St. Peter the Spaniard

Leaving everything to pray, yet still drawing people who needed wisdom.

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March 11 · Hermit

St. Peter the Spaniard

St. Peter the Spaniard

Leaving everything to pray, yet still drawing people who needed wisdom.

Traditional feast

March 11
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

Not verified yet

Represents

Hermit

Early life

Selected sentences from the original account, unaltered.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 175 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

S. Peter was the son of noble parents in Spain, and was brought up in the profession of arms. His parents having insisted on his marriage, he yielded with great repugnance, for his heart was drawn elsewhere, and he desired to live a virgin life to his dear master Jesus. The marriage ceremony took place, and when the banquet was over, he retired to the bridal chamber, where he saw the fair young girl who had given him her hand lying asleep on the bed.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Pray a little every day. Prayer runs all through this account.

Make time for silence. Solitude and withdrawal to pray shape this life.

Learn from the kind of life it was. Leaving everything to pray, yet still drawing people who needed wisdom.

Read more

The full original · 175 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman Martyrology. Authorities:—A Life from MS. of Babuco, published by Bollandus.

S. Peter was the son of noble parents in Spain, and was brought up in the profession of arms. In the army he distinguished himself as much by his zeal for souls and purity of life, as by his courage. His parents having insisted on his marriage, he yielded with great repugnance, for his heart was drawn elsewhere, and he desired to live a virgin life to his dear master Jesus. The marriage ceremony took place, and when the banquet was over, he retired to the bridal chamber, where he saw the fair young girl who had given him her hand lying asleep on the bed. She looked so pure and innocent in her slumber, that he gazed on her with reverence, and kneeling at her feet, prayed long and earnestly; and then stealing away, left the house, and fled the country. Taking his passage on a boat for Italy, he reached the eternal city, and going forth into the Campagna, found a place suitable for a cell, and there buried himself from the world.

Feast days

Feast: March 11

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Peter the Spaniard's story, and a nudge to keep going.

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V

St. Vincent

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← All 1727 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Sources

Credits

Image: Peter Hans Kolvenbach, head of Jesuits, cropped.jpg · Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer · Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897), digitized text from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.

Image: Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897), digitized text from Project Gutenberg. Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.