Saint Peter Orseolo

Divine Providence soon brought this pious resolution to its peak, through the means of Guarin, abbot of the monastery of Saint-Michel, of the Order of Saint Benedict of Cusan, in the county of Roussillon. Having stopped in Venice to ve nerate the relics of S reliques de saint Marc Author of the second Gospel, disciple of Saint Peter, and founder of the Church of Alexandria. aint Mark, this holy religious had the opportunity to observe and admire the piety of the Doge and his assiduity in his religious duties. He spoke with him of eternal glory, and determined him to embrace a more perfect way of life and to serve God far from the world, in a monastery.

The Doge asked for some time to put his affairs in order; Guarin departed to continue his journey, and after completing it, returned to the one who already called him the savior of his soul. He remained Doge of Venice for another year, after which, leaving his homeland and family, he departed not only with Guarin, but also with Romuald and Marinus, John Morosini his son-in-law, and John Gradenigo. In order not to be recognized by spies, he disguised himself as a carriage driver, and it was in this way that he and his companions crossed Verona and all of Lombardy and arrived in France. Upon app roaching the monas monastère de Cusan Benedictine monastery in France where the saint retired. tery of Cuxa, he took off his shoes and walked the rest of the way barefoot. His arrival excited universal admiration; he entered among the novices with Gradenigo and Morosini; the humblest occupations were those he preferred to seek. After two full years, he was named sacristan. But, driven by the desire for a stricter solitude, he requested and obtained permission to build, not far from the monastery, a cell barely large enough to sit and lie down in; fasting, prayer, and manual labor were his habitual occupations.

When his son Peter came to see him, he predicted that he would become Doge, and the event justified his prediction during his own lifetime. He further warned him never to depart from justice, and to preserve all their rights intact for the churches of the Lord. Finally, after nineteen years of monastic life, that is to say of exquisite piety and continual penance, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, warned by divine revelation that he would not delay in falling asleep in the sleep of death, lying on ashes and haircloth, on January 10 in the year of our salvation 997, he rendered his soul to God. Various miracles attested to his holiness; his body, preserved in the church under an altar dedicated in his honor, was visited and honored by the piou s faithful. Clément XII Pope who canonized Catherine in 1727. Clement XII canonized him and permitted his feast to be celebrated on January 14. Shortly thereafter, the solemn translation of a portion of his relics took place in Venice, in the church of Saint Mark. The entire city venerated its prince with extraordinary devotion.

At the end of the 18th century, after the revolution had broken out in France and the monastery of Cuxa had been destroyed from top to bottom, the other relics of Peter Orseolo were transported to th Prade Place where the relics were transferred after the Revolution. e parish church of Prades, where they are still very religiously preserved today.

Breviary of Perpignan.