Saint Peter of Alcantara

Servants of God

O.F.M.

Peter Garavito was born at Alcántara, Estremadura, Spain, in 1499, and He truly fell in love with God at an early age.   His father, who was a lawyer and governor of the province, died in 1513 and two years later, after studying law in Salamanca, 16-year-old Peter entered the Observant Franciscans at Manxarretes (Manjaretes). At 22 He was sent to Badajoz to found a friary.  He was ordained at the age of 25 (1524), and preached missions in Spain and Portugal. This period of His life is uneventful, but all the time He was longing for a yet more rigorous following of the Franciscan rule.

After He was elected provincial for Saint Gabriel at Estremadura in 1538, he was able to take definite steps to begin the reform, but His efforts were not well received during the provincial chapter at Placensia in 1540.So, he resigned as minister provincial. For two years He lived as a hermit with Friar Martin of Saint Mary on Arabida Mountain near Lisbon. Numerous friars were attracted to their way of life, so He was named superior of Palhaes community for novices. During that period He had become convinced of the need for a vigorous Catholic reform to oppose the Protestant Reformation.

The Alcantarine Franciscans

Finally, with the approval of Pope Julius III, He founded the Reformed Friars Minor of Spain, usually called the Alcatarine Franciscans, which established not only monasteries but also Houses of Retreat where anyone could go and try to live according to the Rule of Saint Francis. The friars lived in small groups, in great poverty and austerity, going barefoot, abstaining from meat and wine, spending much time in solitude and contemplation.    Three years later, in 1559, the new order was enlarged with the addition of a new province, that of Saint Joseph. But the Reformed Franciscans failed to win the support of the other Franciscans; Conventuals and Observants, both jealous of their privileges, continued to quarrel over the inheritance of Saint Francis.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The example which Peter set was followed by Saint Teresa of Ávila and there was thus born Saint Joseph of Ávila, the first Reformed Carmel in Spain. Even if Peter's work was surpassed by that of Saint Teresa, it was instrumental in releasing in Spain, and then throughout Europe, a movement of vigorous revival which gave strength to the Church at a time when it was sorely needed.  Teresa and Peter met in 1560 and He became Her confessor, advisor, and admirer.  His ferocious and almost unbelievable asceticism is not myth, but rather described by Teresa in a celebrated chapter of Her autobiography. She wrote with awe that His penances were "incomprehensible to the human mind." They had reduced Him, She tells us, to a condition in which He looked as if "He had been made of the roots of trees." . 

Asceticism and death

He practiced asceticism from the age of 16 until His death, opposing a will of iron against the doubtlessly acute temptations of His body. He slept for no more than two hours each night, and even then He did not lie down, but slept either in a hard wooden chair or kneeling against the wall. His cell was no more than 4- ˝ feet long. He ate extremely little, at first going for three days, and then for a week without food. When He did eat, He destroyed the taste of the food by sprinkling it with ashes or earth. He never drank wine.

He never wore shoes, or even sandals, and went about barefoot. He never wore a hat or a hood, and exposed His head to the icy rains of winter or the scorching sun of summer. He wore a hair shirt, and though he possessed a cloak, He never wore it in cold weather. He went everywhere on foot, or at the most would ride on a donkey.  Consumed with fever, He refused a glass of water, saying "Jesus was ready to die of thirst on the cross." For three years He never raised his eyes from the ground. And yet, "With all His holiness," wrote Saint Teresa of Ávila, "He was very kindly, though spare of speech except when asked a question, and then He was delightful, for he had a keen understanding."

Such asceticism may seem self-centered and excessive to us today. Some may think that there are sufficient mortifications in the normal course of life without adding to them. But asceticism has been in the Church since the days of the Desert Fathers, and who is to say that the present unhappy state of the world would not be greatly changed for the better if people did follow ascetic practices?
Peter's asceticism, however, is only one aspect of His life of great holiness and incessant labor devoted to the restoration in Spain of the primitive Franciscan rule.  His Treatise on Prayer and Meditation (1926 English translation) was said by Pope Gregory XV to be "a shining light to lead souls to heaven and a doctrine prompted by the Holy Spirit." This treatise was used later by Saint Francis de Sales.

"He had already appeared to me twice since His death," wrote Teresa of Ávila, "and I witnessed the greatness of His glory. Far from causing me the least fear, the sight of Him filled me with joy. He always showed Himself to me in the state of a body which was glorious and radiant with happiness; and I, seeing Him, was filled with the same happiness. I remember that when He first appeared to me He said, to show me the extent of His felicity, 'Blessed be the penitence which has brought me such a reward'"

Peter died at Arenas in 1562,  He was canonized in 1669 by Pope Clement IX  and, in 1862, he was declared the patron of Brazil (Delaney). "

Saint Peter of Alcantara