PETER GONZALEZ, Blessed. - Spanish Dominican popularly called St. Elmo or St. Telmo, b. at Fromista (Palencia) toward the close of the 12th century, d. at Tuy ca. 1246.

Of a noble family, supported by his uncle Tello Tellez de Meneses, bishop of Palencia, he was, while still young, a canon of the Cathedral and then dean of the Chapter. Dissolute and worldly, following a humiliating fall from a horse he changed his life and became a religious. He was confessor of Ferdinand III of Castile, whom he accompanied to the conquest of Cordova (1236). He had great success as a preacher and devoted himself particularly to the evangelization of sailors, who took to invoking him under the name of St. Elmo (derived from Erasmus, the protector of sailors). Benedict XIV confirmed and extended his cult (already decreed in 1254) in Dec. 1741. Feast on 14 April.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: Legenda b. Petri Gaudisalvi, in N. Florez, España sagrada, XXIII, Madrid 1767, p. 250 ff.; E. Sampayo, Vita b. Petri Gaudisalvi, Braga 1586, with a view to canonization; Acta SS. Aprilis, II, Venice 1738, pp. 380-99; P. Alvarez, Santos, Bienaventurados, Venerables de la Orden de los Predicadores, I, Vergara 1920, pp. 121-77.

Abele Redigonda

@incollection{ec9_pietro_gonzalez_beato, author = {Redigonda, Abele}, title = {Pietro Gonzalez, beato}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {1456}, 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-gonzalez-beato} }

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Peter Gonzalez, Blessed

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