Saint Pierre de Vérone
Prêtre dominicain martyr
(+ 1252)
Issu d'une famille
cathare de Lombardie, il entra chez les dominicains de Bologne où il avait
suivi les cours de la célèbre Université. Il voulut combattre les erreurs au
milieu desquelles il avait vécu sa jeunesse. Il fut l'un des plus redoutables
inquisiteurs. Il s'appuyait sur les confréries mariales pour mieux encadrer la
masse des fidèles. Son œuvre à Milan comme à Florence fut immense et il
s'attira nombre d'inimitiés. Un jour qu'il se rendait de Côme à Milan, il fut
attaqué par un certain Carino qui le tua d'un coup de faucille dans le crâne et
l'acheva en lui enfonçant son épée dans le cou. Plus tard, Carino qui avait
réussi à s'enfuir de la prison, entra chez les dominicains, saisi de repentir
et demanda à y expier sa faute. Il devait d'ailleurs mourir lui-même en odeur
de sainteté. Deux ans après sa mort, Pierre de Vérone était canonisé pour
exalter ce héros de la lutte contre l'hérésie.
Voir aussi 'Pierre
de Vérone' sur le site de la province
des dominicains du Canada.
Près de Milan, en 1252,
la passion de saint Pierre de Vérone, prêtre de l’Ordre des Prêcheurs et martyr.
Né de parents nobles mais manichéens, il embrassa, encore enfant, la foi
catholique et reçut, adolescent, l’habit des frères prêcheurs des mains de
saint Dominique. Il mit ensuite toute son ardeur à réfuter les hérésies et,
frappé au crâne par des conjurés sur la route de Côme à Milan, il écrivit de
son sang le début du Credo.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/6722/Saint-Pierre-de-Verone.html
St Pierre de Vérone,
martyr
Né à Vérone dans ne
famille cathare en 1206. Nommé inquisiteur en 1232. Martyr près de Milan en
1252. Canonisé en 1253. Fête en 1586.
Leçons des Matines avant
1960
Quatrième leçon. Pierre,
né à Vérone de parents infectés des erreurs des Manichéens, combattit les
hérésies presque dès son enfance. A l’âge de sept ans, comme il fréquentait les
écoles, se voyant un jour demander par son oncle paternel qui était hérétique
ce qu’il y avait appris, il répondit qu’il y avait été instruit du symbole de
la foi chrétienne : et, ni les caresses ni les menaces de son père et de son
oncle, ne purent jamais ébranler sa constance dans la foi. Parvenu à
l’adolescence, il vint à Bologne pour y continuer ses études ; c’est là,
qu’appelé par le Saint-Esprit à un genre de vie plus élevé, il entra dans
l’Ordre des Frères Prêcheurs.
Cinquième leçon. Ses
vertus brillèrent avec un grand éclat en religion ; il conserva son corps et
son âme dans une telle pureté, que jamais il ne se sentit souillé d’aucun péché
mortel. Il macérait sa chair par des jeûnes et des veilles, et il exerçait son
esprit par la contemplation des choses divines. Il s’appliquait assidûment à
procurer le salut des âmes, et réfutait les hérétiques avec une force qui était
un don particulier de la grâce. Il exerçait, en prêchant, une tell influence,
qu’une multitude innombrable d’hommes accouraient pour l’entendre, e que
beaucoup se convertissaient et faisaient pénitence.
Sixième leçon. L’ardeur
de sa foi l’enflammai tellement qu’il souhaitait de subir la mort pour elle, et
demandait constamment cette grâce à Dieu. Il fut exaucé les hérétiques le
firent mourir ainsi qu’il l’avait prédit peu auparavant dans un sermon. Comme
il exerçait la charge d’inquisiteur et revenait de Côme à Milan, un impie
sicaire lui déchargea sur la tête deux coups d’épée. Le Saint, à demi-mort,
prononça avant de rendre le dernier soupir le symbole de la foi qu’il avait dès
l’enfance confessé avec un courage déjà viril : le meurtrier, le frappant de
nouveau, lui perça le côté de son arme, et Pierre s’en alla au ciel recevoir la
palme du martyre, l’an du salut mil deux cent cinquante-deux. Son nom devint
bientôt illustre par beaucoup de miracles, et c’est pourquoi Innocent IV
l’inscrivit l’année suivante au nombre des saints Martyrs.
Peter of Verona, circa 1320, 196.5 x 121.5, Museu Nacional d'Art de
Catalunya, https://www.museunacional.cat/en/colleccio/altarpiece-saint-peter-martyr/anonim-arago/015820-000
Dom Guéranger, l’Année
Liturgique
Le héros que la sainte
Église députe aujourd’hui vers Jésus ressuscité, a combattu si vaillamment que
le martyre a couronné jusqu’à son nom. Le peuple chrétien l’appelle saint
Pierre Martyr, en sorte que son nom et sa victoire ne se séparent jamais. Immolé
par un bras hérétique, il est le noble tribut que la chrétienté du XIIIe siècle
offrit au Rédempteur. Jamais triomphe ne recueillit de plus solennelles
acclamations. Au siècle précédent, la palme cueillie par Thomas de Cantorbéry
fut saluée avec transport par les peuples qui n’aimaient rien tant alors que la
liberté de l’Église ; celle de Pierre fut l’objet d’une ovation pareille. Rien
ne surpasse l’enthousiasme du grand Innocent IV, dans la Bulle pour la
canonisation du martyr. « La foi chrétienne appuyée sur tant de prodiges,
s’écrie-t-il, brille aujourd’hui d’un éclat nouveau. Voici qu’un nouvel athlète
vient par son triomphe raviver nos allégresses. Les trophées de la victoire
éclatent à nos regards, le sang répandu élève sa voix, la trompette du martyre
retentit, la terre arrosée d’un sang généreux fait entendre son langage, la
contrée qui a produit un si noble guerrier proclame sa gloire, et jusqu’au
glaive parricide qui l’a immolé acclame sa victoire. Dans sa joie,
l’Église-mère entonne au Seigneur un cantique nouveau, et le peuple chrétien va
trouver matière à des chants d’allégresse qui n’avaient pas retenti encore. Un
fruit délicieux cueilli dans le jardin de la foi vient d’être placé sur la
table du Roi éternel. Une grappe choisie dans la vigne de l’Église a rempli de
son suc généreux le calice royal ; la branche dont elle a été détachée par le
fer était des plus adhérentes au cep divin. L’Ordre des Prêcheurs a produit une
rose vermeille dont le parfum réjouit le Roi céleste. Une pierre choisie dans
l’Église militante, taillée et polie par l’épreuve, a mérité sa place dans
l’édifice du ciel [1]. »
Ainsi s’exprimait le
Pontife suprême, et les peuples répondaient en célébrant avec transport le
nouveau martyr. Sa fête était gardée comme les solennités antiques par la
suspension des travaux, et les fidèles accouraient aux églises des
Frères-Prêcheurs, portant des rameaux qu’ils présentaient pour être bénits en
souvenir du triomphe de Pierre Martyr. Cet usage s’est maintenu jusqu’à nos
temps dans l’Europe méridionale, et les rameaux bénits en ce jour par les
Dominicains sont regardés comme une protection pour les maisons où on les
conserve avec respect.
Quel motif avait donc
enflammé le zèle du peuple chrétien pour la mémoire de cette victime d’un odieux
attentat ? C’est que Pierre avait succombé en travaillant à la défense de la
foi, et les peuples n’avaient alors rien de plus cher que la foi. Pierre avait
reçu la charge de rechercher les hérétiques manichéens, qui depuis longtemps
infectaient le Milanais de leurs doctrines perverses et de leurs mœurs aussi
odieuses que leurs doctrines. Sa fermeté, son intégrité dans l’accomplissement
d’une telle mission, le désignaient à la haine des Patarins ; et lorsqu’il
tomba victime de son noble courage, un cri d’admiration et de reconnaissance
s’éleva dans la chrétienté. Rien donc de plus dépourvu de vérité que les
déclamations des ennemis de l’Église et de leurs imprudents fauteurs, contre
les poursuites que le droit public des nations catholiques avait décrétées pour
déjouer et atteindre les ennemis de la foi. Dans ces siècles, aucun tribunal ne
fut jamais plus populaire que celui qui était chargé de protéger la sainte
croyance, et de réprimer ceux qui avaient entrepris de l’attaquer. Que l’Ordre
des Frères-Prêcheurs, chargé principalement de cette haute magistrature,
jouisse donc, sans orgueil comme sans faiblesse, de l’honneur qu’il eut de
l’exercer si longtemps pour le salut du peuple chrétien. Que de fois ses
membres ont rencontre une mort glorieuse dans l’accomplissement de leur austère
devoir ! Saint Pierre Martyr est le premier des martyrs que ce saint Ordre a
fournis pour cette grande cause ; mais les fastes dominicains en produisent un
grand nombre d’autres, héritiers de son dévouement et émules de sa couronne. La
poursuite des hérétiques n’est plus qu’un fait de l’histoire ; mais, à nous
catholiques, il n’est pas permis de la considérer autrement que ne la considère
l’Église. Aujourd’hui elle nous prescrit d’honorer comme martyr un de ses
saints qui a rencontré le trépas en marchant à l’encontre des loups qui
menaçaient les brebis du Seigneur ; ne serions-nous pas coupables envers notre
mère, si nous osions apprécier autrement qu’elle le mérite des combats qui ont
valu à Pierre la couronne immortelle ? Loin donc de nos cœurs catholiques cette
lâcheté qui n’ose accepter les courageux efforts que rirent nos pères pour nous
conserver le plus précieux des héritages ! Loin de nous cette facilité puérile
à croire aux calomnies des hérétiques et des prétendus philosophes contre une
institution qu’ils ne peuvent naturellement que détester ! Loin de nous cette
déplorable confusion d’idées qui met sur le même pied la vérité et l’erreur, et
qui, de ce que l’erreur ne saurait avoir de droits, a osé conclure que la vérité
n’en a pas à réclamer !
Nous empruntons les
Antiennes et le Répons suivants au Bréviaire dominicain, à la louange du
glorieux champion de la foi.
Ant. Du sein de la fumée
la flamme lumineuse s’élance ; la rose fleurit sur les épines du buisson :
ainsi Pierre, docteur et martyr, naît d’une famille infidèle.
Ant. D’abord soldat dans
l’armée des Prêcheurs, il brille aujourd’hui dans les rangs de la milice
céleste.
Ant. Son âme fut tout
angélique, sa langue féconde, sa vie apostolique, sa mort précieuse.
V/. Tandis qu’il est à la
recherche des renards de Samson, il est immole par un bras impie ; un meurtrier
frappe sa tête sacrée ; le sang du juste est répandu : * Ainsi le martyr
cueille la palme du triomphe, en succombant pour la foi.
V/. Athlète invincible,
il confesse encore en mourant la loi pour laquelle il verse son sang. * Ainsi
le martyr cueille la palme triomphale, en succombant pour la foi.
Vous avez vaincu, ô
Pierre ! et votre zèle pour la défense de la foi a obtenu sa récompense. Vous
désiriez ardemment répandre votre sang pour la plus sainte des causes, et
confirmer par votre sacrifice les fidèles du Christ dans la fermeté de leur
croyance. Le Seigneur a comblé vos vieux, et il a voulu que votre immolation
coïncidât avec les têtes de notre divin Agneau pascal, que vous suivez dans son
triomphe comme vous l’avez suivi dans son immolation. Le fer parricide
s’abattit sur votre tète vénérable, votre sang généreux coulait en ruisseaux
sur la terre, et de votre doigt vous traciez encore sur le sable, en mourant,
les premières paroles du Symbole pour lequel vous donniez votre vie.
Protecteur du peuple
chrétien, quel autre mobile que celui de la charité vous dirigea dans vos
travaux ? Soit que votre parole vive et lumineuse reconquit sur l’erreur les
âmes abusées, soit que marchant droit à l’ennemi, votre vigueur le forçât à
fuir loin des pâturages qu’il venait empoisonner, vous n’eûtes qu’un but, celui
de préserver les faibles de la séduction. Combien d’âmes simples auraient joui
avec délices de la vérité divine que la sainte Église faisait arriver jusqu’à
elles, et qui, misérablement trompées par les prédicants de l’erreur, sans
défense contre le sophisme et le mensonge, perdent le don de la foi et
s’éteignent dans l’angoisse ou dans la dépravation ! La société catholique
avait prévenu de tels dangers. Elle ne souffrait pas que l’héritage conquis au
prix du sang des martyrs fût en proie aux ennemis jaloux qui avaient résolu de
s’en emparer. Elle savait que l’attrait de l’erreur se rencontre souvent au
fond du cœur de l’homme déchu, et que la vérité, immuable en elle-même, n’est
assurée de demeurer en possession de notre intelligence qu’autant qu’elle y est
défendue par la science ou par la foi : la science qui est le partage du petit
nombre, la foi contre laquelle l’erreur conspire sans cesse, sous les
apparences de la vérité. Dans les âges chrétiens, on eût regardé comme coupable
autant qu’absurde de garantir à l’erreur la liberté qui n’est due qu’à la
vérité, et les pouvoirs publics se considéraient comme investis du devoir de
veiller au salut des faibles, en écartant d’eux les occasions de chute, comme
le père de famille prend soin d’éloigner de ses enfants les périls qui leur
seraient d’autant plus funestes que leur inexpérience ne les soupçonne pas.
