Peter

ON SAINT PETER, ARCHBISHOP OF CANOSA IN APULIA.

Eighth Century.

Peter, Archbishop of Canosa in Apulia (Saint)

I. B.

[1] Since in the Life of Saint Sabinus, Bishop of Canosa, everything that exists anywhere concerning the deeds of Peter, the first (as they claim) Archbishop of that same See -- certainly a Bishop most illustrious in every virtue -- has been commemorated, it seemed fitting also to record his feast day on this date, which no one else has specified. He was perhaps never publicly consecrated by the solemn ceremony of the Roman Pontiff's authority; Peter, Bishop of Canosa, perhaps not canonized, yet from the most ancient memory he has been counted among the Saints -- whether (which is scarcely credible) by the piety of his citizens of Canosa alone, or by the approbation of the Apostolic See. For, as our Antonio Beatillo testifies in the Life of Saint Sabinus, Chapter 16, in the basilica of old Canosa -- formerly the Cathedral -- there exists even now a chapel dedicated to the holy Martyrs John and Paul, yet from antiquity regarded and called a Saint: under whose altar the body of Saint Sabinus had been placed by Peter; and there the painted image of the same Peter is seen near the chapel door, distinguished by a radiate diadem as is customary for Saints, with these words inscribed: "Saint Peter, first Archbishop of Canosa." Nor have the recent -- even the most severe -- constitutions of the Popes concerning the images, titles, and veneration of the Saints abrogated this most ancient and plainly immemorial honor; especially since the authority of previous Pontiffs appears to have given its assent, whether in first conferring or in approving what had been bestowed by the people. Certainly, after the earlier Bulls of Urban VIII on these matters, the book of Beatillo, who testifies that this inscription still exists, was published. Since therefore we find the name of this Peter recorded in no ecclesiastical tables or calendars (and indeed we have scarcely seen any calendars, especially old ones, from that region of Apulia), we give him on this day together with Saint Sabinus, whose body he translated and whose honor he amplified, just as we previously recorded Sabinus's two predecessors, Memor and Ruffinus.

[2] Nor is it necessary to pursue more studiously the deeds performed illustriously by him, which are set forth in the Acts of Saint Sabinus. We stated his era in Sections 2 and 10: it is not rightly referred to the ninth Christian century by Beatillo, Chapter 15 of the Life of Saint Sabinus, he does not seem to have lived past the year 800, and by Gaspare Musca in his book on the Bishops of Salerno -- since the anonymous author of the Life of Saint Sabinus testifies that he learned what he narrates about Sabinus's discovery and miracles from Peter himself, and that Peter had heard these things from elders of the priests through many careful inquiries; which elders it is likely were present at the Invention, which occurred under Grimoald II, Prince of Benevento, and his mother Theoderada, around the year of Christ 688. Moreover, it was amply proved that the Life of Saint Sabinus was written when the condition of the province of Salento was most flourishing but long before, and the third successor of Peter had already died, so that Peter could not have survived, as those writers claim, to the most calamitous times when the Saracens devastated Apulia -- much less have fled from Canosa to Salerno when it was destroyed, since Canosa stood after his death and had in the third place the Bishop Audoald. And surely if it had been destroyed in his time, that rather accurate writer would not have concealed it. Nor did Beatillo himself think otherwise of his diligence. But he believed that the Life of Saint Sabinus was committed to writing at the beginning of the ninth century, not yet devastated by the Saracens, when Grimoald IV administered the Principality of Benevento and Leo III the Roman Church; and that Peter had lived for thirty more years after that. But even if we granted that Prince Emerith, under whose rule over the Salentines the Life is said to have been written, was the son of Grimoald IV, and had perhaps either died before his father or been killed together with him by Radelchis of Conza and Sico -- which however we judge cannot be supported by the slightest testimony of any author, nor by any other plausible argument -- it would still be necessary to admit that Bishop Peter had already died, since his third successor Audoald had already passed away.

