ON ST. PETER THE DEACON OF ST. GREGORY THE GREAT, AT ROME AND IN THE DIOCESE OF VERCELLI,
YEAR 605
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Peter, Deacon of St. Gregory the Great, at Rome (Saint)
[1] Peter de Natalibus, Bishop of Equilium, in his Catalogue of Saints compiled around the year 1370, having narrated in book 3, chapter 192 the principal deeds of Pope St. Gregory, in the following chapter 193 proposes the title Concerning St. Peter, Deacon and Confessor, and begins that chapter thus: Peter was a Deacon of the Holy Roman Church and a disciple of Blessed Gregory, at whose urging the Doctor himself composed the book of Dialogues, Deeds: and inserted the mutual conversations of both in it. He was a good imitator of his Master, conspicuous in holiness. Once, while Blessed Gregory was preaching or dictating, he saw the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove upon the head of the Doctor, placing words in his ears. When he had told Blessed Gregory of the vision, the Doctor admonished him to conceal the vision in silence, because at whatever hour he should report the vision, he would immediately breathe out his spirit. The said Bishop then adds on what occasion he both reported the vision and, having breathed out his spirit, died; which we prefer to insert from book 4 of the Life of St. Gregory written by John the Deacon, already published by us, where these things are found at number 69. When the ancient instigators of calumnies were clamoring that Gregory was a spendthrift and squanderer of the manifold treasure of the Lateran, lacking personal material for accusation, they began likewise to pant for the burning of his books. When they had already burned some of these and wished to burn the rest, Peter the Deacon, his most intimate companion, with whom he had discussed the four books of the Dialogues, is believed to have resisted most vigorously, saying that the burning of the books was useless for obliterating his memory, since copies of them, requested by various people, had penetrated the whole world. Adding that it was a monstrous sacrilege to burn so many and such books of so great a Father, above whose head he himself had very frequently observed the Holy Spirit in the likeness of a dove writing. Death: When the Deacon perceived that the devout people were taking the opportunity to side against the envious ones, he is said to have provoked the opinion of all to this: that if, confirming what he had said by oath, he should immediately deserve to die, they themselves would desist from burning the books; but if he survived his testimony, he would also lend his hand to the burners. And so, ascending the ambo with the Gospels, the venerable Levite Peter, as soon as he gave testimony to the sanctity of Gregory, breathed out his spirit amid the words of true confession; and, a stranger to the pain of death, beside the base of the rood screen, as is still seen to this day, the Confessor of truth merited burial. Which last words Peter de Natalibus concludes thus: Burying the body of Peter beside the tomb of his Master, they began to venerate him as a Saint.
[2] Veneration: Richard Whitford, in the Sarum Martyrology printed in English at London in the year 1528, inscribed him at March 12 thus: At Rome, the feast of St. Peter, Deacon and disciple of St. Gregory. Peter Galesini in his cited manuscript Martyrology has this: At Rome also of St. Peter the Deacon, who, following the example set before him by Blessed Gregory the Great, Pontiff, whose disciple he was, shone forth in all holiness. These things are reported from Galesini in the second edition of the German Martyrology of Canisius. Ferrarius in his General Catalogue reports the following: At Vercelli, St. Peter the Deacon. The same author, in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, having narrated his deeds, adds: When the body had been entombed beside the tomb of his Master, body brought to the diocese of Vercelli: it was later carried to Caesariano, a town of the diocese of Vercelli, where it lay hidden for a long time; and finally, discovered in the year of Salvation 1480, it was translated to Salutiola, a village of the same diocese, to a church dedicated to his name and endowed with many revenues for maintaining canons; and there it shines with miracles. Miracles, For both the castle and the temple were preserved unharmed from fire set by enemies, three doves being seen flying around. The son of the Lords of Salutiola, mute from birth, was brought to the tomb of St. Peter and obtained the faculty of speech. A certain man who had gone mad, led to the same tomb, regained his sanity. These things Ferrarius reports from a book on the Saints of Vercelli, and he notes that the feast of the Translation at Salutiola is most solemnly celebrated on April 30, on which day the same Ferrarius in his General Catalogue has: At Salutiola near Vercelli, St. Peter the Deacon. Wion, Dorgan, Menard, and Bucelin also record him at March 12 and ascribe him to the Benedictines, which we do not find in the ancient sources.