Peter THE Deacon (1) flourished near the begin- ning of the 6th century. In the controversy excited by the monks whom ecclesiastical writers call Scythes, who came from the diocese of Torn i, on the south hank of the Danube, Peter took a prominent part. He had accompanied the delegates sent to Pome by the monks, and while in the Eternal City united with his colleagues in addressing to Fulgentius, and the other African bish- ops who were then in exile in Sardinia, a work entitled //. Tncarnatione et Gratia Domini nostri Jesu Christi Libt r. To this Fulgentius and his companions replied in another treatise on the same subject The work of Peter, which is in Latin, was published in the Monu- menta SS. Patrum Ortkodoxographa of Grynseusi Basle, 1569), and has been reprinted in various editions of the Bibliotheca Patrum. It is in the ninth volume of the Lyons edition ofGalland (Yen. 1776. foL). Smith, Diet. ofGr. and Rom. Biog. and Mythol. iii, -223.
Peter the Deacon (2), a learned Benedictine of Monte-Cassino, of a Roman patrician family, was horn about the close of the 11th century, in the reign of Alexins I Comnenus. In the Jus Grceco-Romanum of Leunclavius (lib. vi, 395 397) are given Tnterrogationes quas solvit reverendissimus Chartularius, Dominus Pe- trus, i l< mque Diaconus Majoris Ecclesia \±v. of St. So- phia al Constantinople), A.M. 6600 A. I). 1092. We learn from this title when the author lived, and that he offices described. He seems to have b< en a I- mitted into the Benedictine < >rder al the very early age In a control ersy of bis convenl with pope [nnocenl II. he di fended the monastic interests to greal advanl ige bi fore the emperor Lothaire in 1 138, while he was in South Italy. So well plea ed was the emperor with Peter thai he was made chartularius and chaplain of the Roman realm. Later he was intrusted by pope Alexander with the management of the convent of Monte-Cassino, where he died alter the middle of the L2th cenmry. The following of his writings are in- structive for the contemporaneous history of the Church. J), vita et obitu Justorum Ccenobii Casinensis: lil>, Ulustrium virorum Casinensis Archisterii: Lib, <l< ictis: and Di Norissimis temporibus. Tin re are, or were, extant in MS. in the king's librarv at
Paris, Petrus Diaconus et Philosophus dt Cycle et /«-
.nd Petri Diaconi el PhUosophi Trai Sole, Luna, et Sideribus (Codd. CMXXIX, No. 7. and MMMLXXXV), but whether this Petrus Diaconus is the canonist is not char.— Smith. Diet. ofGr. and Rom. Biog. and Mythol. iii. 223; Pottbast, BibL Med. Mvi, p. 490; Fabricius, Bib. Greeca, si, 334 sq.; Cave, Hist. I.iit. ii. 161.
Peter the Dominican. See Peteb Martyr,
Peter (JPieri Dresden, a German reformer,
was horn at Dresden in the latter part of the Nth cen- tury. Driven from that city for having spread the doc- trines of the Vaudois, Pierre Bought retime in Prague,
where, in order to subsist, he opened a small scl 1 foi
children. Some time alter he attracted to himself one of his friends called Jacobel, with whom be published his opinions. Pierre inveighed especially against the communion in one kind. " To his influence," saj - Gil- lett, •• i- to be attributed in large measure the origin of that discussion in respect to the communion of the cup which almost revolutionized Bohemia, and brought down upon it the energies of crusading Christendom." He was evidently a man of superior talent, and one who possessed ureal power over the minds of others. At Prague, among the thousands congregated at its university, he had large opportunity for insinuating his peculiar views. The very fact that he was instrumen- tal in shaping the enlarged views of Jacobel suffices to rescue his name and memory from oblivion. He after- wards united with the Hussites againsl the primacy of the pope, and propagated their ideas upon the nature of the ( Ihurch. To establish his doctrines he wrote several works now completely forgotten. He died at Prague in 1 1 in. See Eneas Sylvius, Bohem.ch.5; Bonfinius, Hist. fin/,.; Moreri, Diet. Hist. : Jocher, Allg. Gelehi Gillett, Huss and tfo Hussites, i, 38, 183,519. (J.H.W.)
Peter of Edessa, a Syrian by birth, and a presby- ter of the Church at Edessa, and an eminent preacher. wrote Tractatus variorum Causarum, treatises on vari- ous subjects, and composed Psalms in metre like those of Ephrem the Syrian. Trithemius ascribes to him Commentani in Psalmos, and says that he wrote in Syriac. All his works have pnrished.- Smith. Diet, of c,r. anil Rom. Biog. and Mythol. iii. 224.
Peter <J3t.~) Exorcista and MARCELLINTJS Tt. SS. Piefro e Mareellino), two Romish saints always rep- resented together, flourished during the lasl persecutions under Diocletian, about the opening of the Ith century. Their religious convictions, openly avowed, brought them to jail, and it so happened that even there they were sorely tried. Their jailer. Artemius. had a daugh- ter, Paulina, who was sick. Peter promised to restore her to health if Artemius would believe in tied. Then the jailer ridiculed him. saying, " It' 1 put thee into the deepest dungeon, and load thee w ith heavier chains, -will thy (hid t lien deliver thee?" To this Peter replied that it mattered little to God whether he believed or not. but that Christ might be glorified he desired that it should be done. And it wa- so; and in the night Peter and Marcelliuus. dressed in shining white garments, Came to Artemius in his own chamber. Then he believed, and was baptized with all his family, and three hundred others. When they were toiiie.it was ordered that the executioner should take them to a forest three miles from Rome, in order that the Christians should not know of their burial-place. So when they vvere come to a solitary place, and the executioner pointed it out as the spot where they were to die. tbey themselves