[3] Beatillo followed Gaspare Musca; for the latter, thirty-four years before Beatillo himself wrote the Life of Saint Sabinus, had published the following about Peter in his book on the Bishops of the Church of Salerno: "Peter, the first of this name, Bishop of Salerno. He did not flee to Salerno: Since he was Bishop of Canosa, he fled thence to Salerno, and there, upon the death of Rodoald -- of whom we just spoke -- in the year 834, Indiction 12, under Sicard, son of Sico, as Prince, he was created Bishop, and at his own expense built a church next to the aforesaid See, in honor of the Blessed John the Baptist, of wondrous magnitude, although, death intervening, he could not bring it to its summit. It is today among the properties of the Lords of Aiello, next to the greater church, and traces of it are visible. This Peter was a kinsman of Prince Grimoald, and lived ten years in the Episcopate." Thus Musca, who also earlier, under Rodoald, had said that Canosa was captured by the Agarenes in the year of Christ 818, Indiction 11, and that Sicily and then Apulia were devastated. But it was shown by us with sufficiently solid arguments that the Saracens did not set foot in Sicily in the year 818, nor were invited into Apulia before 843, nor was Canosa immediately destroyed by them, and that several bishops succeeded Peter in that same See -- which seems impossible if he had died only in the year 844, at approximately which year Angelarius was made Bishop of Canosa. It is therefore more probable that this holy Bishop presided over the Church of Canosa around the year of Christ 720 or 725.

[4] Musca writes that Peter was a kinsman of Prince Grimoald. Which Grimoald? The Prince of Salerno, says Beatillo. His lineage is uncertain: Louis II separated the Principality of Salerno from that of Benevento in the year 851, by the authority of his father Lothar as Emperor, as was said above, and entrusted it to Sigenulf, son of Sicard; nor was there afterward for two hundred years any Prince named Grimoald at Salerno. If they wish Peter to have been a kinsman of Grimoald, son of Romuald, grandson of King Grimoald, Prince of Benevento -- just as they affirm it on no witness's authority, so I neither can nor wish to overturn it with any argument.

[5] Whatever his origin, he was certainly most illustrious in virtue and most zealous in amplifying the honor of the Saints. He has the Life of Saint Sabinus written. For this reason he both had the Life of Saint Sabinus written and himself narrated to the writer the miracles and the Invention, carefully inquired about from the elders, as is stated in Chapter 5, Number 13 and Chapter 6, Number 18. Then, moved by heavenly love, as is related in Chapter 7, Number 21, he translates the body, he translated the body of the same Saint to the cathedral church, where it had previously been buried a thousand paces away. Nor were miracles lacking, as God either illuminated the glory of the Saint already received into heaven, or rewarded the pious zeal of the Bishop: not without miracles. for both a most sweet odor breathed forth from the opened tomb, and a likewise fragrant liquid flowed out. Then, entering the church at night before the customary hour of prayer, in order to pray to God alone, he beheld an immense splendor above the body of Saint Sabinus, by which the whole church was broadly illuminated. Somewhat later, when he himself was seized by a fever, Sabinus appeared to him and restored him to health, first admonishing him to see to it that foreign servants, wrongfully retained by his own men, be returned to their masters. Having therefore returned to Canosa, he both did what the Saint had commanded and placed his body under the altar of the holy Martyrs John and Paul in the same cathedral basilica; where Beatillo testifies that this inscription can still be read: "Peter, Archbishop of Canosa, placed here the body of Saint Sabinus."

[6] The same Beatillo judges that, moved by the fame of the miracles which the Author testifies took place in great number at that place thereafter (Chapter 7, Number 24), the Pontiff named him Archbishop, he himself is made Archbishop, either by merely sending the pallium -- a dignity not passing to his successors, as we have shown was sometimes done in that era elsewhere -- or by subjecting to him some Bishops who now fall under the See of Bari; or by conferring only the prerogative that he himself should be subject to no Archbishop -- by which rationale many Sees are called Archiepiscopal among the Greeks, because they are autocephalous. At last Peter himself also departed to heaven, to the fellowship of his holy predecessors; on what day, in what year, by what manner, or where his body was buried, is unknown.