St. Peter, Martyr

Also called St. Peter of Verona, an inquisitor and martyr, he was born in Verona to parents who were adherents of the Cathar heresy. Educated in a Catholic school and the University of Bologna, he was brought into the Dominican Order in 1221 by St. Dominic himself. Preaching with some success in Lombardy, he endured and overcame false accusations that he had been visited by women in his cell. In 1234, he was appointed inquisitor for northern Italy by Pope Gregory IX at a time when the region was filled with Cathars and other heretics. Although attracting very large and enthusiastic crowds, Peter also made enemies among the Cathars, who hated him for his activities and his success in converting many heretics back to the faith.  A group of Cathars ambushed him on the road between Como and Milan, and a heretic name Caino murdered him. He supposedly wrote in the dirt the words Credo in Deum, I believe in God. In art, Peter is shown with a blade cleaving his head or sometimes with a knife in his head and a sword piercing his breast. Canonized the year after his death, Pope Innocent IV, he was also named the patron saint of inquisitors. Since 1969, his cult has been locally confined. His feast is kept on April29.