Saint Peter of Alcantara

When he had made his profession, continuing in that spirit of fervor with which he had begun his religious life, he was advanced by degrees in the sacred Orders; then he applied himself to the ministries of preaching and confession with marvelous success. His prudence then made him judged worthy of the leadership of his brothers. He was therefore elected, first guardian in various convents, then definitor, and finally provincial of his province of Saint Gabriel, and he was reappointed to this office twice. But, as he always aspired to a more perfect life, he entered the Congregation of Saint Joseph, which followed the Rule of Saint Francis to the letter, and he suffered great hardships to support it against its adversaries and to preserve it in its integrity. Finally, in the year 1561, which preceded his death, having been appointed by Pope Paul IV as vicar and visitor general of this Congregation, he assembled its Chapter and erected it into a province, under the obedience of the minister general of the entire Seraphic Order. This is, in brief, the entire plan of the life of this great personage. It is now necessary, in order to know to what degree of holiness it pleased God to raise him, to make known the virtues that shone throughout his conduct.

His austerity was so extraordinary that one cannot hear of it without astonishment. As soon as he took the religious habit, he made it a rule to always keep his eyes lowered, so as not to allow the vanity of the world to enter his heart: a rule he faithfully executed his entire life. He went a long time without knowing whether his cell had a floor or not, or how the choir he entered at all hours was constructed. He never cast his gaze upon anyone, not even his brethren, contenting himself with recognizing them by their voices. His fasting was continuous, and at his meals he took, even during his illnesses, only bread and water. Only in his old age did he add some half-cooked herbs or vegetables, which he prepared for an entire week, for fear that by occupying himself with this every day, he might lose a few moments of the time he devoted to prayer. If these dishes seemed too good to him, he would throw ashes or cold water on them to remove their flavor. Ordinarily, he ate only one day out of three, and sometimes he would go eight days without taking any food. This rigor was accompanied by another, which he confessed to Saint Teresa had caused him much more sainte Thérèse A mystic saint who prophesied the greatness of John the Baptist. suffering; it was to sleep almost not at all. He complained of sleep because it does, he said, what death does not, which is to separate us from the presence of God; thus, he took as little as he could, and only an hour and a half per day. For forty years, he never slept except supported on his knees, or sitting on his feet with his head leaning against the wall or against a rope stretched from one end of the room to the other. He never stretched out to his full length, because his cell was always shorter, lower, and narrower than he was. During the winter, which is sometimes very harsh in Spain, he would open the window and the door of his room to feel all the cold, and believed he was showing great mercy to his body by closing them afterward to warm up. He always walked barefoot and without sandals. If it happened that he injured a foot, he would take a sandal for that side, without taking one for the other side, because it was not reasonable that the healthy foot should be at ease while the other was inconvenienced. At all times he went bareheaded and thus exposed himself to the rain, the snow, and the heat of the sun, as much to honor the presence of God, who is everywhere, as to imitate the state of Our Lord, who was bareheaded throughout the course of His Passion. He added to all these mortifications the hairshirt and the discipline; he took it twice a day with iron chains, which left his whole body covered in blood; and, regarding his hairshirt, Saint Teresa assures us that for twenty years he wore one made of brass plates pierced on all sides like a grater. Finally, so many austerities had so dried and burned his skin that it appeared more like the skin of a dead man than of a living person.

