Saint Pierre d'Alcantara
de l'Ordre de Saint-François
(1496-1562)
Ce Saint, issu d'une famille illustre, fut un prodige d'austérités. Entré dans l'Ordre de Saint-François, après de brillantes études où avait éclaté surtout son amour pour les Livres Saints, il montra, pendant son noviciat, une modestie surprenante; il ne connaissait ses frères qu'à la voix, il ne savait point la forme de la voûte de l'église; il passa quatre ans au couvent sans apercevoir un arbre qui étendait ses branches et donnait son ombre près de la porte d'entrée. Sa vertu extraordinaire l'éleva aux charges de l'Ordre dès ses premières années de vie religieuse; mais l'humble supérieur se faisait, à toute occasion, le serviteur de ses frères et le dernier de tous.
Dans un pays de montagnes, couvert de neige, en plein hiver, il avait trouvé un singulier secret contre le froid: il ôtait son manteau, ouvrait la porte et la fenêtre de sa cellule; puis, après un certain temps, reprenait son manteau et refermait porte et fenêtre. Sa prédication produisit les plus merveilleux effets; sa vue seule faisait couler les larmes et convertissait les pécheurs: c'était, selon la parole de sainte Thérèse, la mortification personnifiée qui prêchait par sa bouche.
Dieu lui inspira de travailler à la réforme de son Ordre, et il y établit une branche nouvelle qui se fit remarquer par sa ferveur. Dans ses voyages, Pierre ne marchait que pieds nus et la tête découverte: la tête découverte, pour vénérer la présence de Dieu; pieds nus, afin de ne jamais manquer l'occasion de se mortifier. S'il lui arrivait de se blesser un pied, il ne prenait qu'une sandale, ne voulant pas qu'un pied fût à son aise quand l'autre était incommodé.
Pierre d'Alcantara fut un des conseillers de sainte Thérèse d'Avila, qui l'avait en grande considération. Sa mortification s'accroissait chaque jour au point qu'il ne se servait plus de ses sens et de ses facultés que pour se faire souffrir; il ne mangeait qu'une fois tous les trois jours, se contentant de mauvais pain et d'eau; parfois il demeurait huit jours sans manger. Il passa quarante ans sans donner au sommeil chaque nuit plus d'une heure et demie, encore prenait-il ce sommeil assis dans une position incommode; il avoua que cette mortification avait été plus terrible pour lui que les cilices de métal, les disciplines et les chaînes de fer.
La seule pensée du Saint-Sacrement et des mystères d'amour du Sauveur le faisait entrer en extase. Saint Pierre d'Alcantara fit de nombreux miracles. Apparaissant à sainte Thérèse après sa mort, il lui dit: "O bienheureuse pénitence, qui m'a valu tant de gloire!"
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_pierre_d_alcantara.html
SAINT PIERRE D'ALCANTARA, CONFESSEUR.
« Bienheureuse pénitence, qui m'a mérité une telle gloire ! » C'était la parole du Saint de ce jour, en abordant les cieux ; tandis que Thérèse de Jésus s'écriait sur la terre : « Ah ! quel parfait imitateur de Jésus-Christ Dieu vient de nous ravir, en appelant à la gloire ce religieux béni, Frère Pierre d'Alcantara ! Le monde, dit-on, n'est plus capable d'une perfection si haute ; les santés sont plus faibles, et nous ne sommes plus aux temps passés. Ce saint était de ce temps, sa mâle ferveur égalait néanmoins celle des siècles passés, et il avait en souverain mépris toutes les choses de la terre. Mais sans aller nu-pieds comme lui, sans faire une aussi âpre pénitence, il est une foule d'actes par lesquels nous pouvons pratiquer le mépris du monde, et que notre Seigneur nous fait connaître dès qu'il voit en nous du courage. Qu'il dut être grand celui que reçut de Dieu le saint dont je parle, pour soutenir pendant quarante-sept ans cette pénitence si austère que tous connaissent aujourd'hui !
« De toutes ses mortifications, celle qui lui avait le plus coûté dans les commencements, c'était de vaincre le sommeil ; dans ce dessein, il se tenait toujours à genoux ou debout. Le peu de repos qu'il accordait à la nature, il le prenait assis, la tête appuyée contre un morceau de bois fixé dans le mur; eût-il voulu se coucher, il ne l'aurait pu, parce que sa cellule n'avait que quatre pieds et demi de long. Durant le cours de toutes ces années, jamais il ne se couvrit de son capuce, quelque ardent que fût le soleil, quelque forte que fût la pluie. Jamais il ne se servit d'aucune chaussure. Il ne portait qu'un habit de grosse bure, sans autre chose sur la chair ; j'ai appris toutefois qu'il avait porté pendant vingt années un cilice en lames de fer-blanc, sans jamais le quitter. Son habit était aussi étroit que possible ; par-dessus il mettait un petit manteau de même étoffe ; dans les grands froids il le quittait, et laissait quelque temps ouvertes la porte et la petite fenêtre de sa cellule ; il les fermait ensuite, il reprenait son mantelet, et c'était là, nous disait-il, sa manière de se chauffer et de faire sentir à son corps une meilleure température. Il lui était fort ordinaire de ne manger que de trois en trois jours ; et comme j'en paraissais surprise, il me dit que c'était très facile à quiconque en avait pris la coutume. Sa pauvreté était extrême, et sa mortification telle qu'il m'a avoué qu'en sa jeunesse il avait passé trois ans dans une maison de son Ordre sans connaître aucun des Religieux, si ce n'est au son de la voix, parce qu'il ne levait jamais les yeux, de sorte qu'il n'aurait pu se rendre aux endroits où l'appelait la règle, s'il n'avait suivi les autres. Il gardait cette même modestie par les chemins. Quand je vins aie connaître, son corps était tellement exténué, qu'il semblait n'être formé que de racines d'arbres (Ste Thérèse, Vie, ch. XXVII, XXX, traduction Bouix). »
Au portrait du réformateur franciscain par la réformatrice du Carmel, l'Eglise ajoutera l'histoire de sa vie On sait que trois familles illustres et méritantes composent aujourd'hui le premier Ordre de saint François ; le peuple chrétien les connaît sous le nom de Conventuels, Observantins et Capucins. Une pieuse émulation de réforme toujours plus étroite avait amené, dans l'Observance même, la distinction des Observants proprement ou primitivement dits, des Réformés, des Déchaussés ou Alcantarins, et des Récollets ; d'ordre plushistorique que constitutionnel, sil'onpeut ainsi parler, cette distinction n'existe plus depuis que, le 4 octobre 1897, en la fête du patriarche d'Assise, le Souverain Pontife Léon XIII a cru l'heure venue de ramener à l'unité la grande famille de l'Observance, sous le seul nom d'Ordre des Frères Mineurs qu'elle devra porter désormais (Constit apost. Felicitate quadam).
Pierre naquit à Alcantara, en Espagne, de nobles parents. Il fit présager dès ses plus tendres années sa sainteté future. Entré à seize ans dans l'Ordre des Mineurs, il s'y montra un modèle de toutes les vertus. Chargé par l'obéissance de l'office de prédicateur, innombrables furent les pécheurs qu'il amena à sincère pénitence. Mais son désir était de ramener la vie franciscaine à la rigueur primitive ; soutenu donc par Dieu et l'autorité apostolique, il fonda heureusement le très étroit et très pauvre couvent du Pedroso, premier de la très stricte observance qui se répandit merveilleusement par la suite dans les diverses provinces de l'Espagne et jusqu'aux Indes. Sainte Thérèse, dont il avait approuvé l'esprit, fut aidée par lui dans son œuvre de la réforme du Carmel. Elle avait appris de Dieu que toute demande faite au nom de Pierre était sûre d'être aussitôt exaucée; aussi prit-elle la coutume de se recommander à ses prières, et de l'appeler Saint de son vivant.
