Everything about Peter Of Alcantara totally explained
Saint Peter of Alcantara (
Spanish :
San Pedro de Alcántara) (
1499—
October 18,
1562) was a
Spanish Franciscan. He was born at
Alcántara,
Spain. His father, Peter Garavita, was the governor of the place, and his mother was of the noble family of
Sanabia. After a course of
grammar and
philosophy in his native town, he was sent, at the age of fourteen, to the
University of Salamanca.
Returning home, he became a
Franciscan of the Stricter Observance in the convent at
Manxaretes in
1515. At the age of twenty-two he was sent to found a new community of the Stricter Observance at
Badajoz. He was ordained
priest in
1524, and the following year made guardian of the convent of St. Mary of the Angels at
Robredillo. A few years later he began preaching with much success. He preferred to preach to the poor; his
sermons, taken largely from the Prophets and
Sapiential Books, breathe the tenderest human sympathy. The reform of the "Discalced Friars" had, at the time when Peter entered the order, besides the convents in Spain, the Custody of Santa Maria Pietatis in Portugal, subject to the
General superior of the
Observantists.
Having been elected minister (for example superior) of St. Gabriel's
religious province in 1538, Peter set to work at once. At the chapter of
Plasencia in 1540 he drew up the Constitutions of the Stricter Observants, but his severe ideas met with such opposition that he renounced the office of
provincial and retired with
John of Avila into the mountains of
Arabida in
Portugal, where he joined Father Martin a Santa Maria in his life of eremitical solitude, but soon other friars came to join him, and several little communities were established; Peter was chosen guardian and
master of novices at the convent of
Pallais. In 1560 these communities were erected into the Province of Arabida.
Returning to Spain in
1553 he spent two more years in solitude; then he journeyed barefoot to
Rome and obtained permission of
Julius III to found some poor convents in Spain under the jurisdiction of the general of the
Conventuals. Convents were established at
Pedrosa,
Plasencia and elsewhere; in 1556 they were made a
commissariat, with Peter as superior, and in 1561 a religious province under the title of St. Joseph. Not discouraged by the opposition and ill-success his efforts at reform had met with in St. Gabriel's province, Peter drew up the constitutions of the new province with even greater severity. The reform spread rapidly into other provinces of Spain and Portugal.
In
1562 the province of St. Joseph was put under the jurisdiction of the general of the Observants, and two new custodies were formed: St. John Baptist's in
Valencia and St. Simon's in
Galicia (see Friars Minor). Besides the above-named associates of Peter may be mentioned
St. Francis Borgia,
John of Avila and Venerable
Louis of Granada. In
St. Teresa, Peter perceived a soul chosen of God for a great work, and her success in the
reform of Carmel (see Carmelites) was in great measure due to his counsel, encouragement and defence. It was a letter from St. Peter (14 April, 1562) that encouraged her to found her first monastery at Avila, 24 August of that year. St. Teresa's autobiography is the source of much of our information regarding Peter's life, work,
gifts of miracles and prophecy.
He often went into
ecstasy. He is purported to have slept for only one and a half hours each day, inside his room which had a floor area of only four and a half square feet. While in prayer and contemplation, he was often seen in ecstasies and
levitation. In his deathbed, he was offered a glass of water which he refused, saying that "Even my Lord Jesus Christ thirsted on the Cross...". He died while on his knees on October 18, 1562 in a monastery at
Arenas.
Legacy and veneration
Besides the Constitutions of the Stricter Observants and many letters on spiritual subjects, especially to St. Teresa, he composed a short treatise on prayer, which has been translated into all European languages. In confirmation of his virtues and mission of reformation God worked numerous
miracles through his intercession and by his very presence.
He was
beatified by
Gregory XV in
1622, and
canonized by
Clement IX in
1669.
His liturgical feast is on
18 October, the day of his death. Because the feast of Saint
Luke the Evangelist is observed on that day, his feast was assigned to
19 October, when in 1670 it was first included in the
Roman Catholic calendar of saints. It was removed from that calendar in 1969 because of his limited importance worldwide. But the inclusion of Saint Peter of Alcantara in the
Roman Martyrology as one of the saints of
18 October means that he may still be given official honours everywhere.
Saint Peter of Alcantara is in fact the
patron saint of Nocturnal Adorers. In 1826, he was named patron saint of
Brazil, and in 1962 (the fourth centenary of his death), of
Estremadura. He is also venerated as patron saint of Saint Peter of Alcantara Parish in Taal, Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines which is composed of Bgys. Caingin, Taal Luwasan, Taal Hulo, Tambubong and Batia, under the canonical jurisdiction of the Diocese of Malolos. The town of
San Pedro de Alcántara in the province of
Málaga is named after him.
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