This admirable zeal for the sufferings came from the deep impression that the Passion of Our Lord had made upon his heart. Indeed, he was often seen prostrate before a large cross, his arms outstretched and shedding torrents of tears; and, sometimes, his fervor was so vehement that he was found rapt in ecstasy, with his body raised from the ground up to the arms of the crucifix. One day he appeared there all covered in flames that issued from the ardor with which his heart was ablaze; and, then, the cross also ignited with this same fire and became all radiant: which sufficiently marked the loving communications of Our Lord with His servant. He also endeavored to inspire everyone with devotion toward this adorable mystery; and, to succeed in this, he planted crosses in every place that was possible for him; and however large and heavy they might be, he carried them himself upon his shoulders to the places where they were to be placed: which left him all covered in blood, because these crosses, resting upon his hair shirt of pierced brass, tore his skin and made the blood flow in abundance. The first one he had the happiness of erecting was on the mountain of Gata, in Extremadura. The angels undoubtedly helped him to carry it; for, although it was extremely large and of a weight beyond his strength, he did not, nevertheless, allow any man to give him assistance; from the middle of the mountain he carried it on his knees, and then went barefoot onto the point of the rock where no one had ever climbed, and which was all covered with pebbles and brambles. He did the same on several other neighboring mountains, where he gathered the people, preached to them the mysteries of the cross, and imprinted upon them, by this means, great sentiments of contrition and penance. It was mainly on these mountains, where he was accustomed to withdraw to make his prayer, that it pleased the divine Goodness to visit him and to teach him the science of the Saints. Shepherds have seen him there several times raised into the air to the height of a pike or of the tallest trees of these forests.

These excellent lights, which he received from God, served only to make him more humble. He always had these words on his lips: "I will speak to my Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. Remember, my God, if you please, that you made me from mud and that I must return to the same mud." He maintained himself all his life in the submission of a novice; even while being superior, he lowered himself to the vilest offices of the house and acknowledged his faults before his vicar, whom he begged to impose public penances upon him. He took pleasure in bringing alms to the poor at the door of the convent, and took this opportunity to instruct and console them. The Emperor Charles V and Joanna, Princess of Portugal, his daughter, having chosen him as their confessor, he constantly refused this position, which anyone else would have coveted as a step toward the highest dignities of the Church: which made that great prince say that Peter was not of this world, but a man entirely heavenly and entirely immersed in God.

His love for poverty was extreme: he could not contemplate that of Jesus Christ, born and dying, without feeling an incredible ardor to imitate it. He was delighted when he lacked everything and when his indigence forced him to suffer something. He had only one very short and very narrow habit, and a cloak so short that it did not cover his hand when he extended his arm; both were of very poor fabric, and often covered with patches. In his cell, there was only a Bible, a simple wooden cross, and a poor gourd with instruments of penance. Yet he believed he was too rich, and regarded these furnishings as goods that were only lent to him: which is why he relinquished everything before his death into the hands of his guardian. He denied himself the most necessary things, and even a mount for his travels, at times when he could barely walk without the help of a religious. He did his best to have at his meals the hardest and blackest bread of the convent, and still believed that he had not earned it and that he was unworthy of it. He exhorted his religious to be content with little, and to rejoice when they were in need. The convents he had built appeared more like huts or birds' nests than dwellings for men. The one at Pedroso, in the diocese of Plasencia, was only thirty-two feet long and twenty-eight feet high, and one would have taken the cells for sepulchers; the doors were so narrow that one could not pass through without discomfort. The workers pointed out this inconvenience to him, but he told them that it had to be so, so that one would remember that the gate of heaven is very narrow. He did not want the ornaments of his churches to be of cloth of gold, silver, or silk, but of wool only. Finally, it was he who strengthened Saint Teresa in her initial plan not to accept funds or annuities in her monasteries, writing to her for this purpose that beautiful letter of April 14, 1562, in which he te sainte Thérèse A mystic saint who prophesied the greatness of John the Baptist. lls her that it is an injury to God to fear that He will not assist the evangelical poor, after the authentic promises He Himself made in the Gospel.

