Also known as St. Peter of Verona or St. Peter of Milan, St. Peter Martyr was a Dominican who preached against the Catharists. He was murdered by a band of Catharist assassins on the road from Como to Milan in 1252 and canonized the following year.
St. Peter's assassins attacked him first with blows to the head, using an axe, though the Golden Legend says it was a sword. Then they stabbed him in the chest. This sequence is presented in Bellini's painting of the murder, along with the killing of St. Peter's companion Fra Domenico. His body was taken to Milan, where it was entombed in a mausoleum erected by Balduccio Pisano (image).
In portraits St. Peter Martyr appears as at left: tonsured, wearing the white and black Dominican habit, his skull distinguished by either a gash or an axe or sword. He often also holds the palm of martyrdom and a closed book.
The santos referenced by this page are from 16th-century Dominican churches in Oaxaca state, Mexico.
Feast day: February 13
At left, a santo in the church of SS. Peter and Paul, Etla, Oaxaca
Other images:
Santos
from Huitzo and Santo Domingo Diaz
Ordaz, OaxacaHagiography:
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