Saint of the Day – 23 March – Blessed Pietro of Gubbio OSA (Died c 1306)

Saint of the Day – 23 March – Blessed Pietro of Gubbio OSA (Died c 1306) Priest and Friar of the Order of Hermits of St Augustine, Lawyer, noted Preacher, Envoy for the Order, Miracle-worker. Born in the early 13th century in Gubbio, Umbria, Italy and died between 1306 and 1322 in Gubbio, Umbria, Italy of natural causes. Also known as Peter of Gubbio. Additional Memorial – 29 October (The Augustinians).

Pietro of the noble Ghigenzi family, was born in the first half of the thirteenth century. He studied law first in Italy and then in Paris.

At about the age of forty, Pietro came to know the Augustinians and was drawn to them, wanting to put himself and his law practice at the disposal of the Church. He joined the Augustinians of his hometown who had come to Gubbio from the hermitage of Brettino (Fano).

As a Friar, he won the respect of his confreres and was entrusted with various duties of responsibility. He was chosen and sent by the Prior General to visit the Monasteries of France. Pietro that he travelled bare-footed and met all his brother Augustinians in that way as a sign of humility. He left a deep impression for his holiness of life, zeal for the Rule, his his patience with Augustinian brothers who had trouble living up to the Rule,and as a miracle worker.

He is described by the Anonymous Florentine, a writer of the fifteenth century, as “a man of great patience and prayer, who ended his life in the peace of the Lord and is renowned for many miracles.”

Pietro spent his later years as a prayerful Friar in the Gubbio Monastery where he had begun.

He died sometime between 1306 and 1322 and was venerated from the time of his death. His remains were buried in the common grave of Friars in the centre of the Choir area in the Augustinian Church in Gubbio.

One day, soon after his burial, the Friars were in the Choir, singing the Te Deum and they heard a voice from the tomb that responded: Te Dominum confitemur! – ‘Lord, we thank you! ‘ The frightened brothers opened the tomb and found the body of Blessed Peter on his knees, looking up and hands crossed on his chest.

Pietro’s relics are still enshrined in the Augustinian Church, where the veneration of this gentle, humble Friar were immediately and are still the subject of pilgrimages.

Pope Pius IX Beated Blessed Pietro in 1874.