Obtenez-nous, ô saint
martyr, une estime toujours plus grande de ce don précieux de la foi qui nous
maintient dans le chemin du ciel. Veillez avec sollicitude à sa conservation en
nous et en tous ceux qui sont confiés à notre garde. L’amour de cette sainte
foi s’est refroidi chez plusieurs ; le contact de ceux qui ne croient pas les a
accoutumés à des complaisances de pensée et de parole qui les ont énervés.
Rappelez-les, ô Pierre, à ce zèle pour la vérité divine qui doit être le trait
principal du chrétien. Si, dans la société où ils vivent, tout conspire pour
égaliser les droits de l’erreur et ceux de la vérité, qu’ils se sentent
d’autant plus obligés à professer la vérité et à détester l’erreur. Réchauffez
donc en nous tous, ô saint martyr, l’ardeur de la foi, « sans laquelle il est
impossible à l’homme d’être agréable à Dieu [2] ». Rendez-nous délicats sur ce
point de première importance pour le salut, afin que, notre foi prenant
toujours de nouveaux accroissements, nous méritions de voir éternellement au
ciel ce que nous aurons cru fermement sur la terre.
[1] Constitution Magnis
et crebris du 9 des calendes d’avril 1253.
[2] Heb.XI, 6.
Bhx Cardinal
Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
Ce saint Dominicain (+
1252), martyr de la foi dans ses fonctions d’inquisiteur contre les hérétiques
manichéens, fut très honoré au XVe siècle en Italie, où l’on compte un bon
nombre d’autels et d’images en son honneur. L’introduction de sa fête dans le calendrier
de l’Église universelle remonte à Sixte-Quint, saint Pie V l’ayant omise dans
la nouvelle réforme du Bréviaire promulguée par lui. La messe est celle du
Commun des Martyrs au temps pascal : Protexisti, mais les collectes sont
propres. L’épître est celle du Commun des Martyrs hors du temps pascal ; elle a
été choisie non seulement parce qu’elle traite de la résurrection du Christ,
mais aussi parce que, décrivant la vie difficile, les persécutions et les
peines supportées par Paul et par Timothée dans la diffusion de la foi
chrétienne, elle trace aussi le programme de vie de tout véritable ouvrier
évangélique. Quasi male operans. Voilà l’idée que le monde se fait de l’apôtre
du Christ, et, sous cette imputation, il le condamne à mort. Paul observe toutefois
qu’on ne peut enchaîner la parole de Dieu. Le martyre est une semence de
nouveaux chrétiens, et pour un confesseur de la foi qui est mis à mort,
surgissent cent autres qui continuent son œuvre.
La foi est le trésor le
plus précieux non seulement pour chaque âme en particulier, mais aussi pour les
États et pour le monde en général. Dans les temps profondément religieux, tels
que le moyen âge, l’hérésie était considérée comme un crime contre la foi et
contre l’État et, après l’anathème de l’Église, elle était punie, par le juge
laïque, des peines les plus graves du code criminel. Quiconque a connaissance
des horreurs des guerres religieuses dues aux disciples de Luther en Allemagne,
aux Calvinistes et aux Huguenots en France, ne pourra pas ne pas louer la
prudente institution, par l’Église, de l’Inquisition, qui—sauf les déviations,
dans un but politique, imposées parle gouvernement espagnol — devait, dans
l’intention des papes, protéger l’unité religieuse et sociale de la chrétienté
tout entière.
C’est pourquoi la
répression de la propagande hérétique par les soins de l’Inquisition était
considérée vraiment comme un Sanctum Officium, puisque, sauvegardant le plus
grand bien que possèdent les peuples, c’est-à-dire la foi, elle éloignait des
États ces germes de haine, de révolutions et de guerres, qui, si souvent,
naissent de différends religieux.
Le martyr du Credo.
Saint Pierre. — Jour de
mort : 6 avril 1252. Tombeau : dans l’église Saint-Eustorgius, à Milan. Image :
On le représente en Dominicain, avec une large blessure à la tête et tenant une
épée. Vie : Saint Pierre, martyr, né à Vérone, vers 1205, de parents
hérétiques, entra dans l’ordre dominicain l’année de la mort de saint Dominique
(1221). Il fut un zélé prédicateur ; il convertit beaucoup d’hérétiques et
mourut martyr. Comme il n’était encore qu’un enfant de sept ans et fréquentait
l’école, son oncle qui était hérétique lui demanda un jour ce qu’on lui
apprenait. L’enfant répondit hardiment : « Le symbole des Apôtres ». Ni les
flatteries, ni les menaces de son père ou de son oncle ne purent ébranler la
fermeté de sa foi. — Près de mourir, il récita encore le symbole des Apôtres
que, dans son enfance, il avait professé avec tant de courage. Il reçut
immédiatement un nouveau coup de poignard et c’est ainsi qu’il conquit la
couronne du martyre, en 1252.
Pratique : Saint Pierre,
martyr, que nous célébrons, aujourd’hui, aurait écrit sur le sol, avec le sang
de ses blessures, le mot « Credo ». Que la profession de notre foi soit notre
sauvegarde dans la vie et dans la mort ! Nous devrions, de temps en temps,
méditer un article du Credo. Récitons-nous notre Credo ? Récitons-le avec une
ferveur particulière pendant la messe en songeant que, pour chaque mot, du sang
de martyr a coulé... Que le Credo, à chaque messe du dimanche, soit notre
martyre (c’est-à-dire notre témoignage) !
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/29-04-St-Pierre-de-Verone-martyr#nh2
Antonio Vivarini, Saint Peter of Verona Martyr Exorcizing a
Woman Possessed by a Devil, between 1440 and 1455, Art Institute of Chicago
LETTRE DU PAPE JEAN PAUL
II
AU CARDINAL MARTINI,
ARCHEVÊQUE DE MILAN,
À L'OCCASION DU 750ème
ANNIVERSAIRE
DU MARTYRE DE SAINT
PIERRE DE VÉRONE
A mon Vénéré Frère
Monsieur le Cardinal CARLO MARIA MARTINI Archevêque de Milan
1. J'ai appris avec
joie que l'Eglise ambrosienne et l'Ordre des Frères prêcheurs se préparent à
célébrer le 750ème anniversaire du martyre de saint Pierre de Vérone, religieux
dominicain assassiné à cause de sa foi, en même temps que son confrère, Frère
Domenico, le 6 avril 1252, samedi in albis, dans les environs de Seveso, alors
qu'il se rendait à Milan pour entreprendre une nouvelle mission
d'évangélisation et de défense de la foi catholique.
Cet anniversaire, qui
cette année aussi a lieu le premier samedi après Pâques, nous porte à
considérer avec admiration la figure et l'oeuvre de ce saint qui, attaché au
Christ, réalisa dans sa vie les paroles de l'Apôtre Paul: "Malheur à moi
si je n'annonçais pas l'Evangile" (1 Co 9, 16) et obtint à travers le
martyre la grâce de la pleine imitation de la Victime pascale.
En cette heureuse
circonstance, qui est le fruit de la fervente initiative de l'Archevêque de
Milan, je me réjouis avec lui, qui en son temps a promu cette canonisation et
auquel est confiée la garde de la dépouille mortelle et le lieu du martyre. Je
m'unis aussi cordialement aux Fils de saint Dominique, qui honorent en lui leur
premier confrère martyr, modèle pour toutes les personnes consacrées et pour
tous les chrétiens de notre époque également.
2. Toute la vie de
saint Pierre de Vérone se déroula sous le signe de la défense de la vérité
exprimée dans le "Credo" ou Symbole des Apôtres, qu'il commença à
réciter dès l'âge de sept ans, bien qu'il soit né dans une famille pervertie
par l'hérésie cathare, et qu'il continua à proclamer "jusqu'au dernier
instant" (Cf. Bulgarium Romanum, III, Augustae Taurinorum, 1858, p. 564).
La foi catholique enseignée dès l'enfance le protégea des dangers de
l'atmosphère universitaire de Bologne où, durant ses études, il rencontra saint
Dominique, dont il devint un fervent disciple, passant ensuite le reste de son
existence dans l'Ordre des Frères prêcheurs.
Après l'ordination
sacerdotale, diverses villes de l'Italie du Sud, de la Toscane, de la Romagne
et des Marches, ainsi que Rome elle-même, furent les témoins de son zèle
apostolique, qui s'exprimait principalement à travers le ministère de la
prédication et de la réconciliation. Prieur des Couvents d'Asti, de Piacenza et
de Côme, il étendit sa sollicitude pastorale aux religieuses cloîtrées, pour
lesquelles il fonda le Monastère dominicain de San Pietro in Campo Santo à
Milan.
Face aux dégâts provoqués
par l'hérésie, il se consacra avec attention à la formation chrétienne des
laïcs, en se faisant le promoteur, dans les capitales de Lombardie et de
Toscane, d'institutions visant à la défense de l'orthodoxie, à la diffusion du
culte de la Bienheureuse Vierge Marie et aux oeuvres de miséricorde. A
Florence, ensuite, il noua une profonde amitié spirituelle avec les sept Saints
fondateurs des Serviteurs de Marie, dont il devint un conseiller précieux.
3. Le 13 juin 1251,
mon vénéré Prédécesseur Innocent IV lui confia, alors qu'il était prieur à
Côme, le mandat spécial d'aller constater l'hérésie cathare à Crémone et,
l'automne suivant, il le nomma inquisiteur pour la ville et le territoire de
Milan et de Côme.
Ce devait être la
dernière mission du saint martyr, car elle devait le conduire à mourir pour la
foi catholique. Dans le cadre de cette charge importante, il intensifia la
prédication, annonçant l'Evangile du Christ et expliquant la sainte doctrine de
l'Eglise sans se préoccuper des menaces de mort qui lui parvenaient de
différents côtés.
Le zèle missionnaire et
l'obéissance le conduisirent souvent au siège de Saint-Ambroise, où il
expliquait devant des foules immenses les mystères du christianisme, soutenant
de nombreuses disputes publiques contre les chefs de l'hérésie cathare. Sa
prédication, nourrie d'une solide connaissance de l'Ecriture, s'accompagnait d'un
ardent témoignage de charité et fut confirmée par des miracles. A travers une
action apostolique inlassable, il suscitait partout la ferveur spirituelle,
encourageant une renaissance authentique de la vie chrétienne.
Malheureusement, le 6
avril 1252, alors que de Côme, où il avait célébré la Pâque avec sa communauté,
il se rendait à Milan dans le but d'accomplir le mandat que lui avait confié le
Vicaire du Christ, il fut tué par un sicaire à la solde des hérétiques, qui le
frappa à la tête avec une "faux", à Seveso, dans le territoire de
Farga, qui prit ensuite le nom du Martyr et où se dressent aujourd'hui un
sanctuaire et la paroisse qui lui est consacrée.
4. Saint Catherine
de Sienne remarque qu'à travers le martyre, le coeur de cet insigne défenseur
de la foi, brûlant de charité divine, continua à délivrer des "lumières
dans les ténèbres de nombreuses hérésies". Son assassin lui-même, Carino
da Balsamo, qu'il avait pardonné, se convertit et endossa ensuite l'habit
dominicain. On connaît la grandeur et l'intensité du choc provoqué par ce
terrible assassinat: l'écho ne s'en répandit pas seulement dans l'Ordre
dominicain et le diocèse de Milan, mais aussi en Italie et dans toute l'Europe
chrétienne. Les autorités milanaises, se faisant les interprètes de la
vénération unanime pour le Martyr, demandèrent au Pape Innocent IV sa
canonisation. Elle eut lieu à Pérouse, un peu moins d'un an après sa mort, en
mars 1253. Dans la Bulle, par laquelle il l'inscrivait dans l'Album des
martyrs, mon vénéré Prédecesseur faisait l'éloge de ses qualités:
"dévotion, humilité, obéissance, bienveillance, piété, patience,
charité". Et il le présentait comme un "amant fervent de la foi, son
éminent connaisseur et son encore plus ardent défenseur".
Grâce à l'Ordre
dominicain, le culte en l'honneur de saint Pierre de Vérone se diffusa
rapidement parmi le peuple chrétien, comme en attestent les nombreuses oeuvres
d'art qui évoquent sa foi intrépide et son martyre. Un témoignage singulier de
cette dévotion durable nous est offerte par le sanctuaire de Seveso et par la
Basilique Saint-Eustorge à Milan, où repose depuis le 7 avril 1252 la vénérée
dépouille mortelle de cet insigne Martyr.
Le Souverain Pontife
saint Pie V voulut lui consacrer une chapelle artistique dans la Torra Pia qui
fait aujourd'hui partie des Musées du Vatican. Mon saint Prédécesseur y
célébrait souvent le Sacrifice eucharistique. A partir de 1818, saint Pierre de
Vérone accompagne et soutient, par sa protection céleste, la formation des
séminaristes ambrosiens, puisque depuis cette date, une communauté du séminaire
diocésain a son siège dans l'ancien couvent de Seveso, adossé au sanctuaire qui
rappelle le martyre.
5. Sept cent
cinquante ans après sa mort, saint Pierre de Vérone, fidèle disciple de
l'unique Maître, qu'il a cherché sans trève dans le silence et dans la
contemplation, annoncé inlassablement et aimé jusqu'au don suprême de sa vie,
exhorte les chrétiens de notre temps à dépasser la tentation d'une tiède et
partielle adhésion à la foi de l'Eglise. Il invite chacun à recentrer son
existence, avec un engagement renouvelé, sur le Christ "qu'il faut
connaître, aimer, imiter, pour vivre en lui la vie trinitaire et pour
transformer avec lui l'histoire jusqu'à son achèvement dans la Jérusalem
céleste" (Novo millennio ineunte, n. 29). Saint Pierre indique et
repropose aux croyants le chemin de la sainteté, "ce haut degré de la vie
chrétienne ordinaire", pour que la communauté ecclésiale, les individus et
les familles s'orientent toujours dans cette direction (cf. ibid., n. 31).
