From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   April 14th - St. Peter Gonzalez, OP (AC)   
   (also known as Elmo-Erasmus, Telmo)   
      
   Born at Astorga, Leon, Spain, c. 1190; died April 14, 1246; beatified by   
   Pope   
   Innocent IV in 1254; cultus approved by Benedict XIV in 1741 for the   
   veneration   
   of the whole Order of Preachers. The patron saint of sailors, especially in   
   Portugal and Spain, is popularly invoked as Saint Elmo or Telmo.   
      
   The parents of Peter Gonzales were wealthy and apparently expected their son   
   to   
   become a priest so that he might in time obtain some rank. It was a period   
   in   
   history when this sort of thing was a trial to the Church, and Peter's   
   worldly   
   youth was only one of many examples. He was educated by his uncle, the   
   bishop of   
   Astorga, who invested him with a canonry at Palencia and deanery when he was   
   still quite young.   
      
   Full of pride, for a special Bull had been procured so that he might obtain   
   the   
   deanery while he was under age, he resolved to be installed with great pomp,   
   and   
   for his state entry into Astorga chose Christmas Day when the streets were   
   likely to be crowded. He wanted to impress his flock with his fine clothes   
   and   
   vivid personality.   
      
   He paraded through the town on horseback, magnificently equipped, but in the   
   noise and excitement the animal reared and threw him upon a dungheap. The   
   Spanish people, who have a fine sense of comedy, responded with loud gusts   
   of   
   laughter. Picking himself up in shame, he cried: "If the world mocks me,   
   henceforth, I will mock the world." Covered with filth and confusion, Peter   
   withdrew to clean up and ponder his sins.   
      
   Surprisingly enough, when his wounded feelings had healed, Peter reformed   
   his   
   pointless life and immediately entered the Dominican monastery at Palencia.   
   He   
   was never to forget to weep for his sins, and his life was spent in prayer   
   and   
   penance to offset the wasted years of his youth.   
      
   Peter's friends did not allow this to happen without protest. They had been   
   amused by his accident, but not converted by it as he was, and they did   
   their   
   best to talk him into leaving religious life and returning to the luxurious   
   world he had left behind. It was probably a serious temptation to the young   
   man,   
   for it is not easy to reform overnight. But he did not turn back. Instead,   
   he   
   said to his friends, "If you love me, follow me! If you cannot follow me,   
   forget   
   me!" He became, by close application to the rule, one of the shining   
   exemplars   
   of this difficult way of life.   
      
   After his studies were completed, Peter entered into his apostolate. It was   
   to   
   take him into places where his worldly background would be a help rather   
   than a   
   hindrance, for he could well understand the temptations and troubles of   
   worldly   
   people. He was first of all a military chaplain with the royal army. He also   
   began to preach in the region. He did not talk about trivia, his sermons   
   drew   
   large crowds. The recitation of the Psalms was his most constant prayer.   
      
   The fame of his piety and zeal spread throughout Spain and reached the ears   
   of   
   King Saint Ferdinand of Castile, who sent for him and attached him to his   
   court   
   as chaplain and as his confessor. Appalled by its licentiousness, Gonzales   
   immediately set about reforming it, which so displeased the younger   
   courtiers   
   that they tried to corrupt him; but he was proof against all temptations and   
   won   
   the confidence of the saintly king.   
      
   Peter did much to foster the crusade against the Moors. When Ferdinand   
   finally   
   acted, Peter accompanied him on his expedition against the Moors. Upon the   
   capture of Cordova and Seville, Peter used his influence and authority on   
   the   
   side of the vanquished and was instrumental in reducing rape and bloodshed.   
   He   
   also took over the Moorish mosques and converted them into Christian   
   churches.   
      
   He was showered with favors by the king, who had the utmost confidence in   
   him.   
   Fearing honors, however, Peter quit the king's service upon his return to   
   Spain.   
   Instead, moved by compassion, he lived among the poor peasants and sought to   
   evangelize them. Although he was met everywhere with ignorance and   
   brutality,   
   his work proved efficacious. He penetrated the wildest and most inaccessible   
   areas, seeking out the peasants in villages and the shepherds in the   
   mountains   
   of the Asturias. His preaching brought about reconciliation between   
   neighbors   
   and between men and God. He gave reassurance to the dismayed and the   
   perplexed.   
      
   Most of the anecdotes of his life come from this period, and they have to do   
   with miracles that he worked for these people. At his prayer, storms ceased,   
   droughts were ended, bottles were refilled with wine, bread was found in the   
   wilderness. The bridge that he built across the swift river Minho made his   
   name   
   famous throughout Spain, and it existed up until recent times. During the   
   time   
   he was directing work on this bridge, he used to call the fish to come and   
   be   
   caught; it was a way of helping to feed the workers.   
      
   He visited also the seaports of Galicia-boarding ships and preaching on   
   their   
   open decks. He had a great liking for sailors, and is often portrayed in the   
   habit of his Order, holding a blue candle which symbolized Saint Elmo's   
   fire,   
   the blue electrical discharge which sometimes appears in thunder storms at   
   the   
   mast- heads of ships, and which was supposed to be a sign that the vessel   
   was   
   under the saint's protection. (The name of Saint Elmo is of earlier origin.   
   Peter Gonzales, in the popular devotion of the sailors of the Mediterranean,   
   has   
   replaced the name and memory of the older saints associated with the sea,   
   particularly the 4th century Saint Erasmus.)   
      
   He retired finally to Tuy in a state of extreme exhaustion. During Lent he   
   preached each day in the cathedral, on Palm Sunday he foretold his death,   
   and on   
   the Sunday after Easter, he died at Santiago de Compostella. Bishop Luke of   
   Tuy,   
   his great admirer and friend, attended him to his last breath and buried him   
   honorably in his cathedral. In his last will, the bishop gave directions for   
   his   
   own body to be laid near Peter's remains, which were placed in a silver   
   shrine   
   and honored with many miracles (Benedictines, Delaney, Dorcy, Encyclopedia,   
   Gill, Husenbeth).   
      
   In art, Saint Peter is a Dominican lying on his cloak on hot coals. He may   
   also   
   be portrayed holding fire in his hand or catching fish with his bare hands   
   (Roeder).   
      
   From:   
   http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0414.shtml   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Look, look on Jesus, poor and crucified,look on this Holy One, who for your   
   love   
   has died,and remember as you contemplate the sacred mysteries, this Jesus   
   whom   
   you gaze upon, loves you most tenderly.   
   -Saint Clare of Assisi   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Again therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying: I am the light of the world:   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)