Les princes le consultaient comme un oracle ; mais sa grande humilité lui faisait décliner leurs hommages, et il refusa d'être le confesseur de l'empereur Charles-Quint. Rigide observateur de la pauvreté, il ne portait qu'une tunique, et la plus mauvaise qui se pût trouver. Tel était son délicat amour de la pureté, qu'il ne souffrit pas même d'être touché légèrement dans sa dernière maladie par le Frère qui le servait. Convenu avec son corps de ne lui accorder aucun repos dans cette vie, il l'avait réduit en servitude, n'ayant pour lui que veilles, jeûnes, flagellations, froid, nudité, duretés de toutes sortes. L'amour de Dieu et du prochain qui remplissait son cœur, y allumait parfois un tel incendie, qu'on le voyait contraint de s'élancer de sa pauvre cellule en plein air, pour tempérer ainsi les ardeurs qui le consumaient.
Son don de contemplation était admirable; l'esprit sans cesse rassasié du céleste aliment, il lui arrivait de passer plusieurs jours sans boire ni manger. Souvent élevé au-dessus du sol,il rayonnait de merveilleuses splendeurs. Il passa à pied sec des fleuves impétueux. Dans une disette extrême, il nourrit ses Frères d'aliments procurés par le ciel. Enfonçant son bâton en terre, il en fit soudain un figuier verdoyant. Une nuit que, voyageant sous une neige épaisse, il était entré dans une masure où le toit n'existait plus, la neige, suspendue en l'air, fit l'office de toit pour éviter qu'il n'en fût étouffé. Sainte Thérèse rend témoignage au don de prophétie et de discernement des esprits qui brillait en lui. Enfin, dans sa soixante-troisième année, à l'heure qu'il avait prédite, il passa au Seigneur, conforté par une vision merveilleuse et la présence des Saints. Sainte Thérèse, qui était loin de là, le vit au même moment porté au ciel; et, dans une apparition qui suivit, elle l'entendit lui dire: O heureuse pénitence, qui m'a valu si grande gloire! Beaucoup de miracles suivirent sa mort, et Clément IX le mit au nombre des Saints.
« Le voilà donc le terme de cette vie si austère, une éternité de gloire (Ste Thérèse, Vie, XXVII.) ! » Combien furent suaves ces derniers mots de vos lèvres expirantes : Je me suis réjoui de ce qui m'a été dit: Nous irons-dans la maison du Seigneur (Psalm. CXXI, 1). L'heure de la rétribution n'était pas venue pour ce corps auquel vous étiez convenu de ne donner nulle trêve en cette vie, lui réservant l'autre ; mais déjà la lumière et les parfums d'outre-tombe, dont l'âme en le quittant le laissait investi, signifiaient à tous que le contrat, fidèlement tenu dans sa première partie, le serait aussi dans la seconde. Tandis que, vouée pour de fausses délices à d'effroyables tourments, la chair du pécheur rugira sans fin contre l'âme qui l'aura perdue ; vos membres, entrés dans la félicité de l'âme bienheureuse et complétant sa gloire de leur splendeur, rediront dans les siècles éternels à quel point votre apparente dureté d'un moment fut pour eux sagesse et amour.
Et faut-il donc attendre la résurrection pour reconnaître que, dès ce monde, la part de votre choix fut sans conteste la meilleure ? Qui oserait comparer, non seulement les plaisirs illicites, mais les jouissances permises de la terre, aux délices saintes que la divine contemplation tient en réserve dès ce monde pour quiconque se met en mesure de les goûter ? Si elles demeurent au prix de la mortification de la chair, c'est qu'en ce monde la chair et l'esprit sont en lutte pour l'empire (Gal. V, 17) ; mais la lutte a ses attraits pour une âme généreuse, et la chair même, honorée par elle, échappe aussi par elle à mille dangers.
Vous qu'on ne saurait invoquer en vain, selon la parole du Seigneur, si vous daignez vous-même lui présenter nos prières, obtenez-nous ce rassasiement du ciel qui dégoûte des mets d'ici-bas. C'est la demande qu'en votre nom nous adressons, avec l'Eglise, au Dieu qui rendit admirable votre pénitence et sublime votre contemplation (Collecte de la fête). La grande famille des Frères Mineurs garde chèrement le trésor de vos exemples et de vos enseignements ; pour l'honneur de votre Père saint François et le bien de l'Eglise, maintenez-la dans l'amour de ses austères traditions. Continuez au Carmel de Thérèse de Jésus votre protection précieuse ; étendez-la, dans les épreuves du temps présent, sur tout l'état religieux. Puissiez-vous enfin ramener l'Espagne, votre patrie, à ces glorieux sommets d'où jadis la sainteté coulait par elle à flots pressés sur le monde ; c'est la condition des peuples ennoblis par une vocation plus élevée, qu'ils ne peuvent déchoir sans s'exposer à descendre au-dessous du niveau même où se maintiennent les nations moins favorisées du Très-Haut.
Dom Guéranger. L'Année liturgique
SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/gueranger/anneliturgique/pentecote/pentecote05/053.htm
Saint Pierre d’Alcantara (1499 - 1562)
LEÇON DU BRÉVIAIRE ROMAIN
Pierre naquit à Alcantara en Espagne, de parents nobles. A l'âge de seize ans, étant entré dans l'Ordre des Frères Mineurs, il s'y montra un modèle de toutes les vertus, spécialement de pauvreté et de chasteté, et, par la prédication de la parole de Dieu, il ramena du vice a la pénitence d'innombrables auditeurs. Désireux de rétablir l'Institut de Saint-François en sa primitive observance, il construisit près de Pedrosa un couvent très étroit et très pauvre, et y établit avec succès un genre de vie très austère qui se propagea ensuite merveilleusement. Il fut, dans l'œuvre de la réforme, du Carmel, le soutien de sainte Thérèse, dont il avait approuvé l'esprit et qui souvent lui donna de son vivant le nom de saint. Remarquable par la grâce de la contemplation et des miracles, il fut au témoignage de la même sainte Thérèse, gratifié du don de prophétie et de discernement des esprits. Enfin, âgé de soixante-trois ans, il s'en alla au ciel. La bienheureuse Thérèse l'aperçut, dans une vision, rayonnant d'une gloire admirable.
SOURCE : http://www.icrsp.org/Calendriers/Le%20Saint%20du%20Jour/Pierre-d-alcantara.htm
Né en 1499, mort le 18 octobre 1562. Canonisé en 1669, fête en 1670.
Leçons des Matines (avant 1960)
Quatrième leçon. Pierre, né de parents nobles, à Alcantara en Espagne, donna, dès ses plus tendres années, des signes de sa sainteté future. Étant entré à seize ans dans l’Ordre des Frères Mineurs, il s’y montra un modèle de toutes les vertus. Ayant eu alors à exercer par obéissance le ministère de la prédication, il amena un nombre incalculable de Chrétiens des désordres du vice à une véritable pénitence. Désirant rétablir dans toute son exactitude l’observance primitive de l’institut franciscain, confiant dans le secours du ciel et appuyé de l’autorité apostolique, il fonda, près de Pédrosa, un couvent très étroit et très pauvre, où il commença pieusement un genre de vie fort austère, qui s’est merveilleusement répandu dans diverses provinces de l’Espagne et jusqu’aux Indes. Il aida sainte Thérèse, dont il avait éprouvé l’esprit, à établir la réforme des Carmélites. Cette Sainte ayant appris de Dieu qu’elle ne lui demanderait rien au nom de Pierre sans être exaucée sur-le-champ, avait coutume de se recommander à ses prières et de lui donner le nom de Saint, quoiqu’il vécût encore.
