PETER OF VERONA, Saint. - Dominican martyr, b. in Verona at the beginning of the 13th century, d. in the woods of Farga (Seveso, Milan) on 6 April 1252.

Born into a heretical family, in Bologna, where he had been sent to attend the University, he entered the Dominican Order (ca. 1221-22). From 1232 he was a papal envoy to Milan and there founded the "Societies of the Faith" and "of the Virgin" for the defense of religion against the heretics. Around

PETER OF VERONA, saint - Fresco by Bl. Angelico in the convent of S. Marco (15th cent.) - Florence.(phot. Alinari)

1240 he was prior at Asti; in 1241 at Piacenza. In the two years 1244-45 he preached in Florence and there came to know, supported and defended the Sts. Founders of the Order of the Servites. He also preached in Rome, in the Marches and in Romagna: in 1249 he was a peacemaker at Rimini. In 1251 he was a papal envoy to Cremona, and in the same year prior at Como and papal inquisitor at Como and Milan. His tenacity in demanding the application of the papal decrees against the heretics and the fruit of his preaching earned him the hatred of the Ghibellines and the Cathars, who had him killed near Farga on the road to Cantù, while he was traveling from Como to Milan, sealing his creed with his blood. He was canonized the following year (25 March 1253) by Innocent IV. The relics of the Saint are preserved in the Portinari chapel in S. Eustorgio (Milan). Feast on 29 April. - See plate XCIX.

Plate XCIX ARK OF ST. PETER MARTYR. At the centre scene of his canonization performed at Perugia by Innocent IV, 24 March 1253, work by Balduccio da Pisa (1399) - Milan, basilica of S. Eustorgio, Cappella Portinari.(fot. Allaari)

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: sources: Acta SS. Aprilis, III, Paris 1866, pp. 687-727; Gerardo de Fracheto, Vitae Fratrum (Mon. Ord. Praed. Hist., 1), Rome 1896, passim, esp. pp. 236-48. Studies: P.-T. Campana, Storia di s. P. M. di Verona, Milan 1741; S. Orlandi, Il VII centenario della predicazione di s. P. M. a Firenze (1245-1945), in Memorie Domenicane, 63 (1946), pp. 26-41, 59-87 and 64 (1947), pp. 31-48, 109-36, 170-208; G. Meersseman, in Arch. Fr. Praed., 21 (1951), pp. 51-196; anon. Una vita per il credo, notizie biografiche storiche artistiche nel VII centenario del martirio di s. P. da V., Seveso 1952.

Abele Redigonda

@incollection{ec9_pietro_da_verona_santo, author = {Redigonda, Abele}, title = {Pietro da Verona, santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {1450--1451}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/pietro-da-verona-santo} }

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Peter of Verona, Saint

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