His constancy in chastity appeared brilliantly when, being violently tempted against this virtue, he covered his whole body in blood with thorns and then threw himself up to his neck in a frozen pond; he won, by this means, a glorious victory over his enemy, and his name has remained with the pond where he had plunged himself. His prayer was most eminent. From the beginning, he placed himself through prayer into recollection and the presence of God, which maintained him in a profound peace. From there, he was raised to such a close union with God that his soul was entirely flooded with the delicious torrents that flow from this eternally living source. Often it was enraptured and carried even to the royal bed of the heavenly Spouse, where it had no other operation than to feel and to enjoy. This state was followed by a violent but crucifying love, which came to him from the intimate and delicate impressions of the divinity. Then, unable to stop the movements of this ardor, he would heave sighs and let out cries so loud and so piercing that they filled his brethren with fear and admiration. This same love also sometimes excited such a fire in his breast that he was obliged to leave his cell to expose himself to the open air, in order to temper its vehemence. Ecstasies and raptures also accompanied these impressions, and they were so ordinary for him that, during prayer, he scarcely had the use of his senses or application to external things. He merited this great recollection through an almost continuous silence, and he accustomed himself to this silence by carrying small stones in his mouth for more than three years, "because," he said, "life and death are attached to the movement of the tongue."

One should not be surprised if Saint Peter of Alcantara, being thus anticipated and penetrated by God, carried with him a blessing that made him succeed in everything he undertook. He preached in a manner so touching and so pathetic that the most hardened hearts surrendered to his exhortations and entered, by this means, into the ways of penance. Being at the court of Don John III, King of Port ugal, where Don Jean III King of Portugal who ordered the renaming of Mylapore. his superiors had sent him at the instance of this prince, it is impossible to express the good he did there, and the great number of persons of both sexes whom he attracted to the service of God, or whom he led to embrace the religious life in the most reformed monasteries. By his counsel, Queen Catherine made her palace a school of virtue and devotion. The Infante Don Luis, brother of the king, had the convent of Salvaterra built in his favor, and retired there to live as the poorest religious, after having sold his furniture and his equipment, paid his debts, and made a solemn vow of poverty and chastity. The Infanta Maria, sister of this prince, also made a vow of chastity and employed all her goods in the service of Our Lord. Besides these connections he had with the leading persons of Portugal, he also had very close ones with Saint Francis Borgia and with Saint Teresa, to whom he was of great help in saint François de Borgia General of the Jesuits in Rome who received Stanislaus. the extraordinary ways by which God was drawing her to Himself. These brilliant functions did not prevent him from exercising his charity toward the poor and strangers. God gave him for the latter the gift of tongues, which he used advantageously to explain to them the mysteries of our faith and the maxims of the Holy Scripture; and for the poor, he visited them in the hospitals and rendered them all the spiritual and temporal assistance that was possible for him.

But the greatest fruit he provided to the Church was to contribute, along with several other servants of God, to the reform of the Order of Saint Francis, by establishing with them the Province of Saint Joseph, in the strict observance of the Rule, which this seraphic man received from heaven. This reform has made such wonderful progress since that time that it has extended not only throughout all of Europe, but also to the furthest extremities of Japan and the East Indies: so that it has repaired with advantage the ravages that the heretics, against whom it seems God wished to oppose him, had made in France, England, and Germany. One may also include among the services that Saint Peter rendered to the Christian religion his *Treatise on Prayer*, which he composed at the instance of Don Rodrigo de Chaves, a gentleman of quality and very pious. No sooner was it published than the most reformed religious took it for their exercise; and it is its reading that led the Rev. Fr. Louis of Granada, a friend of our Saint, to dedicate himself to the composition of those beautiful spiritual works that he brought to light, and which have been the cause of the salvation of so many souls. Pope Gregory XV gave this au thentic tes Grégoire XV Pope who elevated the congregation to the rank of a regular order in 1621. timony of it, that it contained a very clear and very pure light to lead souls to heaven, and that the Holy Spirit had guided his pen to write each article. This pious pontiff gave him the title of doctor, and had him painted with the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, dictating to his ear such an admirable doctrine.