Cinquième leçon. Il se dérobait avec la plus grande humilité aux faveurs des princes qui le consultaient comme un oracle, et il refusa d’être le confesseur de l’empereur Charles-Quint. Très rigide observateur de la pauvreté, il se contentait d’une seule tunique, la plus mauvaise de toutes. Il était si délicat pour tout ce qui concerne la pureté, qu’il ne permit pas au frère qui le servait dans sa dernière maladie de le toucher tant soit peu. Il réduisit son corps en servitude par une continuité de veilles, de jeûnes, de flagellations ; par le froid, la nudité, par toutes sortes de rigueurs, ayant fait pacte avec lui de ne lui donner aucun repos en ce monde. L’amour de Dieu et du prochain qui remplissait son cœur, y excitait parfois une flamme si vive, qu’il était obligé de sortir brusquement de son étroite cellule pour aller, en pleine campagne, tempérer par la fraîcheur de l’air, l’ardeur qui le brûlait.
Sixième leçon. Il fut élevé à un degré de contemplation si admirable que, comme son esprit en était continuellement nourri, il lui arriva parfois de passer plusieurs jours sans prendre ni nourriture ni boisson. Fréquemment élevé en l’air, on l’a vu briller d’un éclat admirable. Il passa des fleuves rapides à pied sec. Dans une disette extrême, il nourrit ses frères d’un aliment venu du ciel. Un bâton qu’il avait fixé en terre devint bientôt un figuier verdoyant. Une nuit qu’il cheminait, la neige tombant épaisse, il entra dans une maison en ruines toute découverte, et la neige, restant suspendue en l’air, lui servit de toit pour qu’il ne fût pas étouffé par son abondance. Sainte Thérèse atteste qu’il était doué du don de prophétie et de discernement des esprits. Enfin, étant dans sa soixante-troisième année, il s’en alla vers le Seigneur, à l’heure qu’il avait prédite, ayant été fortifié par une merveilleuse vision et par la présence de plusieurs Bienheureux. A ce moment-là même, sainte Thérèse qui se trouvait dans un lieu fort éloigné, le vit porté au ciel. Lui ayant apparu -ensuite, il lui dit : O bienheureuse pénitence, qui m’a valu une si grande gloire ! Beaucoup de miracles l’ont illustré après sa mort et Clément IX l’a inscrit au nombre des Saints.
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October 19
St. Peter of Alcantara, Confessor
From his life, written by F. John of St. Mary, in
1619, and again by F. Martin of St. Joseph, in 1644: also from the edifying
account St. Teresa has left us of him in her own life, c. 27. F. Wadding’s
Annals of the Franciscan Order, and Helyot, Hist. des Ord. Relig. t. 7, p. 137.
A.D. 1562
CHRIST declares the spirit and constant practice of
penance to be the foundation of a Christian or spiritual life. This great and
most important maxim, which in these latter ages is little understood, even
amongst the generality of those who call themselves Christians, is set forth by
the example of this saint to confound our sloth, and silence all our vain
excuses. St. Peter was born at Alcantara, a small town in the province of
Estramadura in Spain, in 1499. His father, Alphonso Garavito, was a lawyer and
governor of that town; his mother was of good extraction, and both were persons
eminent for their piety and personal merit in the world. Upon the first dawn of
reason, Peter discovered the most happy dispositions to virtue, and seemed a
miracle of his age in fervour and unwearied constancy in the great duty of
prayer from his childhood, and his very infancy. He had not finished his
philosophy in his own country, when his father died. Some time after this loss
he was sent to Salamanca to study the canon law. During the two years that he
spent in that university, he divided his whole time between the church, the
hospital, the school, and his closet. In 1513 he was recalled to Alcantara,
where he deliberated with himself about the choice of a state of life. On one
side, the devil represented to him the fortune and career which were open to
him in the world; on the other side, listening to the suggestions of divine
grace, he considered the dangers of such a course, and the happiness and
spiritual advantages of holy retirement. These sunk deep into his heart, and he
felt in his soul a strong call to a religious state of life, in which he should
have no other concern but that of securing his own salvation. Resolving,
therefore, to embrace the holy Order of St. Francis, in the sixteenth year of
his age he took the habit of that austere rule in the solitary convent of
Manjarez, situated in the mountains which run between Castile and Portugal. An
ardent spirit of penance determined his choice of this rigorous institute in
imitation of the Baptist, and he was so much the more solicitous after his
engagement to cultivate and improve the same with particular care, as he was
sensible that the characteristical virtues of each state ought to form the
peculiar spirit of their sanctity who serve God in it.
During his novitiate he laboured to subdue his
domestic enemy by the greatest humiliations, most rigorous fasts, incredible
watchings and other severities. Such was his fervour that the most painful
austerities had nothing frightful or difficult for him; his disengagement from
the world from the very moment he renounced it was so entire, that he seemed in
his heart to be not only dead or insensible but even crucified to it, and to
find all that a pain which flatters the senses and the vanity of men in it: and
the union of his soul with his Creator seemed to suffer no interruption from
any external employments. He had first the care of the vestry, (which
employment was most agreeable to his devotion,) then of the gate, and
afterwards of the cellar; all which offices he discharged with uncommon
exactness, and without prejudice to his recollection. That his eyes and other
senses might be more easily kept under the government of reason, and that they
might not, by superfluous curiosity, break in upon the interior recollection of
his mind, such was the restraint he put upon them, that he had been a
considerable time a religious man without ever knowing that the church of his
convent was vaulted. After having had the care of serving the refectory for
half a year, he was chid by the superior for having never given the friars any
of the fruit in his custody; to which the servant of God humbly answered, he
had never seen any. The truth was, he had never lifted up his eyes to the
ceiling, where the fruit was hanging upon twigs, as is usual in countries where
grapes are dried and preserved. He lived four years in a convent, without
taking notice of a tree that grew near the door. He ate constantly for three years
in the same refectory, without seeing any other part of it than a part of the
table where he sat, and the ground on which he trod. He told St. Teresa that he
once lived in a house three years without knowing any of his religious brethren
but by their voices. From the time that he put on the religious habit to his
death he never looked any woman in the face. These were the marks of a truly
religious man, who studied perfectly to die to himself. His food was for many
years only bread moistened in water, or unsavoury herbs, of which, when he
lived a hermit, he boiled a considerable quantity together, that he might spend
the less time in serving his body, and ate them cold, taking a little at once
for his refection, which for a considerable time he made only once in three
days. Besides these unsavoury herbs, he sometimes allowed himself a porridge
made with salt and vinegar; but this only on great feasts. For some time his
ordinary mess was a soup made of beans; his drink was a small quantity of
water. He seemed by long habits of mortification, to have almost lost the sense
of taste in what he ate; for when a little vinegar and salt was thrown into a
porringer of warm water, he took it for his usual soup of beans. He had no
other bed than a rough skin laid on the floor, on which he knelt great part of
the night, leaning sometimes on his heels for a little rest; but he slept
sitting, leaning his head against a wall. His watchings were the most difficult
and the most incredible of all the austerities which he practised; to which he
inured himself gradually, that they might not be prejudicial to his health; and
which, being of a robust constitution of body, he found himself able to bear.
He was assailed by violent temptations and cruel spiritual enemies; but, by the
succour of divine grace, and the arms of humility and prayer, was always
victorious.
