St. Peter of Verona

Martyr

Feast Day - April 29

Peter was born in Verona of parents infected with Manichaeism, but almost from his infancy fought against heresies, and no persuasions of his father or his uncle could move him from holding to the faith. As a young man, he went to Bologna to study and there joined the Order of Preachers. As a religious he gave a shining example of virtue, especially by his purity of body and soul, never sullied by mortal sin, and excelled in his wonderful zeal for penance and contemplation.

He devoted himself most fruitfully to gaining the salvation of souls, and was kindled with such zeal for the faith that he asked God for the grace of dying for it – a favor which was granted him. For, while he was carrying out the work of the holy Inquisition and on his way back from Como to Milan, he was wounded in the head by the sword of a wicked assassin. Nearly dead, he repeated with his last breath the symbol of the faith which he had defended with such manly fortitude from his childhood, and gained the palm of martyrdom in the year of salvation 1252. A year later, Innocent IV enrolled him among the holy Martyrs.

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