medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (30. August) is the feast day of:
Peter of Trevi (d. 1052 [traditionally] or latter half of the twelfth
century [recent scholars]). Today's less well known saint of the
Regno, P. was born in today's Abruzzo (specifically, at Rocca di
Botte, near Carsoli) but spent most of his life in rural Lazio,
eventually becoming the patron saint of a small town in that region.
According to his anonymous Life (BHL 6783, probably late twelfth- or
early thirteenth-century), he left home to escape an arranged marriage,
entered religion at Tivoli, and then became a wandering preacher and
hermit. After spending some time at Subiaco he settled at today's
Trevi nel Lazio (FR), where he died and was buried. The map reproduced
here:
http://www.montisimbruini.com/piantina.html
shows Trevi nel Lazio (bottom, towards right) in relation both to
Subiaco (further northwest) and to the central Appennine peaks of the
Monti Simbruini. A distance view of the town, with the Castello
Caietani rising above it, is here:
http://www.nadarzyn.pl/grafika/wsp-trevi.jpg
Miracles both lifetime and posthumous attested to P.'s sanctity. In
one of the posthumous ones he appeared, holding wolves in chains, to a
resident of Trevi who had been sleeping out in the countryside at a
time of year when fear of human predation by these animals was
highest. P. asked the reason for his apparent lack of fear and was
told by this person that before lying down to sleep he had put himself
in the care of God and of the most holy Mary. Satisfied with this
response, P. poured holy oil on a stone, causing the latter to liquefy,
and promised his interlocutor that if the people of Trevi would keep
the Lord's Day he would likewise dissipate the rage of the local wolves
and so protect the people from them. Informed by their fellow
townsman, the people of Trevi began to observe the Lord's Day,
whereupon dead wolves were found at crossroads.
P. was canonized in 1215 during the run-up to Lateran IV. His remains
are preserved in Trevi nel Lazio's church of San Pietro Eremita (1483;
since redone neoclassically), the lower church of the town's originally
thirteenth-century collegiate church of Santa Maria Assunta:
http://www.montisimbruini.com/trevi/trevi_chiesa.jpg
P. is also the patron saint of his natal town of Rocca Di Botte (AQ),
some of whose residents have for centuries travelled to Trevi nel Lazio
to take part in his festivities there. Rocca Di Botte has a house
traditionally identified as the one in which P. was born:
http://tinyurl.com/32sgfe
Expandable images:
http://tinyurl.com/2t7ebf
A room in this structure was long ago converted into a church dedicated
to P.:
http://tinyurl.com/2qmpjg
Rocca Di Botte's principal medieval monument is its twelfth- and
thirteenth-century church of San Pietro Apostolo:
http://tinyurl.com/2tlb78
Four pages of expandable views begin here:
http://tinyurl.com/3ycv5q
Best,
John Dillon
(last year's post lightly revised)
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