A few months after his profession, Peter was sent from
Manjarez to a remote retired convent near Belviso, where he built himself a
cell with mud and the branches of trees, at some distance from the rest, in
which he practised extraordinary mortifications without being seen. About three
years after, he was sent by his provincial to Badajos, the metropolis of
Estramadura, to be superior of a small friary lately established there, though
he was at that time but twenty years old. The three years of his guardianship
or wardenship appeared to him a grievous slavery. When they were elapsed, he
received his provincial’s command to prepare himself for holy orders. Though he
earnestly begged for a longer delay, he was obliged to acquiesce, and was
promoted to the priesthood in 1524, and soon after employed in preaching. The
ensuing year he was made guardian of Placentia. In all stations of superiority
he considered himself as a servant to his whole community, and looked upon his
post only as a strict obligation of encouraging the rest in the practice of
penance by his own example. Our saint, who had never known the yoke of the
world or vicious habits, entered upon his penitential course in a state of
innocence and purity which seemed never to have been stained with the guilt of
mortal sin. But by the maxims of the gospel, and the spirit of God, which
directs all the saints, a deep sense was impressed upon his soul of the
obligation which every Christian lies under of making his whole life a
martyrdom of penance, to satisfy the divine justice both for past and daily
infidelities, to prevent the rebellion of the senses and passions, and to
overcome the opposition which the flesh and self-will raise against the spirit,
unless they are entirely subdued, and made obedient to it. Neither can God
perfectly reign in a heart, so long as the least spark of inordinate desires is
habitually cherished in it. Every one, therefore, owes to God a sacrifice of
exterior mortification and interior self-denial of his will, with a constant
spirit of compunction, and a rigorous, impartial self-examination or inspection
into the dark recesses of his heart, in order to discover and extirpate the
roots of all rising vicious inclinations. St. Peter, by his own example,
inspired his religious brethren with fervour in all the branches of holy
penance: whilst, by purifying the affections of his heart, he prepared his soul
for the most sublime graces of divine love and heavenly contemplation. When the
term of his second guardianship was expired, he was employed six years in
preaching. Penetrated with the most profound sentiments of humility,
compunction, and sovereign contempt of all earthly things, and burning with the
most ardent charity, he appeared in the pulpits like a seraph sent by God to
rouse sinners to a true spirit of penance, and to kindle in their most frozen
breasts the fire of divine love. Hence incredible was the fruit which his
sermons produced. Besides his natural talents and stock of learning, he was
enriched by God with an experimental and infused sublime knowledge and sense of
spiritual things, and of the sacred paths of virtue, which is never acquired by
study, but is the fruit only of divine grace, an eminent spirit of prayer,
rooted habits, and the heroic practice of all virtues. The saint’s very
countenance or presence alone seemed a powerful sermon, and it was said that he
had but to show himself to work conversions, and excite his audience to sighs
and tears.
The love of retirement being always St. Peter’s
predominant inclination, he made it his earnest petition to his superiors that
he might be placed in some remote solitary convent, where he might give himself
up to the sweet commerce of divine contemplation. In compliance with his
request he was sent to the convent of St. Onuphrius, at Lapa, near Soriana,
situated in a frightful solitude; but, at the same time, he was commanded to
take upon him the charge of guardian or warden of that house. In that
retirement, he composed his golden book, On Mental Prayer, at the request of a
pious gentleman, who had often heard him speak on that subject. This excellent
little treatise was justly esteemed a finished masterpiece on this important
subject by St. Teresa, Lewis of Granada, St. Francis of Sales, Pope Gregory
XV., Queen Christina of Sweden, and others. In it the great advantages and
necessity of mental prayer are briefly set forth: all its parts and its method
are explained, and exemplified in affections of divine love, praise, and
thanksgiving, and especially of supplication or petition. Short meditations on
the last things, and on the passion of Christ, are added as models. Upon the
plan of this book, Lewis of Granada and many others have endeavoured to render
the use of mental prayer easy and familiar among Christians, in an age which
owes all its spiritual evils to a supine neglect of this necessary means of
interior true virtue. Our saint has left us another short treatise, On the
Peace of the Soul, or On an Interior Life, no less excellent than the
former. 1 St. Peter was himself an excellent proficient in the
school of divine love, and in the exercises of heavenly contemplation. His
prayer and his union with God was habitual. He said mass with a devotion that
astonished others, and often with torrents of tears, or with raptures. He was
seen to remain in prayer a whole hour, with his arms stretched out, and his
eyes lifted up without moving. His ecstasies in prayer were frequent, and
sometimes of long continuance. So great was his devotion to the mystery of the
incarnation, and the holy sacrament of the altar, that the very mention or
thought of them frequently sufficed to throw him into a rapture. The excess of
heavenly sweetness, and the great revelations which he received in the frequent
extraordinary unions of his soul with God are not to be expressed. In the
jubilation of his soul through the impetuosity of the divine love he sometimes
was not able to contain himself from singing the divine praises aloud in a
wonderful manner. To do this more freely, he sometimes went into the woods,
where the peasants who heard him sing, took him for one who was beside himself.
The reputation of St. Peter having reached the ears of
John III., king of Portugal, that prince was desirous to consult him upon
certain difficulties of conscience, and St. Peter received an order from his
provincial to repair to him at Lisbon. He did not make use of the carriages which
the king had ordered to be ready for him, but made the journey barefoot,
without sandals, according to his custom. King John was so well satisfied with
his answers and advice, and so much edified by his saintly comportment, that he
engaged him to return again soon after. In these two visits the saint converted
several great lords of the court; the infanta Maria, the king’s sister,
trampling under her feet the pomp of the world, made privately the three vows
of religious persons, but with this condition, that she should continue at
court, and wear a secular dress, her presence being necessary for the direction
of certain affairs. This princess founded a rigorous nunnery of barefooted Poor
Clares at Lisbon, for ladies of quality, and both she and the king were
extremely desirous to detain the saint at court. But though they had fitted up
apartments like a cell, with an oratory for him, and allowed him liberty to
give himself up wholly to divine contemplation, according to his desire, yet he
found the conveniences too great, and the palace not agreeable to his purposes.
A great division having happened among the townsmen of Alcantara, he took this
opportunity to leave the court, in order to reconcile those that were at
variance. His presence and pathetic discourses easily restored peace among the
inhabitants of Alcantara. This affair was scarcely finished, when, in 1538, he
was chosen provincial of the province of St. Gabriel, or of Estramadura, which,
though it was of the conventuals, had adopted some time before certain
constitutions of reform. The age required for this office being forty years,
the saint warmly urged, that he was only thirty-nine; but all were persuaded
that his prudence and virtue were an overbalance. Whilst he discharged this
office he drew up several severe rules of reformation, which he prevailed on
the whole province to accept in a chapter which he held at Placentia for this
purpose, in 1540. Upon the expiration of the term of his provincialship, in
1541, he returned to Lisbon, to join F. Martin of St. Mary, who was laying the
foundation of a most austere reformation of this Order reduced to an eremitical
life, and was building the first hermitage upon a cluster of barren mountains
called Arâbida, upon the mouth of the Tagus, on the opposite bank to Lisbon.
The Duke of Aveiro not only gave the ground, but also assisted them in raising
cells. St. Peter animated the fervour of these religious brethren, and
suggested many regulations which were adopted. The hermits of Arâbida wore
nothing on their feet, lay on bundles of vine-twigs, or on the bare ground,
never touched flesh or wine, and ate no fish except on festivals. Peter
undertook to awake the rest at midnight, when they said matins together: after
which they continued in prayer till break of day. Then they recited prime,
which was followed by one mass only, according to the original regulation of
St. Francis. After this, retiring to their cells, they remained there till
tierce, which they recited together, with the rest of the canonical hours. The
time between vespers and compline was allotted for manual labour. Their cells
were exceedingly mean and small: St. Peter’s was so little, that he could
neither stand up nor lie down in it without bending the body. F. John Calus, general
of the Order, coming into Portugal, desired to see St. Peter, and made a visit
to this hermitage. Being much edified with what he saw, he gave F. Martin leave
to receive novices, bestowed on this reform the convents of Palhaes and
Santaren, and erected it into a custody; his companion leaving him to embrace
this reformation. The convent of Palhaes being appointed for the novitiate, St.
Peter was nominated guardian, and charged with the direction of the novices.