Chaque chrétien, en suivant son exemple, est encouragé à résister aux illusions
du pouvoir et de la richesse pour chercher d'abord "son Royaume et sa
justice" (Mt 6, 33) et pour contribuer à l'instauration d'un ordre social
qui réponde toujours mieux aux exigences de la dignité de la personne.
Dans une société comme
celle d'aujourd'hui, où l'on ressent souvent une inquiétante rupture entre
l'Evangile et la culture, drame récurrent dans l'histoire du monde chrétien,
saint Pierre de Vérone témoigne qu'un tel écart ne peut être comblé que lorsque
les différentes composantes du Peuple de Dieu s'appliquent à devenir des
"cierges" qui resplendissent sur l'ensemble du candélabre, en
orientant nos frères vers le Christ, qui donne un sens ultime à la recherche et
aux attentes de l'homme.
Je forme le voeu que les
célébrations programmées en l'honneur de ce fils exemplaire de saint Dominique
soient une occasion de grâce, de ferveur spirituelle et d'un engagement
renouvelé à annoncer l'Evangile avec un courage intrépide et une joie toujours
nouvelle.
Avec de tels souhaits, je
vous donne la Bénédiction apostolique demandée, à vous, Vénéré Frère, ainsi
qu'au bien-aimé archidiocèse de Milan, à ceux qui se préparent au sacerdoce
dans le séminaire qui porte le nom du saint Martyr, à l'ordre des Fères
prêcheurs et à tous ceux qui se confient à l'intercession céleste de saint
Pierre de Vérone.
Du Vatican, le 25 mars
2002.
.jpg)
Antonio Vivarini, Das Feuerwunder des Hl.
Petrus Martyr vor dem Sultan, circa 1440, 52 x 34, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin,
Saint Pierre de Vérone (†
1252)
Fils de Cathares, Pierre
se convertit très jeune à la foi catholique. Attiré à l'Ordre par la
prédication de saint Dominique, il reçut l'habit de ses mains. Il fut voué à la
prédication, surtout chez les hérétiques auprès desquels il pratiqua, à
l'exemple du fondateur des prêcheurs, la méthode évangélique du dialogue. Par
un travail apostolique inlassable, il obtint de nombreuses conversions et fut
aussi le promoteur d'" Associations de la foi" et de
"Confraternité de louange de la B. V. Marie".
Nommé inquisiteur pour la
Lombardie en 1242, il vit se concentrer sur lui la haine des ennemis de la foi
catholique. Il mourut assassiné par des Cathares, sur la route de Côme à Milan,
le 6 avril 1252. L'un de ses meurtriers, Carin, devait par la suite entrer dans
l'Ordre. Onze mois après sa mort, dès 1253, Innocent IV inscrivit Pierre au
catalogue des saints. Un des plus beaux éloges de cette vie a été écrit par
Catherine de Sienne dans son Dialogue (2, 5).
Lors de la réforme
liturgique de Paul VI, on a choisi pour fêter Pierre de Vérone le jour
anniversaire de la translation de ses reliques à l'occasion du Chapitre général
de Milan en 1340. Sa vie fut écrite quelques années après sa mort par un de ses
anciens compagnons d'apostolat, frère Thomas de Lentini, prieur et fondateur du
couvent de Naples, qui donna l'habit à saint Thomas d'Aquin.
SOURCE : http://www.dominicains.ca/Histoire/Figures/verone.htm
%2C_pigello_portinari_in_adorazione_di_san_pietro_martire%2C_1460.jpg)
Benedetto
Bembo (attr.), Pigello Portinari in adorazione di San Pietro da Verona Martire, 1460
Pierre naquit à
Vérone vers 1205 au sein d’une famille cathare.
La tradition rapporte que
depuis tout petit, et malgré les réticences familiales, il récitait plusieurs
fois par jour le Crédo.
Partit à Bologne, quand
l’âge fut venu, pour faire ses études, il y fit la rencontre des Frères
prêcheurs et finit même par y rentrer, du vivant encore de saint Dominique de
Guzman, leur fondateur.
Après son ordination, il
se lança dans la prédication ― c’est le but principal de son Ordre ― et prêcha,
ce qui est un comble, contre les cathares du nord de l’Italie. Puis, sa
renommée augmenta et il fut choisi comme prieur à Asti d’abord et à Plaisance
ensuite. Toutefois, presque toute son activité se déroulera principalement à
Milan, où il finit par fonder le Monastère dominicain de San Pietro in Campo
Santo.
Tout en luttant contre
les croyances des cathares, il se consacra à la formation chrétienne des laïcs,
à la diffusion du culte de la Vierge, et à la création d'institutions visant à
la défense de l'orthodoxie catholique.
Ses prédications,
renforcées par de solides connaissances de la Bible, s'accompagnaient d'une vie
d'ascèse et de charité, des miracles lui sont aussi attribués.
Á Florence, il noua de
profondes amitiés avec les sept fondateurs de l’Ordre des Servites de Marie, et
finit même par devenir leur conseiller.
Mais ses activités ne
s’arrêtent pas là, car le Pape Innocent IV le nomma, en 1251, inquisiteur pour
Milan et Côme. En cette dernière ville il fut aussi nommé prieur du couvent de
son Ordre.
Il fut l'un des plus
redoutables inquisiteurs et envoya au bûcher bon nombre de cathares. Son action
suscita beaucoup de haine, ce qui fit dire à Pierre qu'il s'attendait à mourir
de mort violente. Et il avait raison, car, en effet, le 6 avril 1252, jour de
Pâques, il fut attaqué sur la route de Côme à Milan par un certain Pietro da
Balsamo dit Carino — qui plus tard eût des remords et entra chez les
Dominicains et y mourut en odeur de sainteté —, blessé par un coup de serpe et
poignardé ensuite.
Deux ans après sa mort,
sa renommée de sainteté était telle que le Pape Innocent IV le canonisa, “pour
exalter en lui le héros de la lutte contre l'hérésie cathare”.
Dans sa Bulle de
canonisation le Pape lui reconnaissait « dévotion, humilité, obéissance,
bienveillance, piété, patience, charité » et le présentait comme un « amant
fervent de la foi, son éminent connaisseur et son encore plus ardent défenseur
».
Alors que sa fête avait
été fixée au 29 avril — pour l'Ordre —, l’Église universelle le fête le 6
avril, jour anniversaire de son assassinat.
SOURCE : http://nouvl.evangelisation.free.fr/pierre_verone.htm
%2C_1338%2C_01.JPG)
Né à Vérone l’an 1206, de
parents manichéens, saint Pierre combattit dès son enfance les
hérétiques et entra dans l’Ordre des Frères Prêcheurs.
Il conserva son corps et
son âme dans une telle pureté que jamais il ne commit un péché mortel. On lit
dans sa Bulle de Canonisation : « Une grappe choisie dans la vigne de l’Église
a rempli de son suc généreux le calice royal ; la branche dont elle a été détachée
par le fer était des plus adhérentes au cep divin ».
L’ardeur de sa Foi
l’enflammait tellement qu’il souhaitait de mourir pour elle et fut exaucé.
« Vivant en effet
pieusement dans le Christ il fallait qu’il fût persécuté », et un impie sicaire
envoyé par les manichéens l’assassina sur la route de Côme à Milan en 1252.
Demandons à Dieu de nous
donner, par les mérites de saint Pierre, une Foi si forte qu’elle nous
obtienne, après toutes les adversités de cette vie, les joies de la
résurrection.
Pierre, né à Vérone l’an
1206, Innocent III étant pape, Philippe empereur et Philippe-Auguste roi de
France, de parents infectés de l’hérésie manichéenne, commença presque dès son
enfance à combattre les sectaires.
Âgé de sept ans, et comme
il fréquentait les écoles, son oncle, hérétique, lui demandait ce qu’il y
apprenait : « Le symbole de la foi chrétienne » répondit-il ; et rien, ni les
caresses ni les menaces de son père et de son oncle, ne put ébranler la
constance de sa Foi.
Il se rendit, durant son
adolescence, à Bologne pour y achever ses études, et là, appelé par
l’Esprit-Saint à une vie plus sublime, il entra dans l’institut des Frères
Prêcheurs.
« Dans cet ordre, Pierre
brilla d’une grande splendeur de vertu ; il garda si soigneusement son âme et
son corps de toute impureté que jamais il ne se sentit coupable d’aucun péché
mortel. Il macérait sa chair par les jeûnes et les veilles ; il exerçait son
esprit par la contemplation des choses divines. Il se livrait assidûment au
soin du salut des âmes, et il réfutait ardemment les hérétiques par le don
d’une grâce particulière. La force de son éloquence était telle dans la
prédication qu’une multitude innombrable accourait pour l’entendre et que
beaucoup se tournaient vers la pénitence.
« Il était enflammé d’une
si grande ardeur de foi qu’il désirait périr pour la religion et sollicitait
énergiquement cette grâce de Dieu. Aussi les hérétiques lui donnèrent-ils la
mort, ainsi qu’il l’avait prédit peu de temps auparavant dans un de ses
sermons. Il exerçait la charge d’Inquisiteur et revenait de Côme à Milan,
lorsqu’un sicaire le frappa à deux reprises d’un coup d’épée sur la tête.
Pierre, à demi-mort, prononça, avant de rendre le dernier soupir, ce symbole
qu’il avait tout enfant confessé avec un courage viril ; un nouveau coup de
poignard lui perça la poitrine, et son âme alla chercher au Ciel la palme du
martyre, l’an 1252 du salut. Devenu célèbre par de nombreux miracles, il fut
placé au catalogue des Saints martyrs par Innocent IV, l’année suivante. »
(Légende du Bréviaire romain)
C’était l’an 1252,
Innocent IV étant pape, Conrad IV empereur et saint Louis IX roi de France.
Carlo Crivelli (circa 1435–circa 1495), Saint Peter Martyr, San Domenico minor Polyptych, 1476, 90.5 x 26.5, National Gallery
Also known as
Peter Martyr
Peter of Verona
Peter the Martyr
6 April on
some calendars
20 April on
some calendars
18 March (Norwegian
Primstaven)
4 June (translation
of relics; diocese of Verona, Italy)
Profile
Son of Catharist heretics. Educated in
a Catholic school and
at the University of Bologna, Italy.
Embraced orthodox Catholicism upon
hearing the teaching of Saint Dominic.
Became a Dominican at
age 16, received into the Order by Saint Dominic. Prior of
the Dominican house
in Como, Italy. Priest.
Noted and inspiring preacher in
the Lombard region,
he spoke often against the Catharists. Called a “Second Paul” because
he turned from heresy and
tried to convert his
former confreres. Inquisitor for northern Italy c.1234,
appointed by Pope Gregory
IX. Assigned to preach against Manichaeanism,
he evangelized throughout Italy. Murdered by
Catharists on the road. Miracle worker.
Born
struck on the head with an axe, then stabbed through
the heart on 6 April 1252 on
the road near Milan, Italy
interred in
the mausoleum of the church of
Saint Eustorgio, Milan
miracles reported
at his tomb
25 March 1253 by Pope Innocent
IV
in Italy
Verona,
city of
Dominican holding
a knife
Dominican in
a forest being stabbed
Dominican with
a gash across his head
Dominican with
a knife in
his shoulder
Dominican with
a knife splitting
his head
Dominican with
a large knife in
his head
Dominican with
his finger on
his lips
Dominican with
the Virgin
Mary and four female saints appearing
to him
Dominican writing credo
in unum deum in the dust as he dies
man with a knife in
his head and
a sword in
his breast
Additional Information
A
Garner of Saints, by Allen Banks Hinds, M.A.
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Roman
Martyrology, 1914 edition
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
Short
Lives of the Dominican Saints
Short
Lives of the Saints, by Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly
The
First Disciples of Saint Dominic, by Father Victor
Francis O’Daniel, O.P.
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
Saints
and Their Attributes, by Helen Roeder
other sites in english
images
video
webseiten auf deutsch
sitios en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti in italiano
Diocesi di Verona (pdf)
Martirologio Romano, 2005 edition
nettsteder i norsk
Readings
Here silent is Christ’s Herald;
Here quenched, the People’s Light;
Here lies the martyred Champion
Who fought Faith’s holy fight.
The Voice the sheep heard gladly,
The light they loved to see
He fell beneath the weapons
Of graceless Cathari.
The Saviour crowns His Soldier;
His praise the people psalm.
The Faith he kept adorns him
With martyr’s fadeless palm.
His praise new marvels utter,
New light he spreads abroad
And now the whole wide city
Knows well the path to God.
– Saint Thomas
Aquinas in eulogy of Saint Peter
MLA Citation
“Saint Peter Verona“. CatholicSaints.Info. 7
March 2024. Web. 6 April 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-verona/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-verona/
Gentile da Fabriano: Valle Romita Polyptych, 1410-1412, 280 × 250, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.
St. Peter of Verona
Born at Verona,
1206; died near Milan,
6 April, 1252. His parents were
adherents of the Manichæan heresy,
which still survived in northern Italy in
the thirteenth century. Sent to a Catholic school,
and later to the University
of Bologna, he there met St.
Dominic, and entered the Order of the Friars
Preachers. Such were his virtues, severity of life and doctrine,
talent for preaching, and zeal for
the Faith, that Gregory
IX made him general inquisitor, and his
superiors destined him to combat the Manichæan errors.
