PETER of CORDOVA. - Born c. 1482 at Córdoba, he studied at Salamanca, where he entered the Dominican Order. With the first members of his Order in September 1510 he disembarked in Española (Santo Domingo).
Soon they began to defend the rights of the Indians and matters almost reached the point of sending the missionaries back to Spain, when Fr. P., summoned by the King for information, succeeded in regaining royal favour. Above all, he obtained that no one might deal with the Indians in places where Fr. P. would take up residence without his consent, under penalty of losing half his goods (Royal Decree of 2 June 1513). In the autumn of 1513 Fr. P. sent three Dominicans into the province of Piritu on the mainland coast of Cumaná. Despite this, some Spanish slave-traders entered the Dominican mission territory: the Indians rebelled and two missionaries were slaughtered. In 1515 Peter of C. sent Fr. Antonio de Montesinos to Spain, who met in Santo Domingo the licentiate Bartolomé de Las Casas (v. LAS CASAS) and together they set out to protest against the encomienda system. Before Fr. Antonio de Montesinos’ departure for Spain, P. attempted a new mission on the mainland with Spanish Dominicans and French Franciscans. In September–October 1515 Peter of C. with his missionaries landed on the Araya peninsula. The Franciscans chose as their field of work the Indian village of Cumaná, the Dominicans that of Chiriviche. Even in this territory Spanish slave-traders entered and the enterprise failed. It seems that P. made a third missionary attempt on the island of Margarita. He died in May 1521 (others give 28 June 1525) at Santo Domingo.