Our saint had governed the novitiate only two years,
when, in 1544, he was recalled by his own superiors into Spain, and received by
his brethren in the province of Estramadura with the greatest joy that can be
expressed. Heavenly contemplation being always his favourite inclination,
though by obedience, he often employed himself in the service of several
churches, and in the direction of devout persons, he procured his superior’s
leave to reside in the most solitary convents, chiefly at St. Onuphrius’s, near
Soriano. After four years spent in this manner, he was allowed, at the request
of Prince Lewis, the king’s most pious brother, and of the Duke of Aveiro, to
return to Portugal. During three years that he staid in that kingdom he raised
his congregation of Arâbida to the most flourishing condition, and, in 1550,
founded a new convent near Lisbon. This custody was erected into a province of
the Order, in 1560. His reputation for sanctity drew so many eyes on him, and
gave so much interruption to his retirement, that he hastened back to Spain, hoping
there to hide himself in some solitude. Upon his arrival at Placentia in 1551,
his brethren earnestly desired to choose him provincial; but the saint turned
himself into every shape to obtain the liberty of living some time to himself,
and at length prevailed. In 1553 he was appointed custos by a general chapter
held at Salamanca. In 1554 he formed a design of establishing a reformed
congregation of friars upon a stricter plan than before; for which he procured
himself to be empowered by a brief obtained of Pope Julius III. His project was
approved by the provincial of Estramadura, and by the bishop of Coria, in whose
diocess the saint, with one fervent companion, made an essay of this manner of
living in a small hermitage. A short time after, he went to Rome, and obtained
a second brief, by which he was authorized to build a convent according to this
plan. At his return a friend founded a convent for him, such a one as he
desired, near Pedroso, in the diocess of Palentine, in 1555, which is the date
of this reformed institute of Franciscans, called the Barefooted, or of the
strictest observance of St. Peter of Alcantara. This convent was but thirty-two
feet long, and twenty-eight wide; the cells were exceedingly small, and one
half of each was filled with a bed, consisting of three boards: the saint’s
cell was the smallest and most inconvenient. The church was comprised in the
dimensions given above, and of a piece with the rest. It was impossible for
persons to forget their engagement in a penitential life whilst their
habitations seemed rather to resemble graves than chambers. The Count of
Oropeza founded upon his estates two other convents for the saint; and certain
other houses received his reformation, and others were built by him. In 1561 he
formed them into a province, and drew up certain statutes, in which he orders
that each cell should only be seven feet long, the infirmary thirteen, and the
church twenty-four; the whole circumference of a convent forty or fifty feet;
that the number of friars in a convent should never exceed eight; that they
should always go barefoot, without socks or sandals; should lie on the boards,
or mats laid on the floor; or, if the place was low and damp, on beds raised
one foot from the ground; that none, except in sickness, should ever eat any
flesh, fish, or eggs, or drink wine; that they should employ three hours every
day in mental prayer, and should never receive any retribution for saying mass.
The general appointed St. Peter commissary of his Order in Spain, in 1556, and
he was confirmed in that office by Pope Paul IV., in 1559. In 1561, whilst he
was commissary, he was chosen provincial of his reformed Order, and, going to
Rome, begged a confirmation of this institute. Pius IV., who then sat in St.
Peter’s chair, by a bull dated in February, 1562, exempted this congregation
from all jurisdiction of the conventual Franciscans, (under whom St. Peter had
lived,) and subjected it to the minister-general of the Observantins, with this
clause, that it is to be maintained in the perpetual observance of the rules
and statutes prescribed by St. Peter. It is propagated into several provinces
in Spain, and is spread into Italy, each province in this reform consisting of
about ten religious houses
When the Emperor Charles V., after resigning his
dominions, retired to the monastery of St. Justus, in Estramadura, of the Order
of Hieronymites, in 1555, he made choice of St. Peter for his confessor, to
assist him in his preparation for death; but the saint, foreseeing that such a situation
would be incompatible with the exercises of assiduous contemplation and penance
to which he had devoted himself, declined that post with so much earnestness,
that the emperor was at length obliged to admit his excuses. The saint, whilst
in quality of commissary he made the visitation of several monasteries of his
Order, arrived at Avila in 1559. St. Teresa laboured at that time under the
most severe persecutions from her friends and her very confessors, and under
interior trials from scruples and anxiety, fearing at certain intervals, as
many told her, that she might be deluded by an evil spirit. A certain pious
widow lady, named Guiomera d’Ulloa, an intimate friend of St. Teresa, and privy
to her troubles and afflictions, got leave of the provincial of the Carmelites
that she might pass eight days in her house, and contrived that this great
servant of God should there treat with her at leisure. St. Peter, from his own
experience and knowledge in heavenly communications and raptures, easily
understood her, cleared all her perplexities, gave her the strongest assurances
that her visions and prayer were from God, loudly confuted her calumniators,
and spoke to her confessor in her favour. 2 He afterwards exceedingly encouraged her in
establishing her reformation of the Carmelite Order, and especially in founding
it in the strictest poverty. 3 Out of his great affection and compassion for her
under her sufferings, he told her in confidence many things concerning the
rigorous course of penance in which he had lived for seven-and-forty years. “He
told me,” says she, “that, to the best of my remembrance, he had slept but one
hour and a half in twenty-four hours for forty years together; and that, in the
beginning, it was the greatest and most troublesome mortification of all to
overcome himself in point of sleep, and that in order for this he was obliged
to be always either kneeling or standing on his feet: only when he slept he sat
with his head leaning aside upon a little piece of wood fastened for that
purpose in the wall. As to the extending his body at length in his cell it was
impossible for him, his cell not being above four feet and a half in length. In
all these years he never put on his capouch or hood, how hot soever the sun, or
how violent soever the rain might be; nor did he ever wear any thing upon his
feet, nor any other garment than his habit of thick coarse sackcloth, (without
any other thing next his skin,) and this short and scanty, and as straight as
possible, with a short mantle or cloak of the same over it. He told me, that
when the weather was extremely cold, he was wont to put off his mantle, and to leave
the door and the little window of his cell open, that when he put his mantle on
again, and shut his door, his body might be somewhat refreshed with this
additional warmth. It was usual with him to eat but once in three days; and he
asked me why I wondered at it; for it was very possible to one who had
accustomed himself to it. One of his companions told me, that sometimes he ate
nothing at all for eight days; but that perhaps might be when he was in prayer:
for he used to have great raptures, and vehement transports of divine love, of
which I was once an eye-witness. His poverty was extreme, and so also was his
mortification, even from his youth. He told me he had lived three years in a
house of his Order without knowing any of the friars but by their speech; for
he never lifted up his eyes: so that he did not know which way to go to many
places which he often frequented, if he did not follow the other friars. This
likewise happened to him in the roads. When I came to know him he was very old,
and his body so extenuated and weak, that it seemed not to be composed, but, as
it were, of the roots of trees, and was so parched up that his skin resembled
more the dried bark of a tree than flesh. He was very affable, but spoke
little, unless some questions were asked him; and he answered in few words, but
in these he was agreeable, for he had an excellent understanding.” St. Teresa
observes, that though a person cannot perform such severe penance as this
servant of God did, yet there are many other ways whereby we may tread the
world under our feet; and our Lord will teach us these ways when he finds a
mind that is fit. 4 To deny the obligation and necessity of some degree of
extreme penance and mortification (which some now-a-days seem almost to cashier
in practice) would be an error in faith. The extraordinary severities which the
Baptist and so many other saints exercised upon themselves, ought to be to us
sinners a subject of humiliation and self-reproach. We ought not to lose
courage, if we do not, or cannot watch and fast as they did; but then we ought
at least to be the more diligent in bearing labours, pains, humiliations, and
sickness with patience, and in the practice of interior self-denial, humility,
and meekness.
