Peter Martyr of Verona
1205/1206 - 6 April 1252
A brief biography.
Peter Martyr, also called Peter of
Verona, - Italian San Pietro Martire or San Pietro da Verona -, was born 1205
or 1206 in Verona, Lombardy.
His parents were members of the Cathari. Peter
studied at the University of
Bologna, and was accepted
into the Dominican Order by
Saint Dominic about 1221.
Peter gained his initial
reputation as preacher in Lombardy. After receiving what he
regarded as divine inspiration, he resumed his evangelization with such fervour
that Pope Gregory IX appointed him General inquisitor about 1232. In this
capacity he preached against the Cathari throughout northern and central Italy,
and his success provoked powerful enemies among them. Peter
himself influenced and founded various confraternities to combat heresies.
He
served as prior the Dominican priory of Asti in 1240, of Piacenza in
1241, and of Como in 1251, the year that Pope Innocent IV named him papal
inquisitor.
When returning from Como to Milano, he met a certain Carino who with some other Manicheans had plotted to murder him on 6th April 1252. The assassin struck him with an axe on the head with such violence, that Peter fell half dead. The murderer then pierced his heart. The body was carried to Milano and laid in the church of St. Eustorgio, where a magnificent mausoleum, the work of Balduccio Pisano, was erected to his memory. He wrought many miracles when living, but they were even more numerous after his martyrdom, so that Innocent IV canonized him on 25 March, 1253 and him named patron of inquisitors.
Philately
Allegri di Correggio
ca 1489-05.03.1534
Painting by the Italian Allegri di
Correggio (ca 1489-05.03.1534):
Sacra Conversazione (285x190)
preserved in the
Gemäldegalerie in Dresden.
At the right near the Virgin Peter Martyr.
Cambodia 1984, Mi 623 ; Sc
536.
Same picture: Gambia 1995, Mi 2273; Laos 1984, Mi Bl 104,765; Sc 573 ?
Madagascar 1984, Mi Bl 25, 950. Malagasy Republic 1984, Sc (685-89).
Gerolamo da Cremona
1451-1483
Painting by Gerolamo da Cremona
(1451-1483) in the cathedral
of Viterbo.
On the left Peter Martyr.
Sovereign Military Order of Malta
(S.M.O.M.)
1996,
Sassone block 48.
Domenichino
10.1581-06.04.1641
see Zampieri
Filippo Lippi
1406/09-09/10/1469
Painting by Fra Filippo Lippi (1406-09.10.1469): Madonna dell' Umilità con angeli e santi carmelitani;
of the Madonna of
Humility.
In early time it belongs to the collection of Trivulzio, now preserved in
the Museo Castello Sforzesco. Milano, and too named the Trivulzio
Madonna, after the name of the previous owner.
Probably painted (oil on panel,
85x168 cm., ca 1431), when Fra Lippi was
living in the monastery Santa Maria del Carmine,
and destined for
the altar of the Carmelite Saints Angelo and Alberto around the Virgin.
But probably there are two figures from the Dominican history
at the right.
One had a cleaver in his head and that is the symbol of the Dominican Peter
Martyr.
Near him a Saint with lily on his shoulder, like Saint Dominic, but
both
with
a white (Carmelite)
cloak!
Is that for the colour on the painting or a sign
of the heavenly situation?
Tempera on panel in form of a timpano,
85 x 168 cm., ca 1431.
Preserved in the Museo del Castello Sforzesco,
Milano,
since 1934.
Sierra Leone 2001, Mi 4142, Sc 2511.
Fra Angelico
Giovanni di Fiesole
ca.1395-18 February 1455
Numbersof the catalogue of Elsa Morante (EM).
EM 1:
San
Pietro Martire Triptych, 1428/29,
detail. Tempera on panel, 137 x 168 cm.
Painting for the church San Domenico of
the Dominican priory in Fiesole.
Now
preserved in the Museo di San Marco, Firenze.
Peter Martyr to the right.
Uganda 1989, Mi 756,761; Sc 741.
EM 29: Madonna della Stella (84x51 cm, 1434). The
predella shows
at the left Peter
of Verona; in the middle Saint Dominic and
on the right
Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Preserved in Museo di San Marco, Firenze.
Gambia 1991, Mi 1290, Sc 1168.
EM 33:
EM 34:
The coronation
of the Virgin, ca. 1434/1435. Tempera
on panel, 112 x 114 cm.
Many Dominican Saints.
Dominic and a to me unknown Dominican at the left. Peter Martyr with red lines on his head, against the frame of the painting and a me unknown Dominican. The virgin with the habit with stars at the right is Saint Agnes, not Catherine of Siena.
Galleria degli Uffici, Firenze.
Grenada 1997, Mi Bl 480 ; Sc 2732. Also: Dominica 1996, Mi Bl 318, Sc 1907.
EM 60
A: Pala di San Marco
(San Marco Altarpiece), ca 1439-1442.
Tempera on panel, 220
x 227 cm.
Cosimo de' Medici gave the Dominicans of San Marco
in
Firenze an altarpiece for their church.
The choose of Saints was based on Cosimo's Patron Saints, Cosmas
and Damian
(at the foot of the Virgin), his
brother's namesake, Lorenzo, and saint Mark, the patron saint of the
church
(on the left). On the right
Saint Dominic,
Saint Francis
and St. Peter Martyr.
Preserved in the Museo di San Marco, Firenze.
