Saint Peter of Verona

Peter was born in Verona around 1205, into a Cathar family — that is, on the side he would go on to fight his whole life. He studied in Bologna and joined the Friars Preachers while Dominic de Guzmán was still alive. In 1232 Gregory IX sent him to Lombardy, where Catharism was deep-rooted and widespread, with the task of suppressing it. He entered the convent of Sant’Eustorgio in Milan. It is said that he immediately founded an association of militants there, the Society of the Faith, but there is no solid historical evidence for this. What is certain is that he and the Dominicans got quick results, helped in part by the support of the city government. He was prior in Asti in 1240, in Piacenza in 1241. At the end of 1244 he went to Florence, to preach at Santa Maria Novella. In 1251 Innocent IV appointed him inquisitor for Lombardy. He was killed on April 6, 1252, on the road between Como and Milan, near Seveso. The assassin was named Carino of Balsamo; he had been hired by some Milanese Cathars. Peter was forty-seven. Innocent IV proclaimed him a saint the following year: eleven months after his death, the fastest canonization in the history of the Church. Years later Carino repented, entered a Dominican convent in Forlì as a lay brother and died there with a reputation for holiness. That is part of the story too. If your name is Peter, today is your name day — though many wait for June twenty-ninth.