In that capacity he evangelized nearly the whole of Italy,
preaching in Rome, Florence, Bologna, Genoa,
and Como. Crowds came
to meet him and followed him wherever he went; and conversions were
numerous. He never failed to denounce thevices and errors of Catholics who confessed the Faith by
words, but in deeds denied it. The Manichæans did
all they could to compel the inquisitor to cease from preaching
against their errors and
propaganda. Persecutions, calumnies,
threats, nothing was left untried.
When returning from Como to Milan,
he met a certain Carino who with some other Manichæans had
plotted to murder him.
The assassin struck him with an axe on the head with such violence,
that the holy man fell half dead. Rising to
his knees he recited the first article of the Symbol
of the Apostles, and offering his blood as
asacrifice to God he
dipped his fingers in it and wrote on the ground the words: "Credo in
Deum". The murderer then pierced his heart. The body was carried
to Milan and
laid in the church of St. Eustorgio, where a magnificent mausoleum,
the work of Balduccio Pisano, was erected to his memory. He wrought
many miracles when
living, but they were even more numerous after his martyrdom,
so that Innocent
IV canonized him
on 25 March, 1253.
Sources
MARCHESE, Vita di S.
Pietro Martire (Fiesole, 1894); HINDS, A Garner of
Saints (London, 1900); PERRENS, St Pierre martyr et l'hérésie des Patarins
à Florence in Rev. Histor., II (1876), 337-66; Acta SS. (1678),
April, III, 678-86.
Allaria,
Anthony. "St. Peter of Verona." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1911. 27 Apr.
2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11773d.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter. Dedicated to
the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11773d.htm
In 1205, the future saint
was born in Verona, in northern Italy. Despite his parents, who had Manichean
tendencies, Peter attended a school established in the truths of
Catholicism. One day his uncle asked Peter what he had learned in school. “The
Creed,” answered Peter. “I believe in God, Creator of heaven and earth.” No
arguments could shake his faith, and at the age of sixteen he received the
habit from St. Dominic.
After his ordination, St.
Peter preached to the heretics of Lombardy and converted multitudes. He was
constantly obliged to dispute with heretics. Although he was able to confound
them, the devil still seized the opportunity to tempt him against faith.
Instantly he would have recourse to prayer before an image of Our Lady. On one
occasion, Peter heard a voice repeating the words of Jesus Christ in the
Gospel, “I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail; and you
shall confirm your brethren in it” (Luke 22:32).
Peter often conversed
with the saints. One day the virgin-martyrs Catherine, Agnes and Cecilia
appeared to him. A passing religious, hearing their feminine voices, accused
him to their Superior, who without hesitation or questions exiled Peter to a
convent where no preaching was being done. St. Peter submitted humbly, but
complained in prayer to Jesus crucified that He was abandoning him to his bad
reputation. The crucifix spoke, “And I, Peter, was I too not innocent? Learn
from me to suffer the greatest sorrows with joy.” Eventually Peter’s innocence
was brought to light.
Again engaged in
preaching, miracles accompanied St. Peter’s exhortations. He traveled across
Italy and became well-known. 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.
Every day at the
elevation of the Mass St. Peter prayed, “Grant, Lord, that I may die for Thee,
who for me didst die.” His prayer was answered. Peter’s enemies, whom he had
confounded, sought his life. Two of them attacked him in 1252 on the road to
Milan, striking his head with an ax. St. Peter fell, commended himself to God,
dipped his finger in his own shed blood, and wrote on the ground, Credo in unum
Deum—I believe in God. He was then stabbed to death. The brother religious
accompanying him also suffered death. The details of the crime were made known
by St. Peter’s murderer, Carino, who after fleeing from justice confessed his
crime, asking for a penance from the Dominican Fathers. He took the habit and
according to their testimony, lived the life of a saint, persevering to the
end.
Peter Martyr, OP M (RM)
(also known as Peter of Verona)
Born in Verona, Italy, 1206; died April 6, 1252; canonized by Pope Innocent IV
in 1253--a single year after his death.
Peter's parents belonged to the heretical sect of the Cathari, theological
descendants of the Manichees. Miraculously, though he was ridiculed for his
faith throughout his youth, it was preserved in purity and he became a
Dominican. His father sent him to a Catholic for his early education, thinking
that the environment at home would keep Peter from being deceived by the
teachings of the Church.
Nevertheless, one of the first things Peter learned there was the Apostle's
Creed, which the Cathari abhorred. Making conversation on day, his uncle asked
him his lesson. The boy recited the creed and explained it in the Catholic
sense, especially in those words: Creator of heaven and earth. In vain his
uncle tried to persuade him it was false. He said that it was not God, but the
evil principle that made all things that are visible; the Cathari viewed the
physical world as ugly and bad, which is inconsistent with the concept of an
infinitely perfect being. The boy's resolute steadiness concerned his uncle,
but his father laughed at his brother's fears believing that the world would
corrupt his son.
When he was 15, Peter was sent to the University of Bologna, a hotbed of
licentiousness. There he met Saint Dominic, and instantly threw himself at the
saint's feet to beg admission to the Order of Friar Preachers. Peter was
present at the death of the founder soon after, and shared in the primitive
zeal and courage of the sons of a saint.
While still a student, Peter experienced a severe trial. He was publicly
reprimanded and punished because a brother, passing Peter's cell late at night,
thought he had heard women's voices in his room. The voices were those of
angels, who frequently visited the saint: but in his humility, he thought it
better to accept the punishment and say nothing about the favors God had
granted him. He was sent to the remote little Dominican convent of Jesi, in the
marquisate of Ancona, to do penance, and his ordination was delayed.
Peter found great strength in prayer. Nevertheless, he was human and felt the
sting of the disgrace. One day he complained to the Lord: "Lord, You know
that I am innocent of this: Why do you allow them to believe it?" A
sorrowful voice replied from the crucifix: "And I, Peter, what have I done
that they should do this to Me?" Peter complained no more. The truth was
eventually discovered, and Peter resumed his studies and was ordained to the
priesthood.
Peter soon became a celebrated preacher throughout northern and central Italy,
and, in 1232, an inquisitor to fight against the heresy that had infected his
family and others in Lombardy. Many miracles (filling 22 pages in folio in the
Acta Sanctorum) were worked through his prayers, to the rage of the heretics.
Crowds nearly pressed him to death many times: some to ask his blessing, others
to offer the sick to him to be cured, others to receive his holy instructions.
In one city, a prominent man had been won to heresy, because the devil, taking
the form of the Blessed Virgin, appeared at the heretics' meetings and
encouraged him to join them. Peter, determined to win the man back to the
truth, went to the meeting and, when the devil appeared in his disguise, held
up a small pyx in which he had placed a consecrated Host. "If you are the
Mother of God," cried Peter, "adore your Son!" The devel fled in
dismay and many were converted.
Among other miracles, he predicted that he would be murdered by heretics, who
indeed waylaid him on the road between Como and Milan. Peter went to his death
singing the Easter Sequence, and fell unprotesting beneath the blows of his
assassins. Carino cut his head with an ax, and then his companion Dominic
stabbed him. As Peter rose to his knees and commended himself to God, Carino
killed him with a blow of his axe to Peter's side. One of his murderers,
"Blessed" Carino, was touched by grace at the sight of a saint, was
converted, and eventually became a Dominican at Forli. To him as to us, Peter
had pointed out the way to heaven when he traced on the dust of the road, in
his own blood, the creed that had lighted his path: "Credo in unum Deum."
Peter's body was ceremoniously buried in the Dominicans' church dedicated to
St. Eustorgius, in Milan, where it still rests. His head is kept separately in
a crystal and gold case. So many miracles were worked at his shrine that many
of the Cathari asked to be admitted to the Catholic Church (Benedictines,
Dorcy, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
In art, Saint Peter is a Dominican with a gash or knife in his head.
Occasionally, the knife is in his shoulder. Sometimes he is portrayed (1) with
his finger on his lips; (2) writing credo in unum deum in the dust as he dies;
(3) stabbed in the forest with his companion; or (4) with the Virgin and four
female saints appearing to him (Roeder). Peter is the patron of midwives and
inquisitors and venerated in Verona (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0429.shtml
Saint Peter of Verona,
martyr
By Paul Zalonski
Let us rejoice in
celebrating the victory of Saint Peter Martyr. On earth he proclaimed Christ's
love for us. Now Christ leads him to a place of honor before his Father in
heaven.
Almighty God, you crowned
our brother Peter with martyrdom for confessing the true faith with
perseverance. Give to us, your people, that same faith that we too may receive
the gift of salvation.
From a Vita
"He [Saint Peter of
Verona, martyr, 1206-1252] was marked by great perfection as a Friar: so
watchful was he over the purity of his body and soul that he never felt himself
defiled by a mortal sin. He chastened his body by fasting and watching, and
ennobled his soul by the contemplation of the things of God. He was constantly
busied in works for furthering the salvation of souls; and had a peculiar gift
of grace for clearly convincing heretics. Such was his power as a preacher,
that countless crowds were drawn together to hear him, and many were moved to
repentance."
In the history of the
Dominican order Saint Peter of Verona was among the first generation of
followers of Saint Dominic. Peter's own family were adherents to the Cathar
heresy which prompted the founding of the Friars Preachers. While not the first
martyr among the Dominicans he is the first saint of the Order. The working of
God's grace in men's hearts saw the conversion of Peter's murderer, Carino of
Balsamo, and his admission to the Dominican Order as a lay brother. What beauty
there is in the conversion of sinners and growth of grace to the point of fully
dedicating one's life to God under the evangelical counsels of poverty,
chastity and obedience. Since we are all created for communion with God and
others Peter's killer was brought into that communion. One can say that Saint
Peter of Verona's was the condition of another's full communion with God.
Brother Carino recalled his crime but confessed his sin and did penance for the
rest of his life; he is buried at the Cathedral of Forli. Brother Carino is a
beatus of the Church; Blessed Carino's liturgical memorial is April 28, the
date of the translation of his relics.
SOURCE : http://communio.stblogs.org/2010/06/saint-peter-of-verona-martyr.html
.jpg)
Pedro Berruguete (1450–1504), San
Pedro Mártir en oración, circa 1495, 133 x 86, Museo del Prado
PETER MARTYR, ST.
Preacher, miracle worker,
first Dominican martyr; b. Verona, Italy, c. 1205; d. near Milan,
Italy, April 6, 1252. Peter, born of heretical parents, embraced the Faith and c. 1221
entered the Dominican order. He preached in the important cities of central and
north Italy, founding militant, pious confraternities of laity to counteract
heretical influences. At Florence (1244–45) he aided the seven founders of the
servites. He was prior of Dominican houses at Asti (1240), Piacenza (1241), and
Como (1251). In 1232, and again in 1251, he was named papal inquisitor (see
inquisition). Because of his vigorous preaching and numerous converts, he
aroused the hatred of the cathari. At Paschaltide, 1252, he was assassinated on
the road between Como and Milan. innocent iv canonized him the following year.
St. Peter, patron of inquisitors, enjoyed a wide cult in the Middle
Ages and was frequently depicted in art. His tomb is in the church of
Santo Eustorgio, Milan.
Feast: April 20 (formerly
29).
Bibliography: Acta
Sanctorum April 3:686–727. Una vita per il credo, notizie biografiche
storiche artistiche nel VII centenario del martirio di s. Pietro da Verona (Seveso,
Italy 1952). R. Francisco, S. Pietro da Verona (Alba 1952). G. Ederle, San Pietro da Verona (Verona 1952). E. Liberti, Seveso
deve qualcosa al sangue di un martire (Milan 1968).
[J. F. Hinnebusch]
New Catholic Encyclopedia
SOURCE : https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/peter-martyr-st
Lorenzo
Lotto (1480–1556), Madonna col Bambino e San Pietro Martire,
1503, 55 x 87, National Museum of Capodimonte, Naples, Italy
Saint Peter of Verona,
M.O.P
Feast Day: April 29th
Profile
Saint Peter's parents
belonged to the heretical sect of the Cathari, theological descendants of the
Manichees. Miraculously, he became Catholic, regardless of his heresy believing
parents. Because of his Catholic convictions, he was ridiculed for his faith
throughout his youth, it was preserved in purity and he became a Dominican. His
father sent him to a Catholic school for a good early education, thinking that
the heretical environment at home would keep Peter from being
"deceived" by the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Nevertheless, one of the
first things Peter learned there was the Apostle's Creed, which the Cathari
abhorred. Making conversation on day, his uncle asked him his lesson. The boy
recited the creed and explained it in the Catholic sense, especially in those
words: Creator of heaven and earth. In vain his uncle tried to persuade him it
was false. He said that it was not God, but the evil principle that made all
things that are visible; the Cathari viewed the physical world as ugly and bad,
which is inconsistent with the concept of an infinitely perfect being. The
boy's resolute steadiness concerned his uncle, but his father laughed at his
brother's fears believing that the world would influence his son into his
beliefs.
When he was 15, Peter was
sent to the University of Bologna, a hotbed of licentiousness. There he met
Saint Dominic, and instantly threw himself at the saint's feet to beg admission
to the Order of Friar Preachers. Peter was present at the death of the founder
soon after, and shared in the primitive zeal and courage of the sons of a
saint.
While still a student,
Peter experienced a severe trial. He was publicly reprimanded and punished
because a brother, passing Peter's cell late at night, thought he had heard
women's voices in his room. The voices were those of angels, who frequently
visited the saint: but in his humility, he thought it better to accept the
punishment and say nothing about the favors God had granted him. He was sent to
the remote little Dominican convent of Jesi, in the marquisate of Ancona, to do
penance, and his ordination was delayed.
