ON BL. PETER OF THE CROSS, OF THE ORDER OF THE SERVANTS OF THE BL. VIRGIN MARY, AT VITERBO IN ITALY.
IN THE YEAR 1522.
COMMENTARY
From Giani and various letters received from Viterbo.
Peter of the Cross, at Viterbo in Italy (B.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.
[1] Brief is the narration of Archangelus Giani concerning this Blessed [man] in the Annals of the sacred Order of the Servants of the Bl. Virgin Mary, published at Florence in the year 1618, century 3, book 6, chapter 5, at the year of Christ 1522, and yet it comprises all those things concerning him which can safely enough be said. The few things which survive concerning this Blessed [man,] He circumscribes the whole matter in these words: The pestilence meanwhile raging at Viterbo, and occupying nearly all Campania, it happened, that a certain devout German hermit, called Peter of the Cross, born of a noble race, a vow being undertaken, set out for Rome; and when in pilgrimaging he had reached Viterbo, and could not proceed further, he was received by our Fathers with kindly hospitality. But his sanctity, on occasion of the epidemic, was greatly perceived in that city: for besides that a certain nun of our Order had foretold the coming of this holy Man into that city, Peter, only the sign of the Cross being applied, restored to health our sisters, who in the monastery of Peace labored with a grave disease. As also it happened to several other sick persons through the same sign of the Cross, that they were straightway healed; wherefore Peter was also called "of the Cross" by the people of Viterbo. Meanwhile that man, most devoted to the glorious Mother of God, suppliantly asked, that he be admitted by our Fathers to the virginal habit, which being received, he knew that his last day was imminent to him. Wherefore, illustrious for miracles, on the 6th day of July he migrated to Christ, on whose stone monument in the church of our monastery these words were impressed:
D. O. M.
To the devout Peter of the Cross, hermit, of the Order of the Servants, dedicated on account of [his] miracles.
He lived 36 years.
He died 1500.
[2] Him the Annalist calls only "devout," who in the title of the chapter had written "Blessed," show that a cult at least was permitted him; equally as a certain Francisca Ciribetta, of whom perhaps there will have to be treatment elsewhere. I suppose it happened by the fault of the typographer, that the year of death in the sepulchral inscription is wrongly marked, since instead of the year 1500, it must certainly be noted 1522, as various other sheets have better, with us in manuscript, collected by the diligence of our Father Bernardinus Coccovaginus and transmitted hither in the years 1685 and 1686, if not according to each point, yet certainly in the substance of the matter agreeing enough, to show, to a man however unknown,
that the honors of the Saints were paid at Viterbo from time immemorial, or a hundred years before the Urbanian bull, derogating from popular cult of this kind: which since it has at Viterbo, by the tacit or express consent of the Ordinaries, hitherto persevered, every doubt is precluded to us but that here a place of his own can be granted in these Acts to that blessed Peter, surnamed "of the Crosses" to be described below, inasmuch as having his annual veneration on this day, as will presently appear from the authentic instrument; whatever moreover he lack both of Office and of Mass, which without doubt could not be obtained at Rome, whence the other letters rightly noted that only an extrinsic solemnity is exhibited to him.
[3] For the rest, that Bl. Peter was admitted into the Order of the Servites we have supposed from Giani; as is also held from the sepulchral inscription. here he adds an idea or thought formed by himself, concerning the manner in which that Blessed [man] can be depicted. Let his words be heard: But if anyone wish to fashion a model of this blessed Man, he can represent [him] in an eremitic habit after the manner of pilgrims, with a staff, a cross, and a string of beads, the habit of the Servants being superadded, with a cap on his head. Whether the people of Viterbo followed his delineation exactly in the image of the Blessed [man] there expressed, from the writing, to be produced below, may somehow be gathered. A more recent epigraph, engraved, I suppose, on the Blessed's urn, thus has:
TO BLESSED PETER OF THE CROSS,
A GERMAN, OF THE ORDER OF THE SERVANTS OF THE BL. VIRGIN MARY,
DEDICATED ON ACCOUNT OF [HIS] MIRACLES.
HE DIED ON THE 6TH DAY OF JULY 1522.
