Peter of Verona (1205 – April 6, 1252), also known as Saint Peter Martyr and Saint Peter of Verona, was a 13th-century
ItalianCatholicpriest. He was a
Dominicanfriar and a celebrated preacher. He served as
Inquisitor in
Lombardy, was killed by an assassin, and was
canonized as a Catholic
saint 11 months after his death, making this the fastest canonization in history.
Biography
Thomas Agni of Leontino, Dominican archbishop of Cosenza, and later patriarch of Jerusalem, was the first to write a biography of Peter of Verona. He lived for many years with Peter of Verona and had been his superior.[1]
Peter was born in the city of
Verona into a family perhaps sympathetic to the
Catharheresy. Peter went to a Catholic school, and later to the
University of Bologna, where he is said to have maintained his orthodoxy and, at the age of fifteen, met
Dominic of Osma. Peter joined the
Order of the Friars Preachers (Dominicans) and became a celebrated preacher throughout northern and central
Italy.[2]
From the 1230s on, Peter preached against heresy, and especially Catharism, which had many adherents in thirteenth-century Northern Italy.
Pope Gregory IX appointed him General Inquisitor for northern Italy in 1234 and Peter evangelized nearly the whole of Italy, preaching in
Rome,
Florence,
Bologna,
Genoa, and
Como.[2] He is credited with founding, around 1240, the
Venerabile Arciconfraternita della Misericordia di Firenze.
In 1243 he recommended the new
Servite foundation to the pope for approval. In 1251,
Pope Innocent IV recognized Peter's virtues (severity of life and doctrine, talent for preaching, and zeal for the orthodox Catholic faith), and appointed him Inquisitor in
Lombardy. 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.
In his sermons he denounced heresy and also those Catholics who professed the Faith by words, but acted contrary to it in deeds. Crowds came to meet him and followed him; conversions were numerous,[2] including many Cathars who returned to the Catholic church.
Because of this, a group of Milanese Cathars conspired to kill him. They hired an assassin,
Carino of Balsamo. Carino's accomplice was Manfredo Clitoro of
Giussano. On April 6, 1252, when Peter was returning from Como to Milan, the two assassins followed Peter to a lonely spot near
Barlassina, and there killed him and mortally wounded his companion, a fellow friar named Domenico.[3]
Carino struck Peter's head with an axe and then attacked Domenico. Peter rose to his knees, and recited the first article of the
Apostles' Creed. Offering his blood as a sacrifice to God, according to legend, he dipped his fingers in it and wrote on the ground: Credo in Deum,[2] the first words of the creed. 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 when he was attacked.
Domenico was carried to
Meda, where he died five days afterwards.
Baruffini San Pietro Martire
Legends
According to Dominican tradition Peter often conversed with the saints, including the
virgin martyrs Catherine, Agnes and Cecilia.[4]
Once, when preaching to a vast crowd under the burning sun, the heretics challenged him to procure shade for his listeners. As he prayed, a cloud overshadowed the audience.[4]
Veneration
Peter's 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. Since the eighteenth century this has been located in the
Portinari Chapel.[3]
Many
miracles were attributed to him while alive, and even more after his
martyrdom.
Peter was canonized by
Pope Innocent IV on March 9, 1253, the fastest canonization in papal history.[5] St Peter the Martyr's
feast day is 6 April[6] although his Dominican brothers celebrate it on 4 June.[7] From 1586, when the feast day was inserted in the
General Roman Calendar, to 1969, when it was removed on the grounds of the limited importance now attached to the saint internationally, the celebration was on 29 April.[8] (6 April, his death date, was not used because it would too often conflict with the
Easter Triduum.)[9] The Church of
Santa Maria Antiqua in Verona is co-entitled to him.
Carino, the assassin, later repented and confessed his crime. He converted to the Catholic church and eventually became a lay brother in the Dominican
convent of
Forlì. He is the subject of a local cult as
Blessed Carino of Balsamo.
The sculptures on the great door of
S. Anastasia, the Dominican Church in Verona, represent scenes from the life of St. Peter Martyr.[10]
Madonna and Child with St Peter Martyr, by
Lorenzo Lotto