Peter found great
strength in prayer. Nevertheless, he was human and felt the sting of the
disgrace. One day he complained to the Lord: "Lord, You know that I am
innocent of this: Why do you allow them to believe it?" A sorrowful voice
replied from the crucifix: "And I, Peter, what have I done that they
should do this to Me?" Peter complained no more. The truth was eventually discovered,
and Peter resumed his studies and was ordained to the priesthood.
Peter soon became a
celebrated preacher throughout northern and central Italy, and, in 1232, an
inquisitor to fight against the heresy that had infected his family and others
in Lombardy. Many miracles (filling 22 pages in folio in the Acta
Sanctorum) were worked through his prayers, to the rage of the heretics. Crowds
nearly pressed him to death many times: some to ask his blessing, others to
offer the sick to him to be cured, others to receive his holy instructions.
In one city, a prominent
man had been won to heresy, because the devil, taking the form of the Blessed
Virgin, appeared at the heretics' meetings and encouraged him to join them.
Peter, determined to win the man back to the truth, went to the meeting and,
when the devil appeared in his disguise, held up a small pox in which he had
placed a consecrated Host. "If you are the Mother of God," cried
Peter, "adore your Son!" The devil fled in dismay and many were
converted.
Among other miracles, he
predicted that he would be murdered by heretics, who indeed waylaid him on the
road between Como and Milan. Peter went to his death singing the Easter
Sequence, and fell unprotesting beneath the blows of his assassins. Carino cut his
head with an ax, and then his companion Dominic stabbed him. As Peter rose to
his knees and commended himself to God, Carino killed him with a blow of his
axe to Peter's side. One of his murderers, "Blessed" Carino, was
touched by grace at the sight of a saint, was converted, and eventually became
a Dominican at Forli. To him as to us, Peter had pointed out the way to heaven
when he traced on the dust of the road, in his own blood, the creed that had
lighted his path: "Credo in unum Deum."
Peter's body was
ceremoniously buried in the Dominicans' church dedicated to St. Eustorgius, in
Milan, where he still rests. His head is kept separately in a crystal and gold
case. So many miracles were worked at his shrine that many of the Cathari asked
to be admitted to the Catholic Church (Benedictines, Dorcy, Encyclopedia,
Husenbeth).
Born: Verona, Italy,
1206
Died: Martyred April
6, 1252
Canonized: canonized
by Pope Innocent IV in 1253--a single year after his death.
Patronage: Peter is
the patron of midwives and inquisitors and venerated in Verona (Roeder).
Representation: In
art, Saint Peter is a Dominican with a gash or knife in his head. Occasionally,
the knife is in his shoulder. Sometimes he is portrayed (1) with his finger on
his lips; (2) writing credo in unum deum in the dust as he dies; (3)
stabbed in the forest with his companion; or (4) with the Virgin and four
female saints appearing to him (Roeder).
Prayers/Commemorations
First Vespers:
Ant. O Peter, illustrious
Martyr and glory of the Preachers, graced with virginity and endowed with
eloquence, miraculous powers and grace, according us the favor of thy loving
clemency, after our passage through the world bring us to eternal delights, alleluia.
V. Pray for us , Blessed
Peter, alleluia.
R. That we may be made
worthy of the promises of Christ, alleluia.
Lauds:
Ant. Endowed with perfect
purity, brilliant with the grace of knowledge, illustrious for the victory of
martyrdom , Peter shines with the glory of a triple crown, alleluia.
V. A crown of gold is on
his head, alleluia.
R. Signed with the sign
of sanctity, alleluia.
Second Vespers:
Ant. O illustrious
Martyr, teacher of truth, vessel of purity, model of sanctity, bestow upon us
through thy intercession pardon of sins and life in glory with the blessed,
alleluia.
V. Pray for us, Blessed
Peter, alleluia.
R. That we may be made
worthy of the promises of Christ, alleluia.
Prayers:
Let us Pray: Grant,
we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we may imitate with befitting devotion the
faith of blessed peter, Thy Martyr, who for the spreading of that faith was
made worthy to obtain the palm of martyrdom. Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Readings
Here silent is Christ's
Herald;
Here quenched, the People's Light;
Here lies the martyred Champion
Who fought Faith's holy fight.
The Voice the sheep heard gladly,
The light they loved to see
He fell beneath the weapons
Of graceless Cathari.
The Savior crowns His Soldier;
His praise the people psalm.
The Faith he kept adorns him
With martyr's fadeless palm.
His praise new marvels utter,
New light he spreads abroad
And now the whole wide city
Knows well the path to God.
-Saint Thomas of Aquinas in eulogy of Saint Peter
SOURCE : http://www.willingshepherds.org/Dominican%20Saint%20III.html#Hosanna
Andrea del Brescianino (1487–1525),
Madonna and Child with the Infant St John and St Peter Martyr, circa 1510
April 29
St. Peter, Martyr
From his life, by Thomas
of Leontino, a Dominican friar, who had resided long with him at Verona, and
was afterwards patriarch of Jerusalem, &c., collected by Touron in his life
of St. Dominic, p. 480. See also the remarks of Papebroke, t. 3, Apr. p. 679.
A.D. 1252.
ST. PETER the martyr was
born at Verona, in 1205, of parents infected with the heresy of the Cathari, a
sort of Manichees, who had insensibly made their way into the northern parts of
Italy, during the quarrel between the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa and the holy
see. 1 God
preserved him from the danger which attended his birth, of being infected with
heretical sentiments. His father being desirous of giving him an early tincture
of learning, sent him, while very young, to a Catholic schoolmaster; not
questioning but by his own instruction afterwards, and by the child’s
conversing with his heretical relations, he should be able to efface whatever
impressions he might receive at school to the contrary. One of the first things
he learned there was the apostles’ creed, which the Manichees held in
abhorrence. His uncle one day, out of curiosity, asked him his lesson. The boy
recited to him the creed, and explained it in the Catholic sense, especially in
those words: Creator of heaven and earth. In vain did his uncle long endeavour
to persuade him it was false, and that it was not God, but the evil principle
that made all things that are visible; pretending many things in the world to
be ugly and bad, which he thought inconsistent with the idea we ought to
entertain of an infinitely perfect being. The resolute steadiness which the boy
showed on the occasion, his uncle looked upon as a bad omen for their sect; but
the father laughed at his fears, and sent Peter to the university of Bologna,
in which city then reigned a licentious corruption of manners among the youth.
God, however, who had before protected him from heresy, preserved the purity of
his heart and the innocence of his manners amidst these dangers. Nevertheless
he continually deplored his melancholy situation, and fortified himself every
day anew in the sovereign horror of sin, and in all precautions against it. To
fly it more effectually, he addressed himself to St. Dominic, and though but
fifteen years of age, received at his hands the habit of his Order. But he soon
lost that holy director, whom God called to glory. Peter continued with no less
fervour to square his life by the maxims and spirit of his holy founder, and to
practise his rule with the most scrupulous exactness and fidelity. He went
beyond it even in those times of its primitive fervour. He was assiduous in
prayer; his watchings and fasts were such, that even in his novitiate they
considerably impaired his health; but a mitigation in them restored it before
he made his solemn vows. When by them he had happily deprived himself of his
liberty, to make the more perfect sacrifice of his life to God, he drew upon
him the eyes of all his brethren by his profound humility, incessant prayer,
exact silence, and general mortification of his senses and inclinations. He was
a professed enemy of idleness, which he knew to be the bane of all virtues.
Every hour of the day had its employment allotted to it; he being always either
studying, reading, praying, serving the sick, or occupying himself in the most
mean and abject offices, such as sweeping the house, &c., which, to
entertain himself in sentiments of humility, he undertook with wonderful
alacrity and satisfaction, even when he was senior in religion. But prayer was,
as it were, the seasoning both of his sacred studies (in which he made great
progress) and of all his other actions. The awakening dangers of salvation he
had been exposed to, from which the divine mercy had delivered him in his
childhood, served to make him always fearful, cautious, and watchful against
the snares of his spiritual enemies. By this means, and by the most profound
humility, he was so happy as, in the judgment of his superiors and directors,
to have preserved his baptismal innocence unsullied to his death by the guilt
of any mortal sin. Gratitude to his Redeemer for the graces he had received, a
holy zeal for his honour, and a tender compassion for sinners, moved him to
apply himself with great zeal and diligence to procure the conversion of souls
to God. This was the subject of his daily tears and prayers; and for this end,
after he was promoted to the holy order of priesthood, he entirely devoted
himself to the function of preaching, for which his superiors found him
excellently qualified by the gifts both of nature and grace. He converted an
incredible number of heretics and sinners in the Romagna, the marquisate of
Ancona, Tuscany, the Bolognese, and the Milanese. And it was by many
tribulations, which befel him during the course of his ministry, that God
prepared him for the crown of martyrdom. He was accused by some of his own
brethren of admitting strangers, and even women, into his cell. He did not
allow the charge, because this would have been a lie, but he defended himself,
without positively denying it, and with trembling in such a manner as to be
believed guilty, not of anything criminal, but of a breach of his rule: and his
superiors imposed on him a claustral punishment, banished him to the remote
little Dominican convent of Jesi, in the marquisite of Ancona, and removed him
from the office of preaching. Peter received this humiliation with great
interior joy, on seeing himself suffer something in imitation of Him, who,
being infinite sanctity, bore with patience and silence the most grievous
slanders, afflictions, and torments for our sake. But after some months his
innocence was cleared, and he was commanded to return and resume his former
functions with honour. He appeared every where in the pulpits with greater zeal
and success than ever, and his humility drew on his labours an increase of
graces and benedictions. The fame of his public miracles attested in his life,
and of the numberless wonderful conversions wrought by him, procured him
universal respect: as often as he appeared in public, he was almost pressed to
death by the crowds that flocked to him, some to ask his blessing, others to
offer the sick to him to be cured, others to receive his holy instructions. He
declared war in all places against vice. In the Milanese he was met in every
place with the cross, banner, trumpets, and drums; and was often carried on a
litter on men’s shoulders, to pass the crowd. He was made superior of several
houses of his order, and in the year 1232 was constituted by the pope
inquisitor general of the faith. He had ever been the terror of the new
Manichee heretics, a sect whose principles and practice tended to the destruction
of civil society and Christian morals. Now they saw him invested with this
dignity, they conceived a greater hatred than ever against him. They bore it
however under the popedom of Gregory IX., but seeing him continued in his
office, and discharging it with still greater zeal under Pope Innocent IV.,
they conspired his death, and hired two assassins to murder him on his return
from Como to Milan. The ruffians lay in ambush for him on his road, and one of
them, Carinus by name, gave him two cuts on the head with an axe, and then
stabbed his companion, called Dominic. Seeing Peter rise on his knees, and
hearing him recommend himself to God by those words: Into thy hands, O
Lord, I commend my soul, and recite the creed, he dispatched him by a
wound in the side with his cuttle-axe, on the 6th of April, in 1252, the saint
being forty-six years and some days old. His body was pompously buried in the
Dominicans’ church dedicated to St. Eustorgius, in Milan, where it still rests:
his head is kept apart in a case of crystal and gold. The heretics were
confounded at his heroic death, and at the wonderful miracles God wrought at
his shrine; and in great numbers desired to be admitted into the bosom of the
Catholic church. Carinus, the murderer of the martyr, fled out of the territory
of Milan to the city of Forli, where, being struck with remorse, he renounced
his heresy, put on the habit of a lay-brother among the Dominicans, and
persevered in penance to the edification of many. St. Peter was canonized the
year after his death by Innocent IV., who appointed his festival to be kept on
the 29th of April. The history of miracles, performed by his relics and
intercession, fills twenty-two pages in folio in the Acta Sanctorum, by the
Bollandists, Apr. t. 3, p. 697 to 719.
Our divine Redeemer was
pleased to represent himself to us, both for a model to all who should exercise
the pastoral charge in his church, and for the encouragement of sinners, under
the figure of the good shepherd, who, having sought and found his lost sheep,
with joy carried it back to the fold on his shoulders. The primitive Christians
were so delighted with this emblem of his tender love and mercy, that they
engraved the figure of the good shepherd, loaded with the lost sheep on his
shoulders, on the sacred chalices which they used for the holy mysteries or at
mass, as we learn from Tertullian. 2 This
figure is found frequently represented in the tombs of the primitive Christians
in the ancient Christian cemeteries at Rome. 3 All
pastors of souls ought to have continually before their eyes this example of
the good shepherd and prince of pastors. The aumusses, or furs, which most
canons, both secular and regular, wear, are a remnant of the skins or furs worn
by many primitive pastors for their garments. They wore them not only as badges
of a penitential life, in imitation of those saints in the Old Law who wandered
about in poverty, clad with skins, as St. Paul describes them, 4 and
of St. Antony and many other primitive Christian anchorets, but chiefly to put
them in mind of their obligation of imitating the great pastor of souls in
seeking the lost sheep, and carrying it back on his shoulders: also of putting
on his meekness, humility, and obedience, represented under his adorable title
of Lamb of God, and that of sheep devoted to be immolated by death. Every
Christian, in conforming himself spiritually to this divine model, must study
daily to die more and more to himself and to the world. In the disposition of
his soul, he must also be ready to make the sacrifice of his life.
Note 1. The Ven. F.
Moneta, the beloved disciple of St. Dominic, in Italy, wrote about the year
1730, five books adversus Catharos et Waldenses, which F. Ricchini published at
Rome in 1743. From this work, and the editor’s preliminary dissertations and
notes, we learn many curious articles relating to the errors and history of
these heretics. [back]
Note 2. Tertul. de
Pudic. c. 7. [back]
Note 3. See Bartoli,
Le Antiche Lucerne Sepolcrali flgurate in Roma, an. 1729, n. 28, 29, and Phil.