On each side, enclosed in triangles, are some letters; on the right C. V. A; on the left XXXVI, which I thus interpret in Latin, that C be for "cujus"; V for "vita"; A for "annorum"; taken together, "cujus vita annorum XXXVI" whose life [was of 36 years]: another perhaps will read, "complevit vitæ annos" he completed the years of life; which are conformable also to other copies of the same inscription.
[4] And to what has been said thus far nothing greatly would have to be superadded besides the indicated writing, A Spanish letter, vague and doubtful unless the Reverend Fathers the Servites of Viterbo had importunately intruded hither I know not what Spanish letter, as if written by the King himself to Bl. Peter, which why it is adduced I indeed do not sufficiently perceive, since it is altogether doubtful, nor can it confer anything to proving the sanctity or cult of Bl. Peter. That letter, at least to touch cursorily, the aforesaid instrument compelled me, in which it seems inserted, as greatly pertaining to the praise of the Blessed [man]; while meanwhile the whole matter is vague, without cross without light, in a character composed for deceiving, fortified with a seal, such as Charles V is not known ever to have used, to which is added another of a Prince, which if it be true, renders the whole letter false, at least for the time in which blessed Peter lived. The superscription is variously rendered; this perhaps comes nearest to likelihood, Por el deboto Padre fray Pedro de la Cruz, heremitano de la hermita de nuestra Señora la madre de Dios de misericordia, de la montaña de monte celi. The surname "of the Cross" alone overturns the whole matter, for our blessed [man] is said to have obtained it from no other source, as appears from Giani above, than that at Viterbo he touched the sick with the sign of the Cross and healed them, whence he was called "Peter of the Cross" by the people of Viterbo.
[5] and confers nothing either to [his virtues or to [his] sanctity.] It must therefore be feigned, that those royal letters were written to him while he tarried at Viterbo, which no one would easily admit. I marvel too, that the people of Viterbo have not hitherto inquired, what and where situated is that hermitage of Our Lady the Mother of God of mercy on Monte Celi, in which our blessed Peter, a German by nation, could have led a solitary life, toward the beginning of the sixteenth century, at least before the year 1522, [and] who to Charles V, then King of the Spains, could have suggested some things for the service of God, himself a young hermit, to a younger King. It does not please to dispute more of these things, since it profits nothing to our purpose, whether the letter of Charles V be supposed true and genuine, which indeed I would not easily believe, or rather supposititious, at least in so far as it is attributed to this our Blessed [man], to whom we have said the surname "of the Cross" was given at Viterbo merely occasionally. There could have existed elsewhere devout hermits under the name of Peter of the Cross, to some one of whom such a letter was directed by Philip II or III Kings of the Spains, and to which his seal was affixed by Francesco Maria II Duke of Urbino the sixth, who from the year 1574 held the duchy, and ceded the same, his son having died before [him], to the Church. Of the doubtful letter let these things be said more than enough; behold now the instrument received from Viterbo, about the year, as I conjecture, 1685, whose author, Father Felician Poletti, thou wilt understand from the subscription.
A brief notice concerning the life and death of Bl. Peter, a German, called "of the Cross," of the Order of the Servants of the Bl. Virgin Mary, deduced from the Annals of the Servants, and also from certain manuscripts of the convent of St. Mary of the Truth at Viterbo, of the same Order, in whose church the body of the same Blessed [man] rests.
Peter of the Cross, at Viterbo in Italy (B.)
