St. Peter of Tarantaise

St. Peter of Tarantaise (Saint Pierre de Tarentaise) was a French Roman Catholic abbot who served as the Archbishop of Tarentaise from 1141 until his death. His example in his childhood and adolescence became so pious to those he knew that his parents and siblings all followed him into the religious life. He served as an abbot for a new cloister and tried to refuse an elevation to the episcopate though his superiors and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux insisted that he accept the position. But his heart grieved at the loss of his simple and pious life as a monk and he once ran to a convent to hide in seclusion to live out that dream. He was discovered and forced to return to his duties where he removed all corrupt and immoral priests and took special care of the poor and the ill sometimes endangering his own life in severe weather as he tended to the poor and homeless. Pierre died in 1174 as he attempted to mediate between feuding monarchs after a serious but brief illness. Miracles were reported at his tomb after his death and this led Pope Celestine III to canonize Pierre as a saint in mid-1191. He is remembered on May 8.