Buonarruoti, Osservazioni sopra alcuni Frammenti di Vasi, pp. 1, 3, 28, 29, 30,
31. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume IV: April. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/4/291.html
La
traslazione del corpo di San Pietro Martire da San Simpliciano a Sant'Eustorgio. Rilievo sul lato
destro dell'Arca di San Pietro Martire nella Cappella Portinari della Chiesa di Sant'Eustorgio a Milano.
Foto di Giovanni Dall'Orto, 1-3-2007.
Peter of Verona's corpse is moved from San Simpliciano church to Sant'Eustorgio. Relief from the
right side of Peter of Verona's grave in
the Cappella Portinari chapel in Sant'Eustorgio church in Milan, Italy.
Picture by Giovanni Dall'Orto, March 1 2007.
St. Peter of Verona, Martyr
(† 1252; Feast – April 29)
The hero chosen this day
by the Church to greet our Risen Lord was so valiant in the good fight that
martyrdom is part of his name. He is also known as Peter the Martyr; so that we
cannot speak of him without raising the echo of victory. He was put to death by
heretics, and is the grand tribute paid to our Redeemer by the 13th century.
Never was there a triumph hailed with greater enthusiasm than this one. The
martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canterbury excited the admiration of the faithful of
the preceding century, for nothing was so dear to our forefathers as the
liberty of the Church; the martyrdom of St. Peter was celebrated with a like
intensity of praise and joy. Let us hearken to the fervent eloquence of the
great Pontiff Innocent IV, who thus begins the Bull of the Martyr's
canonization: "The truth of the Christian Faith, manifested, as it has
been, by great and frequent miracles, is now beautified by the new merit of a
new Saint. Lo! a combatant of these our own times comes, bringing us new and
great and triumphant signs. The voice of his blood shed (for Christ) is heard,
and the fame of his martyrdom is trumpeted throughout the world. The land is
not silent that sweateth with his blood; the country that produced so noble a
warrior resounds with his praise; yea, the very sword that did the deed of
parricide proclaims his glory… Mother Church has great reason to rejoice, and
abundant matter for gladness; She has cause to sing a new canticle to the Lord,
and a hymn of fervent praise to Her God… the Christian people has cause to give
forth devout songs to its Creator. A sweet fruit, gathered in the garden of
faith, has been set upon the table of the Eternal King: a grape-bunch taken
from the vineyard of the Church has filled the royal cup with new wine… The flourishing
Order of Preachers has produced a red rose, whose sweetness is most grateful to
the King; and from the Church here on earth there has been taken a stone,
which, after being cut and polished, has deserved a place of honor in the
temple of Heaven."
Such was the language
wherewith the Supreme Pontiff spoke of the new Martyr, and the people responded
by celebrating his Feast with extraordinary devotion. It was kept as were the
ancient festivals, that is, all servile work was forbidden upon it. The churches
served by the Fathers of the Dominican Order were crowded on his Feast; and the
faithful took little branches with them, that they might be blessed in memory
of the triumph of Peter the Martyr.
How are we to account for
all this fervent devotion of the people towards Saint Peter? It was because he
died in defense of the Faith; and nothing was so dear to the Christians of
those days as faith. Saint Peter had received the charge to seize all the
heretics who at that time were causing geat disturbance and scandal in the
country around Milan. They were called Cathari, but in reality were Manicheans;
their teachings were detestable, and their lives most immoral. Saint Peter
fulfilled his duty with a firmness and equity which soon secured him the hatred
of the heretics; and when he fell a victim to his holy courage, a cry of
admiration and gratitude was heard throughout Christendom. Nothing could be
more devoid of truth than the accusations brought by the enemies of the Church
and their indiscreet abettors against the measures formerly decreed by the
public law of Catholic nations, in order to foil the efforts made by
evil-minded men to injure the true Faith. In those times, no tribunal was so
popular as that whose office it was to protect the Faith, and to put down all
those who attacked it. It was to the Order of St. Dominic that this office was
mainly entrusted; and well may they be proud of the honor of having so long
held one so beneficial to the salvation of mankind. How many of its members
have met with a glorious death in the exercise of their stern duty! Saint Peter
is the first of the Martyrs given by the Order for this holy cause: his name,
however, heads a long list of others who were his brethren in religion, his
successors in the defense of the Faith, and his followers to martrydom. The
coercive measures that were once, and successfully, used to defend the faithful
from heretical teachers have long since ceased to be used: but for us
Catholics, our judgment of them must surely be that of the Church. She bids us
today to honor as a Martyr one of Her Saints, who was put to death whilst
resisting the wolves that threatened the sheep of Christ's fold; should we not
be guilty of disrespect to our Mother the Church if we dared to condemn what
She so highly approves? Far, then, be from us that cowardly bowing to the
spirit of the age, which would make us ashamed of the courageous efforts made
by our forefathers for the preservation of the Faith! Far from us that childish
readiness to believe the calumnies of Protestants against an institution which
they naturally detest! Far from us that deplorable confusion of ideas which
puts truth and error on an equality, and, from the fact that error can have no
rights, concludes that truth can claim none!
The following is the
account given us by the Church of the virtues and heroism of Saint Peter the
Martyr:
Peter was born at Verona
of parents who were infected with the heresy of the Manichees; but he himself,
almost from his very infancy, fought against heresies. When he was seven years
old, he was one day asked by an uncle, who was a heretic, what they taught him
at the school to which he went. He answered that they taught him the Creed of
the Christian Faith. His father and uncle did all they could, both by promises
and threats, to shake the firmness of his faith: but all to no purpose. When
old enough, he went to Bologna, in order to pursue his studies. Whilst there,
he was called by the Holy Ghost to a life of perfection, and obeyed the call by
entering the Order of St. Dominic.
Great were his virtues as
a Religious. So careful was he to keep both body and soul from whatsoever could
sully their purity, that his conscience never accused him of committing a
mortal sin. He mortified his body by fasting and watching, and applied his mind
to the contemplation of heavenly things. He labored incessantly for the
salvation of souls, and was gifted with a special grace for refuting heretics.
He was so earnest when preaching, that people used to go in crowds to hear him,
and numerous were the conversions that ensued.
The ardor of his Faith
was such that he wished he might die for it, and earnestly did he beg that
favor from God. This death, which he foretold a short time before in one of his
sermons, was inflicted on him by the heretics. Whilst returning from Como to
Milan, in the discharge of the duties of the holy Inquisition, he was attacked
by a wicked assassin, who struck him twice on the head with a sword. The Creed,
which he had confessed with manly courage when but a child, he now began to
recite with his dying lips; and having received another wound in his side, he
went to receive a martyr's palm in Heaven, in the year of Our Lord 1252.
Numerous miracles attested his sanctity, and his name was enrolled the following
year by Innocent IV in the list of the Martyrs.
O Holy Protector of the
Christian people! what other motive hadst thou, in all thy labors, but charity?
What else but a desire to defend the weak from danger induced thee not only to
preach against error, but to drive its wicked teachers from the flock? How many
simple souls, who were receiving divine truth from the teaching of the Church,
have been deceived by the lying sophistry of heretical doctrine, and have lost
their precious Faith? Surely the Church would do Her utmost to ward off such
dangers from Her children; She would do all She could to defend them from
enemies, who were bent on destroying the glorious inheritance which had been
handed down to them by millions of Martyrs! She knew the strange tendency that
often exists in the heart of fallen man to love error; whereas truth, though of
itself pure and unchanging, is not sure of its remaining firmly in the mind,
unless it be defended by learning or by faith. As to learning, there are but
few who possess it; and as to faith, error is ever conspiring against it, and,
of course, with the false appearance of truth. In the Christian ages it would
have been deemed not only criminal, but absurd, to grant to error the liberty
which is due only to truth; and they that were in authority considered it a
duty to keep the weak from danger, by removing from them all occasions of a
fall; just as the father of a family keeps his children from coming in contact
with wicked companions who could easily deceive them in their inexperience, and
lead them to evil under the name of good.
Obtain for us, O Holy
Martyr, a keen appreciation of the precious gift of Faith – that element which
keeps us in the way of salvation. May we zealously do everything that lies in
our power to preserve it, both in ourselves and in them that are under our
care. The love of this Holy Faith has grown cold in so many hearts; and
frequent discourse with heretics or free-thinkers has made them think and speak
of matters of Faith in a very loose way. Pray for them, O Saint Peter, that
they may recover that fearless love of the truths of religion which should be
one of the chief traits of the Christian character. As we all live in an age
when the modernist system prevails of treating all religions alike – that is,
of giving equal rights to error and to truth – let us be all the more
courageous in professing the truth, and detesting the errors opposed to the
truth. Pray for us, O Holy Martyr, that there may be enkindled within us an
ardent love of that Faith without which it is impossible to please God (Hebr.
11: 6). Pray that we may become all earnestness in this duty, which is of vital
importance to salvation; that thus our Faith may daily gain strength within us,
till at length we shall merit to see in Heaven what we have believed
unhesitatingly on earth. Amen.
SOURCE : http://www.salvemariaregina.info/SalveMariaRegina/SMR-152/St.%20Peter%20of%20Verona.htm
San Pietro da Verona Sacerdote
e martire
Verona, sec. XII
Nato da genitori eretici
manichei, l’innata rettitudine del cuore gli fece intuire subito da che parte
si trovasse la verità. A sette anni imparò alle scuole dei cattolici il Credo,
che per lui non sarà una formula qualunque, ma un principio di vita e una luce
che rischiarerà per sempre il suo cammino. Entrato nell’Ordine, anelante le sante
lotte per la fede, nei lunghi anni di preparazione al futuro apostolato, mise
le basi di quella robusta santità che fece davvero di lui un atleta di Gesù
Cristo. Un giorno confidò a un confratello che da quando era sacerdote,
celebrando la S. Messa, alla elevazione del calice aveva sempre chiesto al
Signore la grazia di morire martire, tale era l’ardore della sua fede e della
sua carità. Nominato nel 1242 Inquisitore Generale per la Lombardia, combatté
senza posa gli eretici con la spada della divina parola, finché fu ucciso per
loro mano, come egli aveva predetto, sulla strada da Como a Milano.
Etimologia: Pietro =
pietra, sasso squadrato, dal latino
Emblema: Pugnale, Ferita
al capo, Palma
Martirologio Romano:
Presso Milano, passione di san Pietro da Verona, sacerdote dell’Ordine dei
Predicatori e martire, che, nato da genitori seguaci del manicheismo, abbracciò
ancor fanciullo la fede cattolica e divenuto adolescente ricevette l’abito dallo
stesso san Domenico; con ogni mezzo si impegnò nel debellare le eresie, finché
fu ucciso dai suoi nemici lungo la strada per Como, proclamando fino all’ultimo
respiro il simbolo della fede.
Nacque a Verona alla fine del sec. XII in una famiglia eretica, ma già ragazzino si oppose ai suoi parenti.
Continuò gli studi all’Università di Bologna dove poi entrò nell’Ordine Domenicano, quando s. Domenico era ancora in vita.
Notizie storiche lo citano come grande partecipe nella fondazione delle Società della Fede e delle Confraternite Mariane a Milano, Firenze ed a Perugia; queste istituzioni a difesa della dottrina cristiana sorsero poi presso molti conventi domenicani; questo fra il 1232 e 1234.
Dal 1236 lo si incontra in tutte le città centro-settentrionali d’Italia come grande predicatore contro l’eresia dualistica, ma Milano fu il campo principale del suo apostolato, le sue prediche e le sue pubbliche dispute con gli eretici, erano accompagnate da miracoli e profezie così molti ritornavano alla vera fede del Vangelo.
Il papa Innocenzo IV nel 1251 lo nominò inquisitore per le città di Milano e Como. La lotta fu dura perché l’eresia era molto diffusa e nella domenica delle Palme 24 marzo 1252 durante una predica egli predisse la sua morte per mano degli eretici che tramavano contro di lui, assicurando i fedeli che li avrebbe combattuto più da morto che da vivo.
I capi delle sette delle città di Milano, Bergamo, Lodi e Pavia, che per brevità non riportiamo i nomi, assunsero come esecutori, i killer di allora, Pietro da Balsamo detto Carino e Albertino Porro di Lentate.
Essi prepararono un agguato vicino a Meda dove Pietro, Domenico e altri due domenicani, nel loro tragitto da Como a Milano il 6 aprile 1252 si erano fermati a colazione prima di proseguire per la loro strada.
Albertino ricredendosi abbandonò l’opera e fu il solo Carino che con un "falcastro", tipo di falce, spaccò la testa di Pietro, immergendogli anche un lungo coltello nel petto, l’altro confratello Domenico ebbe parecchie ferite mortali che lo portarono alla morte sei giorni dopo nel convento delle Benedettine di Meda.
Il corpo di Pietro fu trasportato subito a Milano dove ebbe esequie trionfali e fu sepolto nel cimitero dei Martiri, vicino al convento di s. Eustorgio. In quello stesso giorno si diffondevano notizie di miracoli. Tra queste grazie, bisogna annoverare la conversione del vescovo eretico Daniele da Giussano che aveva macchinato la sua morte e dello stesso assassino Carino che entrarono poi nell’Ordine Domenicano.
Il grande clamore suscitato dall’uccisione ed i tanti prodigi che avvenivano fecero si che da tutte le parti si chiedesse un’innalzamento agli altari del martire. Undici mesi dopo, il papa Innocenzo IV il 9 marzo 1253, nella piazza della chiesa domenicana di Perugia, lo canonizzò fissando la data della festa al 29 aprile.