[6] Of his deeds and miracles Blessed Peter, a German, called "of the Cross," was a most noble man, who for the cause of a vow, going from Germany to Rome in an eremitic habit, in pilgrimaging reached Viterbo in the year 1520: and when, on account of the plague with which at that time the kindly City and all its Campagna greatly labored, he could not proceed further, he was received with kindly hospitality by the Fathers of the Order of the Servants of St. Mary of the Truth at Viterbo. Straightway the sanctity of this man began to shine forth on occasion of the epidemic greatly vexing the city of Viterbo; for very many, and most of all the nuns of the Order of the Servants in the monastery of Peace, he straightway endowed with health by the sign of the Cross, which he himself always used, whence too he received his surname: which whole thing had been foretold by a certain Bl. Francisca Ciribetta of Viterbo, a nun in the same monastery; for she had already before foretold the coming of this Blessed [man], the aid which he would bring to them in infirmity, and also his near death. And so that man, as he was most devoted to the most blessed Virgin, suppliantly asked of the same Fathers, that he be admitted to the habit of the same blessed Virgin and their fellowship; which being devoutly received, he knew that the last day of his life would be not far off; whence a little after he fell into a disease; and when, on account of his sickness, he could not be present to the sick, and heal them with his wonted sign of the Cross, he sent to them certain little schedules, written on unleavened bread, which is commonly called cialda, in the first of which were these words: Christ ✠ born: in the second, Christ ✠✠ suffered; in the third finally, Christ ✠✠✠ rose again, with which he healed many. At last on the aforesaid day of his death, illustrious for miracles, he fell asleep in the Lord on the day before the Nones of July in the year 1522, whose body was laid in a stone monument, on which is read this inscription: To Blessed Peter of the Cross, etc., which we have described above. That here be read "de Cruce" or "e Cruce" for "a Cruce," is a variation of no great moment. The instrument proceeds:
[7] Above which sepulchre there is an effigy of the Blessed [man] himself, it teaches something more with the habit of the Servants in the act of signing on the forehead a sick [man], using those words, Christ born, etc., and it is adorned round about with many silver votives and little tablets, to which also very often lamps are lit from the devotion of the pious, and his feast is celebrated each year in the said church on 6 July with a great concourse of the people of Viterbo, on account of the many graces shown them through those little schedules above-said, which are commonly called by the people of Viterbo "Terzanelle," because they most of all help the sick laboring with the tertian fever. For the Fathers of the said convent of St. Mary of the Truth after his death began to use those little schedules in memory of the same Blessed [man], through which daily many miracles are seen. Concerning which that must not be passed over, which happened in the person of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Mutius, Bishop of Viterbo, who, whether from some sinister report, or moved by another zeal, decreed under precept, that the said schedules should no more be dispensed to the sick: wherefore when he not long after fell into a disease, he never recovered from it, until, by the counsel of his familiar, serving him as secretary, he ordered them to be brought to him, which being taken, he was straightway freed from that infirmity; which is narrated to have happened to others also. Cardinal Mutius I have not known; but here is certainly indicated Tiberius Mutus, from the year 1612 to 1636 Bishop of Viterbo, of whom see more in Ciaconius volume 4 column 435. Then there are subjoined in our writing the things which pertain to the mentioned Spanish letter.
[8] the authentic Viterbo instrument. There is also in the sacristy of the said convent a certain little wooden chest, in which the girdle and hair-shirt of the said Blessed [man] are kept, which, brought to many sick, restore health to them. There is also found in the same chest a certain letter, sent to him by the King of the Spains, of which these are the words. Outside: El deboto Padre fray Pedro de la Cruz, heremitano de la heremita de nuestra Señora, la madre de Dios de misericordia, de la montaña de monte Celi. Within: Deboto Padre, fray Pedro de la Cruz, heremitano de la heremita de nuestra Señora, la madre de Dios de misericordia, de la montaña de monte Celi; Vi la carta que me escrivistes, y los consejos, que me dais y con todo l'otro que me dize el caderezado, a servicio de nuestro Señor, como se espera de vuestra paternidad, en razón de buena vida, y yo lo agradezco mucho; y sed cierto, que de vos y de todo ella tengo, y tendré siempre entera memoria. De Barcelona, Yo el Rey. [For the devout Father Fray Pedro de la Cruz, hermit of the hermitage of Our Lady the Mother of God of mercy, of the mountain of Monte Celi. … I saw the letter which you wrote me, and the counsels which you give me and with all the rest that the … tells me, for the service of our Lord, as is hoped from your paternity, by reason of your good life, and I thank [you] much for it; and be certain, that of you and of all this I have, and will ever have, entire memory. From Barcelona, I the King.] In faith of all which, that a surer trust may be furnished, we the undersigned Prior and Fathers subscribe, and sign with the sign of this our convent of St. Mary of the Truth:
I Brother Aegidius Guagliardini Prior, affirm as above, with my own hand.
I Brother Philip de Latanis, affirm as above, with my own hand.
I Brother Felician Poletti, Servite, wrote all the above-said, according as I could find from the annals and other manuscripts of our convent.
A seal in red wax is affixed.