PIETRO COMESTORE. — Theologian, so called perhaps because of the ardor with which he read books, born probably at Troyes (Champagne) in the first half of the 12th century, died in Paris in 1179. Dean of the Chapter of Troyes from 1147, in 1164 he became chancellor of Paris and taught theology until 1169; in his final years he became a regular canon at S. Vittore, where he was buried with the well-known epitaph composed by him: « Petrus eram quem petra tegit dictusque Comestor - nunc comedor. Vivus docui, nec cesso docere ».
His Historia scholastica (PL 198, 1053-1722), written between 1169 and 1173, is famous: it was the first attempt at a sacred history, extending from the earthly Paradise to the imprisonment of s. Paolo in Rome, compiled on the basis of texts from Scripture and the Fathers, with synchronistic references to the profane history of the greatest peoples (Persians, Greeks, Romans); despite its gaps and shortcomings, it was an original work for its time, universally accepted as a classical text, and P., also known as Magister historiarum, was remembered by Dante (Paradiso, XII, 134) alongside Ugo di S. Vittore and Pietro Ispano. Also noteworthy are the Sententiae de Sacramentis (edited by R. Martin, in Spicilegium Sacrum Lovaniense, fasc. XVII, Lovanio 1937, in the appendix, with valuable prolegomena), written between 1165 and 1170, in which the subject is developed along the lines of Pietro Lombardo but with evident advances (broader documentation, more elaborate terminology, especially concerning the Eucharist), although it does not deal with Orders and Matrimony. He is also the author of many Sermones, some of which (published among those of Ildeberto di Lovardin: PL 171, 339-964) reflect the professorial tone of the theologian, while others (unpublished), composed in the quiet of S. Vittore, are simpler and more closely adapted to the needs of the audience. His commentaries
on s. Paolo, still unpublished (Paris, Bibl. naz., lat. 15,269), are brief theological glosses on the gloss of Anselmo di Laon; his authorship of the Alleguriæ in Vetus et Novum Testamentum (the first part of which is published in PL 177, 194-284) is affirmed by Martin and disputed by Landgraf. The Liber qui dicitur Pancrisis (Bibl. di Avranches, 19; Troyes, 425 A) is also attributed to P.: a collection of sententiae and quaestiones drawn from the Fathers and contemporary theologians.