Il suo culto ebbe grande espansione, i domenicani eressero chiese e cappelle a lui dedicate in tutto il mondo, le Confraternite ebbero in ciò un’importanza notevole. Artisti furono chiamati a realizzare opere d’arte, come il monumento marmoreo del 1339 del pisano Giovanni Balduccio a Milano e la grandiosa chiesa di Verona detta di Santa Anastasia. Parecchie città italiane lo elessero a loro protettore come Verona, Vicenza, Cremona, Como, Piacenza, Cesena, Spoleto, Rieti, Recanati.
E’ raffigurato con la tonaca domenicana, con la palma del martirio, con la ferita sanguinante dalla fronte al capo, oppure con una roncola che penetra nel cranio, con il pugnale infitto al petto o ai fianchi, secondo l’estro dell’artista.
E’ uno dei santi più raffigurati, quasi tutti gli artisti si cimentarono a
dipingerlo dal 1253 in poi, visto la grande diffusione che aveva l’Ordine
Domenicano sia in chiese, che conventi, congregazioni, ecc.
La sua data di culto è il 6 aprile, mentre l'Ordine Domenicano lo ricorda il 4
giugno.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/51250
Jeremias Mittendorff, Le Martyre de saint Pierre de Vérone, 1629, Palais des beaux-arts de Lille
PIETRO da Verona, santo
Dizionario Biografico
degli Italiani - Volume 83 (2015)
Marina Benedetti
PIETRO da Verona,
santo. – Nulla si conosce della famiglia di questo frate predicatore e
inquisitore (la tradizione secondo la quale proviene da una famiglia di eretici
è solo agiografica), mentre la città del suo convento di origine è ipotizzabile
dall’indicazione di provenienza nel suo nome.
Possediamo pochissime
informazioni sulla sua vita, e il confronto tra sopravvivenze documentarie e
diffusione iconografica è impari. La prima notizia certa risale al 1245, quando
a Firenze prese parte in qualità di testimone alla condanna dei fratelli Pace e
Barone. Le altre scarsissime notizie sulla sua attività precedente non sono
corroborate documentariamente e vanno considerate con la massima cautela.
L’erudito Bernardino Corio informa che – «sì come havemo trovato per uno
autentico instrumento da noi vulgarizato» (Corio, 1978, p. 364) – nel 1232
frate Pietro fece inserire negli statuti cittadini su mandato di Gregorio IX la
normativa antiereticale in collegamento all’attività preparatoria al grande
moto dell’Alleluia del 1233. Secondo frate Galvano Fiamma, nella Chronica
maior, a partire dal 1233 visse nel convento milanese di S. Eustorgio e
nel 1240 venne nominato inquisitore da Innocenzo IV (Odetto, 1940, p. 326).
L’anno successivo, nelle vesti di priore del convento di Asti, partecipò al
Capitolo provinciale di Milano durante il quale venne nominato priore di
Piacenza.
Il primo – e unico – dato
certo sulla sua attività inquisitoriale è la lettera dell’8 giugno 1251 di
Innocenzo IV con la quale si conferiva l’incarico per l’estirpazione
dell’eretica pravità a Cremona ai frati Pietro da Verona e frate Viviano da
Bergamo, e il giorno successivo ai frati Vincenzo da Milano e Giovanni da
Vercelli a Venezia. Le lettere furono scritte durante una lunga permanenza del
pontefice a Milano e a Genova (dal 15 maggio al 13 settembre 1251) e mostrano
la conoscenza diretta del contesto locale. È degno di nota che i delegati
papali nella lettera non sono mai definiti inquisitores. Meno di un anno
dopo, il 6 aprile 1252, frate Pietro venne ucciso nel bosco di Barlassina
presso Milano e la sua morte avrebbe provocato la conversione di oltre 200
buoni cristiani dualisti (o catari).
Non c’è ragione di
dubitare che, al momento della morte, frate Pietro svolgesse funzioni
inquisitoriali, come risulta dalla Gaudeamus in Domino del 18 maggio
1252 e dalla lettera di canonizzazione Magnis et crebris del 25 marzo
1253. L’autenticità di questa informazione non autorizza a dilatare la
pervasività di un’azione repressiva in ogni caso compressa in tempi brevi. Due
missive interne all’Ordine riferiscono che, un mese dopo l’assassinio, frate
Romeo da Atencia scrisse a frate Raimondo da Peñafort informandolo delle
circostanze della morte e precisando che Innocenzo IV aveva scelto frati idonei
a divenire inquisitori, tra i quali frate Pietro da Verona (Balme, 1889, p.
908). In una missiva inviata da frate Giovanni Colonna, priore della Provincia
Romana, ai frati parigini alcuni giorni dopo la canonizzazione si legge che
frate Pietro era stato «predicator eximius plus quam XXIII annis» (Krafft,
2003, p. 424). Si può ragionevolmente ipotizzare che alla lunga esperienza di
predicatore non corrispose una altrettanto solida attività di inquisitore. Se
ciò in parte spiega la mancanza di documentazione, non aiuta a comprendere il
movente dell’assassinio che resta sconosciuto. Non esiste inoltre alcun
riscontro positivo riguardo a iniziative nella fondazione di confraternite,
quali la Società delle Fede a Milano e la Società della beata Vergine a Firenze
o le altre numerosissime a lui intitolate, per la diffusione del culto e la
repressione dell’eresia (Pellegrini, 2007, pp. 225-234).
La morte di frate Pietro
da Verona si colloca in un fase delicata della lotta all’eresia in Lombardia e,
in particolar modo, ai buoni cristiani dualisti (o catari), in cui i frati
predicatori ebbero un ruolo di primo piano. Con la Ut pressi quondam del
13 settembre 1246, scritta al priore del convento milanese, Innocenzo IV
concesse la facoltà agli eretici convertiti, o in procinto di convertirsi, di
vestire l’abito dei predicatori e ricevere i voti prima della scadenza
dell’anno di noviziato. In tale contesto un ex cataro della Chiesa milanese di
Concorezzo, Raniero Sacconi, entrò nell’Ordine prendendo il nome di Raniero da
Piacenza, divenendo inquisitore e poi autore di una Summa de
catharis, conclusa nel 1250, in cui convergono informazioni derivanti da
diciassette anni di militanza tra i buoni cristiani dualisti (come egli stesso
precisava). È un testo che frate Pietro doveva conoscere. Di tale manuale si
conservano attualmente oltre cinquanta copie (dunque è ipotizzabile che abbia
avuto una notevole diffusione). Non altrettanto può dirsi di una Summa che
in età moderna viene intitolata «contra patarenos Petri martiris» attribuita a
Pietro da Verona di cui sono sopravvissuti due soli esemplari, la cui influenza
fu ridotta e la paternità è dubbia. Appartenevano invece a frate Pietro una
Bibbia e un breviario avvolto in un panno di lino conservati nella sacrestia
della chiesa milanese di S. Eustorgio che, tuttavia, nulla hanno a che vedere
con i suoi compiti inquisitoriali.
Quando, il 6 aprile 1252,
venne ucciso a colpi di falcastro nel bosco di Barlassina, frate Pietro si
stava recando da Como a Milano con tre confratelli. In seguito, il corpo fu
trasferito nella chiesa di S. Simpliciano di Milano e deposto in una cassa. Un
documento interno all’Ordine non esente da precoci topoi agiografici,
la lettera di frate Romeo da Atencia, illustra la dinamica dell’assassinio in
cui fu coinvolto il confratello Domenico che, sopravvissuto una settimana,
avrebbe descritto il comportamento cristomimetico di frate Pietro. Nel
frattempo, un contadino aveva catturato l’assassino, Pietro da Balsamo detto
Carino. Alla confessione di costui seguì una rapidissima indagine che portò a
bandire in tempi molto brevi (sei giorni) alcuni mandanti, tra cui Stefano
Confalonieri da Agliate. Nonostante la velocità dell’avvio, le inchieste si
protrassero per tutta la seconda metà del XIII secolo, se la sentenza contro
Stefano Confalonieri, forse nemmeno definitiva, venne emessa nel 1295. Ciò
dimostra le difficoltà dell’accertamento dell’accaduto, dal momento che la
maggior parte degli uomini accusati dell’assassinio occupavano cariche
pubbliche di rilievo nel delicato contesto politico milanese in cui la morte di
Federico II (1250) aveva creato un vuoto di potere e nuove dinamiche politiche.
Lo scenario non è
riducibile a un mero scontro tra eretici e inquisitori, né tantomeno tra guelfi
e ghibellini: coinvolgente rappresentanti politici, oltre che membri di
famiglie milanesi non schierati politicamente in modo compatto, lo scontro
politico-religioso si sviluppò sul doppio piano della repressione dell’eresia e
della promozione della santità. Ne è singolare esempio la figura dello stesso
Pietro da Balsamo, console di Milano, che in seguito all’omicidio era entrato
nell’Ordine dei frati predicatori, vivendo poi nel convento di Forlì, e infine
venne beatificato come Carino da Balsamo (una vicenda lineare soltanto se
prevale il taglio agiografico-combinatorio, come in Prudlo, 2008b, pp. 1-21).
Solo due deposizioni,
probabilmente del 2 settembre 1252, sono sopravvissute all’ampio dossier
giudiziario sulla morte di frate Pietro da Verona in cui sono descritte la fase
organizzativa che coinvolse ser Manfredo e ser Tommaso da Giussano, Guidotto da
Sacchella, Giacomo della Chiusa, dominus Stefano Confalonieri, oltre
Pietro, detto Carino da Balsamo, e ad Albertino Porro da Lentate. A costoro si
possono aggiungere Roberto, detto Patta da Giussano, ed Enrico, detto Rosso da
Giussano. Risulta chiaro il rilevante coinvolgimento dei membri del consortile
dei da Giussano che occupavano incarichi pubblici a vario titolo.
Ciononostante, il ruolo di spicco di questa famiglia nell’organizzazione
dell’omicidio è dovuto alla sopravvivenza di testimonianze esclusivamente loro
riferite, nelle quali i nomi dei testimoni variano al variare delle diverse
copie prodotte evidenziando non solo interventi esterni, ma anche una complessa
tradizione documentaria. Tale sopravvivenza è ricollegabile a una conservazione
archivistica privata dei documenti giudiziari di cui almeno una copia
dell’interrogatorio apparteneva a dominus Filippo da Giussano
(Benedetti, 2008, pp. 5-29). Ai due interrogatori parteciparono frate Amizone
da Solario, uno dei testimoni al processo di canonizzazione di Domenico da
Caleruega, qui nelle vesti di notaio, e il priore conventuale frate Lamberto da
Bologna in qualità di testimone (anche nel coevo processo di canonizzazione di
san Pietro martire). Dagli interrogatori si evince l’esistenza di un piano per
uccidere anche frate Raniero da Piacenza, inquisitore a Pavia, colui che
avrebbe condotto l’inchiesta con frate Guido da Sesto, decretorum doctor e auditor
contradictarum presso la curia. Il calibro dei personaggi coinvolti e il
collegamento con la figura del santo fondatore Domenico da Caleruega mostra
chiaramente la progettualità agiografica di una morte martiriale.
Il 30 marzo 1257, presso
la canonica di Crescenzago, frate Raniero da Piacenza interrogò dominus Stefano
Confalonieri, che probabilmente poteva aver conosciuto ai tempi della comune
frequentazione della Chiesa catara di Concorezzo. In precedenza, con la Ad
audientiam nostram del 19 agosto 1254, frate Raniero aveva ricevuto il
mandato da Innocenzo IV di distruggere il castello di Gattedo di Roberto detto
Patta (che aveva abiurato il 6 luglio 1253), dove si riunivano i buoni
cristiani dualisti, ma soprattutto dove era stato sepolto il suo antico maestro
Nazario.
La perdita degli atti
processuali originali e la presenza di plurime copie di due soli interrogatori
crea una falsa prospettiva sul procedimento giudiziario, anche considerando
l’anomalo approdo di tali interrogatori negli Acta Sanctorum. A ciò va
aggiunto il ruolo di Daniele da Giussano, una figura ambigua assai vicina ai
congiurati, che pochissimi mesi dopo la morte dell’inquisitore diventò frate e,
a sua volta, inquisitore in Lombardia per oltre trent’anni. È solo un
esempio delle incrinature all’interno di ampi gruppi parentali che, come anche
nel caso dei da Sesto, presentano inquisitori che indagano e interrogano membri
della loro stessa famiglia.
Parallelamente al
processo inquisitoriale contro gli uccisori del frate inquisitore Pietro da
Verona si svolse il processo di canonizzazione. Tale contemporaneità creò una
contaminazione tra le due diverse tipologie di procedimento e una precoce
immissione di elementi agiografici nella documentazione coeva, che tuttora
condiziona gli storici (cfr. Rainini, 2011, pp. 31-55). In meno di un anno
dalla morte, il 25 marzo 1253, venne emessa la lettera di canonizzazione Magnis
et crebris del secondo santo dell’Ordine, in cui si istituì un
parallelismo tra la Passione di Cristo e il martirio di Pietro, modello di
riferimento e forma peculiarmente domenicana di imitatio Christi, come
avvenuto nella Vita del contemporaneo Tommaso Agni da Lentini e
nella Legenda Aurea di Iacopo da Varagine scritta nella seconda metà
del XIII secolo.