Central African Republic 1981, Mi 806 and Bl 161; Sc C262B.
On the block the painting without the predella.
The same painting, but only the
right side: Antigua and
Barbuda
1991, Mi 1589, Bl 220; Sc 1512.
The mention on the stamp 'The adoration of the Magi' (Cook Tondo) is wrong.
EM 74, Annunciation, 176
x 148 cm, ca 144. Museo
di San Marco,
fresco in cell 3.
San Marco, Firenze.
Peter Martyr at the left.
Gambia 1991, Mi 1289; Sc 1167.
EM 81,The presentation of Christ
at the
temple, (151 x
131 cm),
ca 1440-1441, fresco in cell 10.
preserved in the
Museo
di San Marco, Firenze.
Peter Martyr at the left.
Gambia 1991, Mi 1288, Sc 1166.
EM 101: The Crucifixion, 550 x 950 cm., 1441/1442.
Fresco in
the
Chapter Room of the priory of San Marco, Firenze.
Peter Martyr to the right.
Nicaragua 1968, Mi 1479 and 1485 (with overprint);Sc C649.
Fra Angelico painted Peter Martyr 31 times as single or in a group.
Piero della Francesca
c 1420-12.10.1492
Painting by Piero della Francesca (ca
1420-12.10.1492): The Sacred Conversation, 248 x 170 cm:The Madonna with
Child, Angels,
Saints and Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino,
1470.
Preserved in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milano.
The third man at the right is Peter Martyr of Verona.
Turks and Caicos 2003, Mi Bl 229, Sc 1444.
The same painting issued Ajman 1972, Mi
1943, Sc -- ;
San
Marino 1992, Mi 1520; Sc 1270a; Sovereign Military Order of Malta
(S.M.O.M.) 1992, Sassone
416, block 38; Uganda 1991, Mi Bl 152.
Lippo Vanni
14 th century
Triptych by Lippo Vanni (14th century) for the church of the Dominicans in Siena, now preserved in the Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome.
The post office department
of Italy thought
that the Dominican
at the left
on this triptych was Saint Dominic
and printed his name
and data. Dominic in the middle, Thomas Aquinas at the right en Peter martyr of
Verona at the left.
Vatican City 1971, Mi 586, Sc 509.
Titian Vecellio
Painting
by Tiziano Vecellio (1488/90-1576): Martyrdom of
St. Peter
Martyr;
in 1867 lost
by fire in the Dominican church
Sts.
Giovanni
e Paolo (Zanupoli)
in Venezia. In this church now a copy.
Sierra Leone 1988, mi 1115; Sc 993.
Bartolomeo Vivarini
c 1432-1499
Painting by Bartolomeo Vivarini (ca
1432-1499):
Madonna
and
Child enthroned, surrounded by Saints (1465). with Augustin,
Rochus, Luis of Toulouse, Nicholas,
Catherine of Alexandria, Mary of Magdalen and at the top left
Saint Dominic
and at the right
Peter Martyr.
Cook Islands 1990, Mi Bl 197, 1316; Sc 1046.
Domenico Zampieri
1581-05.04.1641
Painting by Domenichino (Domenico
Zampieri(10.1581-06.04.1641):
Martyrium of Peter
Martyr,
oil on canvas (345 x
236 cm), 1618-1620.
Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna.
Cambodia 1985, Mi 706, Sc 629
Peter Martyr lies on the ground.
Unknown Artists
Painting
by unknown artist
of
the Italian School
16th century.
Peter Martyr at the right.
The text on the top of the painting: The Lemberg Painting-Galery.
Gemälde Galery Lemberg.
Ukraine 1998. Mi Bl 11, Sc 306.
Peter Martyr of Verona on
reliefs.
Dominican
saints, among them Peter Martyr,
on the façade (1670)
of the Dominican church
of
Maria Rotunda in Wien.
Austria 1966, Mi 1202, Sc 757.
Other stamps and postmarks.
Third centenary of the sanctuary of Peter Martyr
in Seveso, Italy.
Italy 1985. Postmark Seveso 05.05.1985,
with portrait of Peter Martyr.
750th year of the murder of Peter of
Verona
with his portrait.
Italy 2002. Postmark Seveso 05.05.2002.
First
centenary of the philatelic manifestation Veronafil.
On the stamp
the logo of Veronafil
and picture of Peter Martyr.
Italy 2003, Mi 2912, Sc 2551.
With postmark Verona 9.5.2003.
A
church was built a long time ago on the hill in the Steinsel village centre,
atop the ruins of a Romen villa and a merovingian tomb. A sketch made in 1571 by
the abbot Bertels of the Münster Abbey shows a chapel with a rather simple
architecture. It was replaced by a three-nave church later.
Dominique-Henri
de Neunheuser, vicar of Steinsel, bought in 1785 two stone altars from the
Dominican monastery of Marienthal, which had been suspended under the reign of
Emperor Joseph II of Austria. One of the altars featured a stone statue of St.
Peter of Milano. That's how the veneration of this saint came to Steinsel. Still
today a procession in his honour is held on Whitsun Monday in Steinsel.
7th centenary of the dead of Peter Martyr. The stone statue of Peter Martyr in the church of Steinsel, Luxembourg.
Luxembourg 1965. Postmark Steinsel 07.06.1965.
There are many priories and churches dedicated to Peter Martyr:
the Dominican priory in Toledo.
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