medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Yesterday (30. August) was the feast day of the following less well
known saint from the Regno:
Peter of Trevi (d. 1052 [traditionally] or latter half of 12th cent.
[recent scholars]). Like Lidanus of Sezze (2. July), Peter was born in
today's Abruzzo (specifically, at Rocca di Botte, near Carsoli) but
spent most of his life in rural Lazio and became 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 left) in relation both to
Subiaco (further northeast) 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.simbruini.it/immagini/serbatoio/trevi1.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 these animals' devouring children was
highest, asked him for 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 did begin to observe the Lord's
Day, whereupon dead wolves were found at crossroads. Peter and the
Wolves are shown here on the cover of a modern biography of the saint:
http://www.sezione16.terremarsicane.it/storia3/libro.htm
A connection with the well known musical by Prokofiev seems unlikely.
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
[but 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://www.sezione16.terremarsicane.it/personaggi3/lac.htm
A room in this structure was long ago converted into a church dedicated
to P.:
http://www.sezione16.terremarsicane.it/personaggi3/lachiesa.htm
Rocca Di Botte's principal medieval monument is its twelfth- and
thirteenth-century church of San Pietro Apostolo:
http://www.sezione16.terremarsicane.it/chiesemonu3/sp.htm
Best,
John Dillon
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