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St. Peter of Alcantara Feast Day October 19 Born of noble parents at Alcantara in Spain, Peter entered the Order of Friars Minor when he was sixteen. He showed himself a model of all virtues, especially poverty and chastity, and brought numberless men from vice to repentance by preaching the word of God. Eager to restore the original observance of St. Francis of Assisi, he built a very small and very poor monastery near Pedroso. The way of life there was of the strictest, and from this auspicious beginning it spread in a remarkable way. He way a help to St. Teresa in promoting the Carmelite reform, having approved the spirit in which she had begun it. Teresa often referred to him as a saint even while he was still living; and we learn from her that he was famous for the grace of contemplation and miracles, and was imbued with the gift of Prophecy and of the discernment of spirits. Finally he went to heaven in his sixty-third year, and blessed Teresa saw him in a vision, shining with wonderful glory. (From Matins of the feast of St. Peter of Alcantara) |