PETER THOMAS (PETER OF THOMAS),
Saint. - Carmelite, born at Le Breil (Perigord, France)
around 1305, died at Famagusta (Cyprus) on 6 January 1366.
Master of Theology in Paris in 1349, then regent
of the Carmelite Studium in Avignon, procurator general of the Order
in 1345. He began his diplomatic career under Innocent VI,
devoting his efforts to the service of the papal mission for the
union of Europe against the Muslim threat.
To this end he represented the Holy See in negotiations
with Queen Joanna of Naples (1353), with Venice
and Genoa (1353), with Louis of Hungary and Stephen of
Serbia (1355), with Louis of Hungary and Venice (1356).
In 1357 he negotiated with the Byzantine emperor John
Palaeologus the union of the Eastern Church; in 1359 he was
papal legate in the expedition sent to aid that
emperor. Bishop of Patti in 1354, transferred in
1359 to Coron in the Morea, he became in 1363 archbishop
of Crete and then Latin patriarch of Constantinople.
He worked for the success of the enterprise in
Asia Minor and for the defense of the Aegean; after the capture of
Attaleia he organized Catholic worship there. He labored
intensely for the conversion of the Serbian people and for the
extirpation of heresy in Crete and Cyprus. There he formed a
friendship with King Peter I and his chancellor, Philip of
Mézières, and together they conceived the idea of a new Crusade,
urging the aid of the West. The Crusade was proclaimed by
Pope Urban V in 1363, and Peter succeeded in 1364 the cardinal
Talleyrand in the office of legate. In this new role he devoted
himself entirely to maintaining peace among the Christian powers.
Meanwhile he administered the city of Bologna, where he was
one of the founding masters of the Faculty of Theology (1364).
When the Crusade began with the attack and capture of
Alexandria (1365), Peter took part bravely and was among the
few who opposed the abandonment of the city.
He was immediately venerated as a saint; Paul V in 1609 and
Urban VIII in 1628 confirmed his cult. Feast in the
Carmelite Order on 29 January.