St. Peter was making the visitation of his
convents, and confirming his religious in that perfect spirit of penance with
which he had inspired them, when he fell sick in the convent of Viciosa. The
count of Oropeza, upon whose estate, that house was situated, caused him,
against his will, to be removed to his own house, and to take medicines, and
good nourishing food; but these, instead of relieving, aggravated his
distemper: his pain in his stomach grew more violent, his fever redoubled, and
an ulcer was formed in one of his legs. The holy man, perceiving that his last
hour approached, would be carried to the convent of Arenas, that he might die
in the arms of his brethren. He was no sooner arrived there but he received the
holy sacraments. In his last moments he exhorted his brethren to perseverance,
and to the constant love of holy poverty. Seeing he was come to the end of his
course, he repeated those words of the psalmist: I have rejoiced in those things
which have been said to me. We shall go into the house of the Lord. Having said these words, he rose upon
his knees, and stooping in that posture, calmly expired on the 18th of October,
in the year 1562, of his age sixty-three. St. Teresa, after mentioning his
happy death, says, “Since his departure our Lord has been pleased to let me
enjoy more of him than I did when he was alive: he has given me advice and
counsel in many things, and I have frequently seen him in very great glory. The
first time that he appeared to me, he said, ‘O happy penance, which hath
obtained me so great a reward!’ with many other things. A year before he died,
he appeared to me when we were at a distance from one another, and I understood
that he was to die, and I advertized him of it. When he gave up the ghost he
appeared to me, and told me that he was going to rest. Behold here the severe
penance of his life ending in so much glory, that methinks he comforts me now
much more than when he was here. Our Lord told me once that men should ask
nothing in his name, wherein he would not hear them.—I have recommended many
things to him, that he might beg them of our Lord, and I have always found them
granted.” 5 St.
Peter was beatified by Gregory XV. in 1622, and canonized by Clement IX. in
1669.
We admire in the saints the
riches and happiness of which they were possessed in the inestimable treasure
of the divine love. They attained to, and continually improved this grace in
their souls by the exercise of heavenly contemplation and a perfect spirit of
prayer; and laid the foundation of this spiritual tower by a sincere spirit of
humility and penance. It costs nothing for a man to say that he desires to love
God; but he lies to his own soul, unless he strive to die to himself. The
senses must be restrained, and taught to obey, and the heart purged from
sensual and inordinate attachments before it can be moulded anew, rendered
spiritual, and inflamed with the chaste affections of pure and perfect love.
This is the great work of divine grace in weak impure creatures; but the
conditions are, that perfect humility and penance prepare the way, and be the
constant attendants of this love. How imperfect is it in our souls, if it is
there at all! and how much is it debased by a mixture of sensual affections, and
the poisonous stench of self-love not sufficiently vanquished and extinguished,
because we neglect these means of grace! A sensual man cannot conceive those
things which belong to God.
Note 1. He lays down this
fundamental rule, that as the perfection of virtue consists in the purity and
fervour of our love of God, our aim and all our endeavours must be levelled at
this mark. The first and chief condition is, that by crucifying all inordinate
desires, and subduing our passions, we calm and regulate our interior, ground
our hearts in holy peace, plant in them the deepest sentiments of humility,
meekness, charity, and every virtue: and be solicitous and careful that all our
exercises and actions be animated by the interior spirit, and have the root and
principle of these virtues in the heart; for austerities are not only lost, but
even become pernicious, unless they spring from, and are grounded in the
interior sentiment or spirit. Next to our care to extirpate the seeds of
vicious and earthly affections, we must study to perform all our duties with
affection and sweetness, loving the duties themselves, and doing nothing by
constraint or violence; a circumstance capitally contrary to interior peace. It
is necessary that we shun all disturbance of mind and irregular passion, keep
our souls in a constant state of serenity and peace, and always have God before
our eyes, without much regard to please any other but him alone. If any
disturbance begins to arise in us, we must instantly fly to God, turning our
hearts to him in holy prayer, as Jesus in the garden returned thrice to
prostrate himself before his heavenly Father. A city is not built in a day; and
this is no less an undertaking than to build a house for God, and a temple for
his Holy Spirit, though he himself be the principal architect. The corner-stone
and chief foundation of this building is humility. “Desire therefore,” says the
saint, “to be contemned and vilified by the whole world, and never to follow
your own will and inclinations: lay all your desires before God, begging that
only his will be done, and that it alone may reign in you, without any alloy of
your own will. Whatever withdraws you from humility, let the pretence be ever
so specious, is a false prophet, and a ravenous wolf, which, under the cover of
a sheep’s skin, comes to devour what you have gathered with much time and
industry.” Next to the care of humility, he recommends perfect self-denial; and
gives the third place to constant recollection; adding this caution, that we must
not suffer a zeal for the souls of others to hurt our own, by being made a
pretext for neglecting any of these practices. For the comfort of those who
labour under interior trials and scruples, the saint observes, that God
frequently permits such for the advancement of a soul in humility and purity of
heart. The tranquillity which St. Peter so strongly recommends as the
preparation fitting a soul to be made the abode of the Holy Ghost, is not a
state of inaction; for though the soul be neither darkened with the clouds, nor
ruffled with the storms of inordinate passions, fears, or desires, she is all
action, and all fire, being penetrated with the deepest sentiments, and
employed in the most ardent acts of sweet love, hope, compunction, holy fear,
and all other virtues. [back]
Note 3. Hippocrates, for reasons of health, allows no constitution at any time
above seven, or at most eight hours for sleep. Many can accustom themselves to
be satisfied with six, or even five, some with three or four hours sleep,
without prejudice. Very great abstemiousness makes very little sleep required.
Devout servants of God regret the loss of any momenta of this short life which
they can employ in the divine praises, or in tears of compunction, which
sacrifice, by watchings in the silence of the night, becomes more acceptable to
God. Watchings, moreover, are a part of penance, and subdue the body more than
fasts. But the extraordinary watchings and fasts of some saints, who were
conducted by an uncommon impulse of the Holy Ghost, can only be proposed as
patterns for imitation at a very great distance; and discretion is a necessary
condition in mortification. However, the difficulties or impossibility which
many apprehend in embracing a penitential course according to their
circumstances, are generally imaginary only, and arise from shadows and
groundless fears, which sloth and sensuality create. Such a course, undertaken
heartily, and with resolution and fervour, will not be found hard; but
everything wears a frightful face to those who have not courage to set their
hands to work, as a coward starts at shadows. Mortification in little things,
if constant, and accompanied with a spirit of perfect self-denial, sincere
humility, and a desire of concealing itself from the eyes of others, may be of
great efficacy, without the danger of being observed by others. [back]
Note 4. Hippocrates, for reasons of health, allows no constitution at any time
above seven, or at most eight hours for sleep. Many can accustom themselves to
be satisfied with six, or even five, some with three or four hours sleep,
without prejudice. Very great abstemiousness makes very little sleep required.
Devout servants of God regret the loss of any momenta of this short life which
they can employ in the divine praises, or in tears of compunction, which
sacrifice, by watchings in the silence of the night, becomes more acceptable to
God. Watchings, moreover, are a part of penance, and subdue the body more than
fasts. But the extraordinary watchings and fasts of some saints, who were
conducted by an uncommon impulse of the Holy Ghost, can only be proposed as
patterns for imitation at a very great distance; and discretion is a necessary
condition in mortification. However, the difficulties or impossibility which
many apprehend in embracing a penitential course according to their
circumstances, are generally imaginary only, and arise from shadows and
groundless fears, which sloth and sensuality create. Such a course, undertaken
heartily, and with resolution and fervour, will not be found hard; but
everything wears a frightful face to those who have not courage to set their hands
to work, as a coward starts at shadows. Mortification in little things, if
constant, and accompanied with a spirit of perfect self-denial, sincere
humility, and a desire of concealing itself from the eyes of others, may be of
great efficacy, without the danger of being observed by others. [back]
Rev.
Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume X: October. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
St. Peter of Alcántara
Born at Alcántara, Spain, 1499; died 18 Oct., 1562. His father, Peter Garavita, was the governor
of the place, and his mother was of the noble family of Sanabia. After a
course of grammar and philosophy in his native town, he was sent, at
the age of fourteen, to the University of Salamanca. Returning home, he became a Franciscan in the convent of the Stricter Observance at Manxaretes 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 following
year made guardian of the convent of St. Mary of the Angels at Robredillo. A few years later he
began 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
"Discalced 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 province in 1538, Peter set to work at once. At the chapter ofPlasencia in 1540 he drew up the
Constitutions of the Stricter Observants, but his severe ideas met with such opposition
that he renounced the office of provincial and retired with 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,
otherfriars 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 Spain in 1553 he spent two
more years in solitude, and then journeyed barefoot to Rome, and obtained permission of Julius III to found some poor convents in Spain under the jurisdiction of the general of theConventuals. Convents were established at Pedrosa, Plasencia, and elsewhere; in 1556 they were made acommissariat,
with Peter as superior, and in 1561, a province under the title of St. Joseph. Not discouraged 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, John of Avila, and Ven. Louis of Granada. In St. Teresa, Peter perceived a soul chosen of God for a great work, and
her success in the reform of Carmelwas
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 miraclesand 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 ecstasy. 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 numerous miracles through his intercession and by his very presence. He wasbeatified by Gregory XV in 1622, and canonized by Clement IX in 1669. Besides the Constitutions of the StricterObservants and many letters on spiritual subjects, especially to St. Teresa, he composed a short
treatise onprayer, which has been translated into all the languages of Europe. His feast is 19 Oct. (See ST. PASCAL BAYLON; ST. PETER BAPTIST; JAPANESE MARTYRS;
[Note: In 1826, St. Peter of Alcántara was named Patron of Brazil, and in 1962 (the fourth centenary of his
death), of Estremadura. Because of the reform of the general Roman calendar in 1969, his feast on 19 October is
observed only in local and particular liturgical calendars.]
Sources
Lives by JOHN OF SANTA MARIA, Min. Obs. Ale. Chron.
Prov. S. Jos., 1, I; and MARCHESIO (Rome, 1667); PAULO, Vita S. Petri Alc.
(Rome, 1669); WADDING, Annales, an. 1662; LEO, Lives of the Saints and Blessed
of the Three Orders of St. Francis, IV (Taunton, 1888); Acta SS., Oct., VIII,
636 sq.
Reagan, Nicholas. "St. Peter of
Alcántara." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New
York: Robert Appleton Company,1911. 2 Apr. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11770c.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for
New Advent by Herman F. Holbrook. O Saint Peter, and all ye holy Priests and Levites, pray for us.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of
New York.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11770c.htm
Peter of Alcántara, OFM (RM)
Born at Alcántara, Estremadura, Spain, in 1499; died at Arenas, 1562; canonized in 1669.
Di lui, la stessa Santa Teresa d'Avila scrisse: "Che modello di virtù era nel fratello Pietro d'Alcantara! Il mondo d'oggi non è più capace di una tale perfezione. Si dice che i Santi sono più deboli di una volta, e che noi non siamo più come i cristiani del tempo passato. Quest'uomo santo è stato del nostro tempo, ma il suo fervore era robusto come quello di una volta! Così egli teneva il mondo sotto i piedi. Che coraggio ha dato il Signore a questo santo, per fare quarantasette anni di così aspra penitenza!".
Da queste parole si capisce come San Pietro d'Alcantara fosse un uomo soprattutto di penitenza e di preghiera. La stessa Santa Teresa accenna ai rigori in mezzo ai quali trascorse gran parte della sua esistenza: quelli dei dormire, per esempio, o meglio del non dormire; o quelli dei mangiare, o meglio del digiunare. Pietro era nato ad Alcantara, piccola città dell'Estremadura, ai confini con il Portogallo, nel 1499. A sedici anni prese l'abito di San Francesco e per tutta la vìta volle riportare l'Ordine al rigore della prima Regola.
Cercava di dare l'esempio della più severa penitenza e della più dura povertà. Non meraviglia se incontrò in molti confratelli un'accanita resistenza. Non tutti avevano la sua tempra di penitente.
Un giorno andò a trovarlo un religioso di un altro Ordine. Lo trovò dentro una grotta nell'orto, nudo, con addosso il solo mantelletto. " Come mai siete vestito così poco decentemente? ", gli chiese l'ospite. Il Santo si scusò: " Oh, padre mio, leggete il Vangelo. C'è scritto di avere soltanto una tunica. Ho lavato la mia pochi momenti fa, e l'ho stesa su quella pietra. Appena sarà un po' asciugata, me la rimetterò addosso ".
L'Imperatore Carlo V, il conquistatore del mondo, lo avrebbe voluto per confessore. Il francescano gli si gettò ai piedi, e baciandogli la mano, disse: " Vostra Maestà cercherà certamente di fare la volontà di Dio. Se io non tornerò più, vorrà dire che Dio non ha voluto che io accettassi questa carica ". E non si fece più rivedere.
Morì, dolcemente, il 18 ottobre 1562. Santa Teresa scrisse di avere avuto più volte la visione del penitente nella gloria di quell'eterna patria celeste da lui desiderata e conquistata con la penitenza.
La Famiglia Francescana lo celebra il 19 ottobre.
Peter of Alcántara, OFM (RM)
Born at Alcántara, Estremadura, Spain, in 1499; died at Arenas, 1562; canonized in 1669.
Sixteenth century
Spain provided the Church with a wealth of heroes--most of whom seemed to know
one another. I hope you enjoy this story of a man who truly fell in love with
God at an early age.
Peter Garavito's
father, who was a lawyer and governor of the province, died in 1513 and two
years later, after studying law in Salamanca, 16-year-old Peter entered the
Observant Franciscans at Manxarretes (Manjaretes). At 22 he was sent to Badajoz
to found a friary.
He was ordained at
the age of 25 (1524), and preached missions in Spain and Portugal. After
serving as superior at Robredillo, Plasencia, and Estremadura, Peter finally
had his request for solitude granted with an appointment to the friary at Lapa,
though he was also named its superior. For a time he served as chaplain to the
court of King John III of Portugal. This period of his life is uneventful, but
all the time he was longing for a yet more rigorous following of the Franciscan
rule.
After he was
elected provincial for Saint Gabriel at Estremadura in 1538, he was able to
take definite steps to begin the reform, but his efforts were not well received
during the provincial chapter at Placensia in 1540. So, he resigned as minister
provincial. For two years (1542-44) he lived as a hermit with Friar Martin of
Saint Mary on Arabida Mountain near Lisbon and was named superior of Palhaes
community for novices when numerous friars were attracted to their way of life.
During that period he had become convinced of the need for a vigorous Catholic
reform, a Counter-Reformation with which to oppose the Protestant Reformation.
Unable to secure
approval for a stricter congregation of friars from his provincial, his idea
was accepted by the bishop of Coria. Finally, with the approval of Pope Julius
III, c. 1556, he founded the Reformed Friars Minor of Spain, usually called the
Alcatarine Franciscans, which established not only monasteries but also Houses
of Retreat where anyone could go and try to live according to the Rule of Saint
Francis. The friars lived in small groups, in great poverty and austerity,
going barefoot, abstaining from meat and wine, spending much time in solitude
and contemplation.
Three years later,
in 1559, the new order was enlarged with the addition of a new province, that
of Saint Joseph. But the Reformed Franciscans failed to win the support of the
other Franciscans; Conventuals and Observants, both jealous of their
privileges, continued to quarrel over the inheritance of Saint Francis.
At the time of his
death in 1562, Saint Peter was still uncertain of the future of his work, which
had been placed under the Conventuals. But the example which he set was
followed by Saint Teresa of Ávila and there was thus born Saint Joseph of
Ávila, the first Reformed Carmel in Spain. Even if Peter's work was surpassed
by that of Saint Teresa, it was instrumental in releasing in Spain, and then
throughout Europe, a movement of vigorous revival which gave strength to the
Church at a time when it was sorely needed.
