Society of Jesus, 16 May, 1683, he was professed 2 February, 1698, and taught belles-lettres, philosophy, and canon law at Strasburg from 1694 to 1701, and theology at Pont-i-Mousson from 1704 to 1708. About 1730 he became the spiritual director of Duchess Elizabeth- Charlotte of Lorraine. A few years later he returned to the Jesuit house at Saint-Nicolas where he spent the remainder of his life. His chief works are: "De justitia, jure et legibus" (Pont-a-Mousson 1704); "Remarques sur la thdologie du R. P. Gaspard Juenin"_(1708), a refutation of the Jansenistic errors of Juenin; "Leg Saints enlevez et restituez aux Jesuites" (Luxemburg, 1738), concerning Saints Francis Xavier and John Francis Regis; "Trait^' de la cloture des maisons religieuses de I'un et de I'autre sexe" (N.ancy, 1742); "Recueil de Lettres critiques sur les Vies des Saints du Sieur Baillet" (Cologne, 1720); "Les prets par obligation stipulative d'interest usitds en Lorraine et Barrois" (Nancy, 1745), a ca-