βͺ Other Names :
β’ Peter de Ruffi β’ Peter of Ruffia β’ Peter Cambiani β’ Peter Cambiano av Ruffi
βͺ Memorial :
β’ 2 February β’ 7 November (Dominicans)
βͺ Born : 1320 in Chieri, Piedmont, Italy
βͺ Died :
β’ Stabbed to death with daggers on 2 February 1365 by Waldensian heretics outside the Franciscan friary of Susa, Italy β’ Buried at the Franciscan house as it was considered unsafe to transport his body through the hostile heretical territory β’ Relics translated to the Dominican house in Turin, Italy in 1517 after the friary was destroyed by an invading army.
Peter Cambiano was born in Chieri, in Piedmont, in 1320. He was drawn to the Dominicans by his devotion to the rosary. Our Lady of the Rosary was the special patroness of the region where he lived. He joined the Dominican Order at an early age. Among his talents, it is said that he had a loud clear voice, which was very useful at that time when he had to preach in the open air. He received an appropriate formation that allowed him to be prepared for controversy with the Waldensians, a heretic sect spread in northern Italy.
The inquisition had been set up to deal with those people in Lombardy before the death of Peter Martyr, a century before. So well did young Peter of Ruffia carry out the work of preaching among them that the Order sent him to Rome to obtain a higher degree. The Pope, impressed by his talents and his family name, appointed him Inquisitor General in Piedmont.
In January 1365 Peter and two Dominican brothers went on a preaching mission through the mountains between Italy and Switzerland, working from the Franciscan friary at Susa, Italy. Peterβs preaching brought many back to the faith, which earned him the anger of the Waldensians. Three of the heretics came to the friary, asked to see Peter, and then murdered him at the gate. Peter of Ruffia was beatified in 1856.
It is obvious to say that each martyrdom is a sharing in the Lord's passion and death. But it is striking how Peter's context of martyrdom looks in a sense similar to that of Jesus. In today's Gospel, we are told that the Jews fetched stones to stone Jesus, so Jesus said to them, βI have done many good works for you to see, works from my Father; for which of these are you stoning me?β The Jews answered him, βWe are not stoning you for doing a good work but for blasphemy: you are only a man and you claim to be God (Jn 10:31-33). And therefore, they wanted to arrest him then, but he eluded them. He went back again to the far side of the Jordan to stay in the district where John had once been baptising. Many people who came to him there said, βJohn gave no signs, but all he said about this man was trueβ; and many of them believed in him (Jn 10:39-42). Many were converted by Jesus's sayings and actions, so that some others became jealous and tried to kill him, likewise the Waldensians. This time, Jesus's hour has not yet come. But soon, we will see the heavens open and the Son of Man in his glory.
Source :
(Peter's biography is taken from Sr. Mary Jean Dorcy OP, St Dominic's Family: over 300 famous Dominicans, TAN Books, 1983)
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Saints in February
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- βͺ Blessed Luigi Variara - Priest
- βͺ Blessed Adam Arakawa - Martyr
- βͺ Blessed Rafaela Ybarra Arambarri de Vilallonga - Religious
- βͺ Blessed Josephine Vannini - Religious
- βͺ Blessed Mary Teresa Bonzel - Nun
- βͺ Saint Francesco Spinelli - Priest
- βͺ Saint Theophilus the Lawyer
- βͺ Blessed Angelo da Furci - Priest
- βͺ Saint Guarinus of Palestrina - Cardinal-Bishop of Palestrina
- βͺ Saint Adelaide of Guelders - Abbess of Vilich
- βͺ Saint Joseph of Leonessa - Martyr
- βͺ Saint Ansgar - Apostle of the North
- βͺ Saint Giovanni Battista Clemente Saggio - Religious
- βͺ Little Nelly of Holy God
- βͺ Blessed Andrea Carlo Ferrari - Bishop
- βͺ Blessed Louis Alexander Alphonse Brisson - Priest
- βͺ Saint Jean-ThΓ©ophane VΓ©nard
- βͺ Saint Maria Katharina Kasper - Religious
- βͺ Saint Severus of Avranches
- βͺ Saint Veridiana
- βͺ Saint Henry Morse - Martyr
- βͺ Blessed Andrew Segni - Confessor, First Order
- βͺ Blessed Anna Michelotti - Nun
SAINT OF THE DAY
- βͺ Saint Luigi Scrosoppi of Udine
- βͺ Saint John Payne: Martyr of Englandβs Faith
- βͺ Saint Francis Xavier
- Saint Nicetius of Lyon: A Holy Bishop Who Trusted God
- βͺ Blessed Zofia Czeska-Maciejowska: Mother of Mercy and Education
- βͺ Saint Lodovico Pavoni: Apostle of Youth and Work
- βͺ Blessed Giuseppe Girotti: A Martyr of Charity and Truth
- βͺ Blessed Karl of Austria
- βͺ Saint Mary of Egypt: From Sinner to Desert Saint
- βͺ Saint Hugh of ChΓ’teauneuf: A Holy Shepherd of Faith
- βͺ Saint of the Day : January
- βͺ Saint of the Day : June
- βͺ Saint Simon Marie Antoine Just Ranfer De Bretenieres - Priest
- βͺ Saint Sylvester of Assisi
- βͺ Saint Conon the Gardener
- βͺ Saint John of the Cross
- βͺ Saint Peter of Pappacarbone - Bishop of Policastro
- βͺ Saint Adrian and Natalia of Nicomedia - Martyrs
- βͺ Saint Casimir of Poland - Confessor
- βͺ Saint Luke Casali - Monk & Priest
- βͺ Saint Angela of the Cross Guerrero y GonzΓ‘lez - Virgin and Foundress
- βͺ Saint Chad of Mercia
- βͺ Saint Katharine Drexel - Foundress
- βͺ Saint Agnes of Bohemia - Princess, Philanthropist and Abbess
- βͺ Blessed Giovanna Maria Bonomo - Nun, Mystic