Teresa and Peter
were intimate friends for the last four years of her life. After they met in
1560, he became her confessor, advisor, and admirer. His ferocious and almost
unbelievable asceticism is not myth, but rather described by Teresa in a
celebrated chapter of her autobiography. She wrote with awe that his penances
were "incomprehensible to the human mind." They had reduced him, she
tells us, to a condition in which he looked as if "he had been made of the
roots of trees."
He practiced
asceticism from the age of 16 until his death, opposing a will of iron against
the doubtlessly acute temptations of his body. He slept for no more than two
hours each night, and even then he did not lie down, but slept either in a hard
wooden chair or kneeling against the wall. His cell was no more than 4- ½ feet
long. He ate extremely little, at first going for three days, and then for a
week without food. When he did eat, he destroyed the taste of the food by
sprinkling it with ashes or earth. He never drank wine.
He never wore
shoes, or even sandals, and went about barefoot. He never wore a hat or a hood,
and exposed his head to the icy rains of winter or the scorching sun of summer.
He wore a hair shirt, and though he possessed a cloak, he never wore it in cold
weather. He went everywhere on foot, or at the most would ride on a donkey.
Consumed with
fever, he refused a glass of water, saying "Jesus was ready to die of
thirst on the cross." For three years he never raised his eyes from the
ground. And yet, "With all his holiness," wrote Saint Teresa of
Ávila, "he was very kindly, though spare of speech except when asked a
question, and then he was delightful, for he had a keen understanding."
Such asceticism may
seem self-centered and excessive to us today. Some may think that there are
sufficient mortifications in the normal course of life without adding to them.
But asceticism has been in the Church since the days of the Desert Fathers, and
though the practices of the ascetics might seem horrible, unnecessary, or even
ridiculous to us, the Church has never reproved them; indeed, they are to be
recommended for the active as well as for the contemplative. And who is to say
that the present unhappy state of the world would not be greatly changed for
the better if people did follow ascetic practices?
Peter's asceticism,
however, is only one aspect of his life of great holiness and incessant labor
devoted to the restoration in Spain of the primitive Franciscan rule.
Saint Peter was one
of the great Spanish mystics and his Treatise on Prayer and Meditation (1926
English translation) was said by Pope Gregory XV to be "a shining light to
lead souls to heaven and a doctrine prompted by the Holy Spirit." This
treatise was used later by Saint Francis de Sales. His mystical works, intended
purely for edification, follow traditional lines.
"He had
already appeared to me twice since his death," wrote Teresa of Ávila,
"and I witnessed the greatness of his glory. Far from causing me the least
fear, the sight of him filled me with joy. He always showed himself to me in
the state of a body which was glorious and radiant with happiness; and I,
seeing him, was filled with the same happiness. I remember that when he first
appeared to me he said, to show me the extent of his felicity, 'Blessed be the
penitence which has brought me such a reward'" (Attwater, Benedictines,
Delaney, Encyclopedia, Underhill).
In art he is
depicted as a Franciscan in radiance levitated before the Cross, angels carry a
girdle of nails, chain, and discipline. Sometimes he is shown (1) walking on
water with a companion, a star over his head; (2) praying before a crucifix,
discipline (scourge), and hairshirt; or (3) with a dove at his ear, cross and
discipline in the picture. He is venerated at Alcántara and Pedrosa (Roeder).
In 1862, he was
declared the patron of Brazil (Delaney).
San Pietro d'Alcantara
Alcantara, Estremadura, Spagna, 1499 - Estremadura,
Spagna, 18 ottobre 1562
Nasce ad
Alcantara, piccola città dell'Estremadura, ai confini con il Portogallo, nel
1499. A sedici anni prende l'abito da francescano, Ordine che in tutto il suo
operato volle riportare al rigore della prima regola. Durante la sua vita da
l'esempio della più severa penitenza e della più dura povertà. Ma talvolta
questo stile si imbatte con la resistenza di alcuni confrantelli. Il suo rigore
è testimoniato da un aneddoto in cui si narra della visita di un altro
religioso che lo trovò dentro una grotta nell'orto, nudo, con addosso il solo
mantelletto. Davanti alla perplessità del visitatore il santo si scusò: «Nel
Vangelo c'è scritto di avere soltanto una tunica. Ho lavato la mia pochi
momenti fa. Appena sarà un po' asciugata, me la rimetterò addosso». L'Imperatore Carlo V lo avrebbe voluto per confessore ma egli rifiutò. Pietro morì nel 1562 non senza
aver appoggiato santa Teresa d'Avila nella sua opera di riforma delle
Carmelitane, che di lui lasciò una testimonianza viva nei suoi scritti. (Avvenire)"
Martirologio
Romano: Ad Arenas nella Castiglia in Spagna, san Pietro di Alcántara, sacerdote
dell’Ordine dei Frati Minori, che, insigne per il dono del consiglio e per la
sua vita di penitenza e di austerità, rinnovò la disciplina dell’osservanza nei
conventi dell’Ordine in Spagna e fu consigliere di santa Teresa di Gesù nella
riforma dell’Ordine Carmelitano.
Santa
Teresa d'Avila venne chiamata l''onor di Spagna'. Ma occorre aggiungere che
ella divise tale onore con un suo conterraneo e contemporaneo, San Pietro
d'Alcantara.
Di lui, la stessa Santa Teresa d'Avila scrisse: "Che modello di virtù era nel fratello Pietro d'Alcantara! Il mondo d'oggi non è più capace di una tale perfezione. Si dice che i Santi sono più deboli di una volta, e che noi non siamo più come i cristiani del tempo passato. Quest'uomo santo è stato del nostro tempo, ma il suo fervore era robusto come quello di una volta! Così egli teneva il mondo sotto i piedi. Che coraggio ha dato il Signore a questo santo, per fare quarantasette anni di così aspra penitenza!".
Da queste parole si capisce come San Pietro d'Alcantara fosse un uomo soprattutto di penitenza e di preghiera. La stessa Santa Teresa accenna ai rigori in mezzo ai quali trascorse gran parte della sua esistenza: quelli dei dormire, per esempio, o meglio del non dormire; o quelli dei mangiare, o meglio del digiunare. Pietro era nato ad Alcantara, piccola città dell'Estremadura, ai confini con il Portogallo, nel 1499. A sedici anni prese l'abito di San Francesco e per tutta la vìta volle riportare l'Ordine al rigore della prima Regola.
Cercava di dare l'esempio della più severa penitenza e della più dura povertà. Non meraviglia se incontrò in molti confratelli un'accanita resistenza. Non tutti avevano la sua tempra di penitente.
Un giorno andò a trovarlo un religioso di un altro Ordine. Lo trovò dentro una grotta nell'orto, nudo, con addosso il solo mantelletto. " Come mai siete vestito così poco decentemente? ", gli chiese l'ospite. Il Santo si scusò: " Oh, padre mio, leggete il Vangelo. C'è scritto di avere soltanto una tunica. Ho lavato la mia pochi momenti fa, e l'ho stesa su quella pietra. Appena sarà un po' asciugata, me la rimetterò addosso ".
L'Imperatore Carlo V, il conquistatore del mondo, lo avrebbe voluto per confessore. Il francescano gli si gettò ai piedi, e baciandogli la mano, disse: " Vostra Maestà cercherà certamente di fare la volontà di Dio. Se io non tornerò più, vorrà dire che Dio non ha voluto che io accettassi questa carica ". E non si fece più rivedere.
Morì, dolcemente, il 18 ottobre 1562. Santa Teresa scrisse di avere avuto più volte la visione del penitente nella gloria di quell'eterna patria celeste da lui desiderata e conquistata con la penitenza.
La Famiglia Francescana lo celebra il 19 ottobre.
Fonte:
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Archivio
Parrocchia
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Œuvres Spirituelles de Saint Pierre d’Alcantara, Traduites en français par le P. Marcel Bouix :