Saint Peter received extraordinary favors from the goodness of Our Lord during this life. One day while he was celebrating Mass, in the presence of Saint Teresa and Isabel of Ortega, who later became a Carmelite, Saint Francis and Saint Anthony of Padua were seen by the Saint serving as his deacon and subdeacon when he came to give her Communion along with her companion. Another time, a famous preacher of the Order of Saint Dominic, who honored his virtue but did not believe him to be in such a high degree of holiness, saw him accompanied by a multitude of angels who followed him everywhere and rendered him all sorts of services. Jesus Christ himself sometimes honored him with his visit; to which the same Saint Teresa bears witness. Among others, he did so in the house of a great lord, in the presence of a pious woman who, seeing this divine Master, cried out: "How, Lord, does your infinite Majesty deign to come here?" But he answered her: "Where would you have me go, if not to the places where I find my elect?"

Our Saint eminently possessed the gift of prophecy and that of wonders and miracles. We have in the historians of his life a great number of predictions that he made and which were happily fulfilled. He knew the most secret and distant things. It was ordinary for him to feel no effect from the storms and tempests that arose in the places where he was, and he obtained the same grace for those in his company. Often the rain had so much respect for his person that, falling all around him, it did not reach him. Having one day been caught in the snow in the countryside, the angels formed a small chapel for him, where he spent the night peacefully with his brethren. He crossed the Tagus by walking on the waters on dry land, at a time when the boatman did not want to risk crossing it with his boat. The same thing happened to him on other occasions. At his prayer, the staff he had used while going to Rome, and which he planted at the convent of Pedroso, was changed into a good fig tree: its fruit, as well as that of several others which are its offshoots, has become a source of health for the sick. It is called the miracle fig tree. By the strength of his prayer and his penances, he obtained from God the proper weather for the goods of the earth,

and, by this means, he often prevented the scourges of sterility and famine; which he did especially once in favor of the kingdom of Valencia. Indeed, his prayers were so powerful before God that Saint Teresa assures having learned from her heavenly Spouse that He could refuse nothing of what was asked of Him through his intercession; she herself called him a Saint while he was still alive, and often had recourse to his intercessions.

Finally, it pleased God to put an end to his labors and to crown him with immortal glory. Having come to Villa-Viciosa, he was struck there by an acute fever that soon took on an alarming character. Unable to provide the patient with proper treatment, the religious thought of the Count of Oropesa, who immediately had him transported to his castle. As the illness continued to worsen, Peter asked to be transported to the conven t of A Arenàs Place of death and burial of the saint. renas. There, he requested the holy viaticum, which he received on his knees, shedding torrents of tears, even though he was in extreme weakness. Shortly after, he was administered Extreme Unction; and then he entered into a great rapture, where he had the happiness of seeing the Blessed Virgin, accompanied by Saint John the Evangelist, and received from her the assurances of his eternal salvation; thus, after having given admirable signs of penance, humility, resignation, and pure love for God, he rendered his soul, laden with an infinite treasure of merits, saying these words of the Psalm: "I rejoiced in the good news that was announced to me, namely, that we shall go into the house of the Lord." This was on October 18, 1562, in the sixty-third year of his age; he had spent forty-seven of them in religion.

He is represented: 1st, walking on the waters with one of his religious; 2nd, with a dove speaking into his ear, to express the marvelous gifts that distinguished him in preaching, the direction of souls, and his frequent prophecies.

## CULT AND RELICS.

Immediately after his death, the Saint appeared all radiant with glory to Saint Teresa and to several other persons. At the moment he expired, a sweet odor exhaled from his person; a supernatural light illuminated his cell, and the angels made a celestial melody heard. The news of the passing of the illustrious religious, promptly spread throughout the kingdom, caused a grief in Spain that propagated far and wide and extended as far as Portugal. The body, placed on a funeral bed, was visited by an immense number of the faithful who wished to consider one last time the one who had spent his life doing good. As the Saint had left nothing, it was impossible to satisfy the pious desires of the visitors who vied with each other in asking for something that had belonged to him. A few scraps cut from his tunic were the only relics distributed. Several miraculous healings obtained near the funeral bed further increased the public emotion.