Le ragioni della rapidità
del procedimento si spiegano con la delicata situazione della Lombardia, con la
funzione antiereticale della santità di Pietro martire, ma anche assai
plausibilmente per le pressioni in curia dell’Ordine, a cui non dovette essere estraneo
frate Raimondo da Peñafort, il giurista che, nel 1232, aveva concluso il Liber
Extra commissionato da Gregorio IX e, nel 1242, un manuale di procedura
inquisitoriale, il cosiddetto Directorium. Non a caso, era stato
immediatamente informato dopo l’assassinio con una lettera contenente i dati
fattuali per la costruzione del culto del santo. Il dossier del processo di
canonizzazione è andato perduto, così come il fascicolo originale usato dai
bollandisti (Dondaine, 1953, p. 108).
In seguito alla canonizzazione,
la cassa marmorea contenente il corpo dell’inquisitore, donata dall’abate di
San Simpliciano, venne trasferita nella navata sinistra della chiesa di S.
Eustorgio e fu promossa la diffusione del culto attraverso l’immagine
martiriale del santo, caratterizzata da un falcastro che solca la fronte e
dalla fondazione di conventi e confraternite a lui intitolati. Venne progettata
un’arca monumentale in cui conservare il corpo, mentre a Bologna Nicola Pisano
stava terminando quella di san Domenico, conclusa nel 1267. Dopo essersi
impegnato per il santo-fondatore, l’Ordine si occupò del monumento funebre per
il santo-martire. Nel 1297, durante il Capitolo generale di Venezia, il maestro
generale Niccolò da Treviso sollecitò una raccolta di fonti. Divenuto nel 1303
pontefice con il nome di Benedetto XI, richiese direttamente agli inquisitori
lombardi un contributo che, successivamente, devolvettero altro denaro in varie
occasioni.
Un ulteriore appello
venne lanciato nel corso del Capitolo generale di Londra del 1335 in seguito al
quale giunsero sussidi dalla Francia, dall’Inghilterra, dalla Germania,
dall’Ungheria e dall’Italia, soprattutto da Milano, ma anche dal re e dalla
regina di Cipro, dal cardinale Matteo Orsini, Azzone e Giovanni Visconti,
rispettivamente signore e arcivescovo di Milano. Tutti questi personaggi
sarebbero stati raffigurati nell’arca. Nel convento milanese dei frati
predicatori il ricordo di un inquisitore martire, e poi santo, si concretizzò
in una doppia memoria – scultorea e manoscritta – attraverso i riferimenti
devozionali di un monumento pubblico al santo (in chiesa) e dei personali
‘libri del mestiere’ di frate (la Bibbia e il breviario conservati in
sacrestia). Non è possibile, invece, trovare alcuna traccia del concreto lavoro
di inquisitore per cui si presume sia stato ucciso Pietro.
Nel 1337 lo scultore
Giovanni di Balduccio da Pisa iniziò a lavorare all’arca che avrebbe concluso
due anni dopo. In occasione del Capitolo generale di Milano del 1340 ebbe luogo
la traslazione solenne nel monumento funebre collocato nella navata sinistra
della chiesa di S. Eustorgio. Tale cerimonia avvenne in un clima di
riconciliazione tra i membri dell’Ordine dei predicatori, in particolar modo
gli inquisitori, e i rappresentanti politico-religiosi della famiglia Visconti,
tra i quali Azzone e l’arcivescovo Giovanni, in precedenza anch’egli accusato
di eresia, a dimostrazione del livello assunto dallo scontro in un contesto in
cui l’accusa di eresia appariva esplicitamente politica.
La successiva fase
architettonico-monumentale ebbe luogo nel XV secolo, con la costruzione della
cappella Portinari e la realizzazione del ciclo di affreschi di Vincenzo Foppa
sul martirio dell’inquisitore. Il trasferimento definitivo dell’arca ebbe luogo
nel 1736. Il teschio del martire è conservato in un reliquiario posto in una
stanzetta adiacente.
Riportata negli Acta
Sanctorum il 29 aprile, attualmente la festa di san Pietro martire si
celebra il 6 aprile, mentre il suo Ordine lo ricorda il 4 giugno.
Fonti e Bibl.: Firenze,
Biblioteca nazionale, Conventi soppressi, Mss. 1738.A.9, cc. 63r-65r;
Perugia, Biblioteca Augusta, Mss. 1065, cc. 83rb-85rb; Roma, Archivio
generale dell’Ordine dei Predicatori, XIV, 53: Ambrogii Taegii Chronicae
ordinis Praedicatorum, III: Chronica brevis, cc. 138r; 54, cc.
104r-126v; Bullarium Ordinis fratrum Praedicatorum, a cura di T.
Ripoll, I, Romae 1729, doc. 162, p. 168, Ut pressi quondam (13
settembre 1246); doc. 346, p. 254, Ad audientiam nostram (19 agosto
1254); doc. 297, p. 229, Magnis et crebris (25 marzo 1253); Vita
beati Petri martiris, in Acta Sanctorum..., Aprilis, III, nuova
ed. a cura di J. Carnandet, Parisiis-Romae 1866, pp. 686-727; G.S. Villa, Processo
per l’uccisione di san P. M., in Archivio storico lombardo, IV
(1877), pp. 790-794.
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di san P. M. da Verona, Milano 1741; F. Balme, Documents sur saint
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di Galvano Fiamma, in Archivum fratrum Praedicatorum, X (1940), pp.
297-373; T. Käppeli, Une Somme contre les hérétiques de saint Pierre
martyr (?), in Archivum fratrum Praedicatorum, XVII (1947), pp. 295-335;
A. Dondaine, Saint Pierre Martyr, in Archivum fratrum
Praedicatorum, XXIII (1953), pp. 66-162; Corio, Storia di Milano, I, a
cura di A. Morisi Guerra, Torino 1978, pp. 364 s.; A. Moskowitz, Giovanni
di Balduccio’s Arca di San P. M.: Form and Function, in Arte lombarda,
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(martire) da Verona e l’iconografia di un prodigio, in Chiesa, vita
religiosa, società nel medioevo italiano. Studi offerti a Giuseppina De Sandre
Gasparini, a cura di M. Rossi - G.M. Varanini, Roma 2005, pp. 595-612; O.
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Mittelalter bis zur Reformation, Köln-Weimar-Wien 2005, pp. 468-500; M.
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cura di G.G. Merlo, Milano 2006, pp. 15-32; Martire per la fede. San
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(secc. XIII-XV), in Martire per la fede... cit., pp. 225-234; D.
Prudlo, The martyred inquisitor. The life and cult of Peter of Verona, Aldershot
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in The Catholic Historical Review, XCIV (2008b), pp. 1-21; G.G.
Merlo, Inquisitori e Inquisizione del Medioevo, Bologna 2008, pp. 49-67;
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Chiesa in Italia, LXV (2011), pp. 31-55.
SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/pietro-da-verona-santo_(Dizionario-Biografico)/
Andrea
da Murano (1462-1502), Saint Sébastien, Saint Vincent Ferrier, Saint Roch,
Saint Pierre de Vérone (Peter of Verona - san Pietro Martire), 1475, tempera sur bois,
à
l’origine dans l’église San Pietro Martire ( Peter of Verona) de Murano. Maintenant à l'Accademia of Venice
Den hellige Peter av
Verona (Peter Martyr) (1205-1252)
Minnedag: 29.
april
Skytshelgen for
dominikanerne; for Como, Cremona, Lombardia og hertugdømmet Modena; mot
kjetteri, hodelidelser, lyn og storm; for en god avling
Den hellige Peter av
Verona (Pietro da Verona) ble født i 1205 i Verona i Nord-Italia. Hans foreldre
var tilhengere av den kjetterske sekten katarene, som ga opphavet til
ordet kjetter. Merkelig nok overlot de oppdragelsen av Peter til en katolsk
prest, uten å ane at dette ville legge grunnlaget for guttens urokkelige tro og
for at han tidlig tok avstand fra foreldrenes vranglære. 15 år gammel kom han
til universitetet i Bologna, og ble snart tatt opp i den hellige Dominikus'
nye orden og mottok drakten av grunnleggeren selv i 1221. Da Dominikus kort
etter døde, hadde Peter bare ett mål: å etterligne ham i alt. Han ba, fastet,
studerte, pleide de syke og utførte de simpleste oppgavene i klosteret for å
øve seg i ydmykhet. Det ungdommelige overmot knekte ham nesten, og han ble
svært syk.
Etter sin rekonvalesens
og prestevielse kunne han nå endelig vie seg til å preke i Midt- og
Nord-Italia. Han prekte mot katolikker som levde et ondt liv, men hans
foreldres vranglære gjorde at han også visste om farene som falsk lære kunne
anrette blant menneskene. Folk strømmet til for å høre ham, og på kort tid var
Peter berømt, hjulpet av sitt ry for å gjøre undre. Han prekte på kirketrapper
og offentlige plasser, og folk elsket og æret ham, men vranglærerne hatet ham.
De forsøkte å baktale ham og rettet en falsk anklage mot ham for å ha sluppet
fremmede og kvinner inn i sin celle. Men Kirken forsto hvilken stor forsvarer
av den sanne lære de hadde i ham, og han ble frikjent for anklagene.
Peter ble gjort til prior
i flere hus i dominikanerordenen, som fortsatt var i sin tidlige
oppbyggingsfase, og han var også pavelig utsending. I 1234 ble han utnevnt til
inkvisitor for området rundt Milano, og i 1251 ble han gjort til leder for
Inkvisisjonen i det meste av Nord-Italia, inkludert Venezia, Genova, Bologna og
provinsen Marche di Ancona. Samtidig valgte hans medbrødre ham til prior i
klosteret i Como. Nå kunne han kjempe enda sterkere mot katarenes kjetteri, som
var svært utbredt i Nord-Italia.
Peter var også en sterk
og diskret veileder for nonner, og arbeidet aktivt for å få flere kvinner til å
bli dominikanernonner. Han ivret for bibelstudier og det åndelige liv, og
beklaget at han måtte forlate sin celle så ofte.
Han utøvde sitt embete
med overbærenhet og rettferdighet, i motsetning til de voldsomheter som ofte
var begått når inkvisisjonstribunalene kom i hendene på fanatikere. Han brukte
mye tid og krefter på å føre de arresterte tilbake til den katolske lære, i
stedet for å ønske dem straffet eller døde. Men Peter fikk ikke utøve sitt
embete så lenge.
Peter forsto at selv om
hans arbeid med forkynnelse og disputter var mindre voldsomt enn korstogene mot
albigenserne i Sør Frankrike, vakte det den samme fiendtligheten. Hans liv var
ofte i fare, for på grunn av hans store suksess besluttet katarene å drepe ham.
De fant ut når han skulle dra til Milano fra klosteret i Como, der han hadde
feiret påsken, og på veien ble han overfalt av to leiemordere som kløyvde hodet
hans med en øks. Hans ledsager Dominikus ble stukket i hjel. Peter overlot sin
sjel til Gud med den hellige Stefans ord.
Tradisjonen sier at den døende Peter med sitt eget blod skrev ordene Credo
in Deum («Jeg tror på Gud») i landeveiens støv før han fikk en dolk i
brystet og døde, men dette er temmelig tvilsomt.
Mordet skjedde den 6.
april 1252 i Farga mellom Como og Milano. Hans lik ble ført til Milano og
bisatt i kirken Sant'Eustorgio ved Porta Ticinese i Milano, hvor hans gotiske
gravmæle fortsatt står. Denne «Arca di San Pietro» ble laget 1336-39. Mange
undre skjedde ved Peters grav, og hans ry spredte seg raskt. Mot dette kunne
ikke katarenes lære vare lenge. Han ble helligkåret som martyr allerede året
etter sin død, den 24. mars 1253 av pave Innocent IV. Hans hoderelikvie
befinner seg i Milano, mens en finger er i Como. Andre relikvier finnes blant
annet i Wien og Graz. Hans morder Carino avsverget sitt kjetteri og ble en
dominikansk legbror som etter mange år døde i hellighets ry. I kirken
Sant'Eustorgio ble også relikviene av De hellige tre konger oppbevart i en
sarkofag til Rainald av Dassel i 1164 overførte dem til domkirken i Köln.
Mange betydelige
kunstnere, fremfor alt den salige Fra Angelico,
har fremstilt Peter med sår i hodet, en dolk i skulderen og med fingeren på
munnen som tegn på taushet. Oftest blir han fremstilt i dominikanerdrakt med
martyrpalme og bok. Han er skytshelgen for dominikanere og blir anropt mot
kjetteri, hodelidelser, lyn og storm. Han kalles ofte Peter Martyr, ettersom
han var dominikanerordenens første martyr. Han må ikke forveksles med Peter
Martyr Vermigli, som var en protestantisk leder på 1500-tallet. Peter kalles
også «av Milano» eller «av Lombardia». Han er den mest populære helgen i
Nord-Italia.
Hans minnedag er 29.
april, og hans navn står i Martyrologium Romanum. I 1969 ble hans minnedag
strøket i den romerske generalkalenderen og henvist til lokale kalendere. Noen
steder ble minnedagen samtidig flyttet fra 29. april til dødsdagen 6. april.
20. april nevnes også. Hans minnedag står på den norske Primstaven den 18.
mars. Hvorfor han i Norge ble minnet den dagen, vet vi ikke. Han feires særlig
i dominikanske kirker.
Kilder:
Attwater/Cumming, Farmer, Benedictines, Schauber/Schindler, Melchers,
Dammer/Adam - Kompilasjon og oversettelse: p. Per Einar Odden -
Sist oppdatert: 1999-09-05 21:20
SOURCE : http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/pverona
Tombe
de Saint Pierre Martyr à la Basilique
Saint Eustorgio, Chapelle Portinari, Milan
Voir aussi : https://www.christianiconography.info/peterMartyr.html
https://www.storiadimilano.it/Personaggi/santi/pietromartire/pietromartire.htm
