Peter of Anagni explained

Saint Peter of Anagni
Death Date:3 August 1105
Feast Day:3 August
Venerated In:Roman Catholic Church
Birth Place:Salerno, Italy
Titles:Bishop of Anagni
Canonized Date:4 June 1109
Canonized By:Pope Pascal II

Peter of Anagni (died 3 August 1105) was a Benedictine monk, bishop and papal legate.[1]

Born in Salerno, he entered the Benedictines and so distinguished himself as a monk that Pope Gregory VII appointed him Bishop of Anagni.[2] As bishop, he improved the spiritual welfare of the city and started rebuilding the city's cathedral. He was then sent as papal legate to the Byzantine Empire where he was able to convince Emperor Michael VII Doukas to provide funds and craftsmen to building of the cathedral.[3] [4] The new cathedral also included a hospital where, contrary to modern hospitals, accommodation and care was provided for free not only to the sick but also to travellers. Peter joined in 1096 the forces of Bohemond of Taranto during the First Crusade on their way to the Holy Land and later returned by way of Constantinople, Palermo and Salerno.

Peter died on 3 August 1105.[5] He was canonized in 1109 by Pope Paschal II, a mere four years after his death.[6] His feast is on 3 August[7]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: San Pietro di Anagni.
  2. Book: Charles . Rodger . Christian Social Witness and Teaching: From Biblical times to the late nineteenth century . 1998 . Gracewing Publishing . 0-85244-460-5.
  3. Book: Gasper . Giles E. M. . Gullbekk . Svein H. . Money and the Church in Medieval Europe, 1000–1200: Practice, Morality and Thought . 9 March 2016 . Routledge . 978-1-317-09436-4 . 113.
  4. http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5377 St. Peter of Anagni
  5. M. Q. . Smith . 1965 . 33 . 1–47 . Anagni: An Example of Medieval Typological Decoration . Papers of the British School at Rome . 10.1017/s0068246200007303., at 3–4.
  6. Vincenzo Fenicchia, BSS, vol. X (1968), col. 663.
  7. [Roman Martyrology]