The Saint was buried in the church of the Franciscans of Arenas, a few steps from the altar, but in a private area, in ground separate and distinct from any other burial. Care was taken to wrap the head in a white veil. The sick came to recommend themselves to this friend of God, and numerous miraculous healings authorized the ever-growing confidence of the faithful. Very active requests were made to the Fathers, with a view to obtaining that the body be transferred to a more worthy place. The religious refused, not wishing to prejudge the decision of the Apostolic See. However, four years after the death of the Saint, the Provincial opened the tomb and found the body without corruption, in good condition, and exhaling a sweet perfume. The hair, formerly white, had taken on a strongly golden hue; the eyes retained the brilliance and fire they had had after the Saint's death, and the body distilled an odorous liquor. After having venerated the holy bones, the Provincial returned them to their place and had them covered with quicklime, in order to consume the flesh. The pit was then covered with earth; but, informed of the miraculous state of preservation of the body, the faithful, flocking in greater numbers than ever, carried away the earth and removed it in such great quantity that it had to be renewed several times.

For several years, things remained in this state; but the wonders performed at the Saint's tomb became so numerous that the religious believed they should solicit from Dom Pedro Fernandez de Ternino, Bishop of Avila, the authorization to place the sacred relics in a more decent place. The Prelate having acceded to this request, the Provincial, assisted by a large number of religious, proceeded to the opening of the sepulcher. The holy body, intact in some parts, was found in others to have been attacked by the action of the lime. The bones were as if impregnated with this supernatural odorous liquor already mentioned. The relics, wrapped with great precaution in a white cloth, were collected in a very beautiful reliquary, and then placed near the altar, in a niche that was walled up with bricks. The Provincial, before closing the reliquary, detached from the body a very small relic which, when plunged into water, gave it the virtue of performing miraculous healings.

At the beginning of the 17th century, forty years after the death of the Saint, the veneration that attached to his memory was still increasing. People came from all points of the kingdom either to thank the Blessed one or to ask him for graces. The invocation of his name produced miraculous cures even in the Indies. Pilgrims crossed the seas to come and venerate his relics. The convent of Arenas had become one of the most frequented sanctuaries in the kingdom.

Some time later, a special chapel was built in the church of the Fathers of Arenas where the body could be deposited. The sovereign Pontiff having authorized the translation, the Bishop of Avila went to Arenas on December 15, 1616. He had the reliquary removed from the wall where it had been deposited, and after having unfolded the holy bones, he presented to the veneration of the faithful the head of the Saint, which immediately exhaled a miraculous perfume that spread far and wide and perfumed the whole church. The holy relics, wrapped by the Prelate in a rich silk fabric, were enclosed in a new reliquary, more sumptuous than the first, then placed on the main altar. The next day, the blessing of the chapel took place, and then a solemn procession in which the Saint's reliquary was carried amidst public joy. The power of the Saint seemed to manifest and develop in proportion to the homage rendered to him. New, more striking, and more numerous miracles provoked new popular manifestations. The glory of our Blessed one took on a national character. The public wish called upon him for the supreme consecration of sainthood. Declared Blessed by Pope Gregory XV on April 18, 1622, he was inscribed in the Catalogue of Saints by Pope Clement IX. The solemnity of the canonization took pla ce in the B Grégoire XV Pope who elevated the congregation to the rank of a regular order in 1621. asilica of Saint Peter in Rome on May 4, 1669. Pope Clement IX having d ied shortl Clément IX Pope in office at the time of the saint's death. y after, the bull of canonization was only published the following year by Pope Clement X, his successor, on May 19, 1670. The feast of the Saint is celebrated on October 19, under the double rite.

We have used, to complete this biography, the Life of the Saint, by a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis. — Cf. Life of the Saint, by Father Talon, of the Oratory, and by Fauvel, etc.