THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
and their rule formed a partial prototype for the discalced Carmelite nuns of St. Theresa (q.v.). Peter of Alcantara was beatified in 1622, and canonized in 1669. The treatise De animi pace seu tranquillitate (Eng. transl., by T. W., Pax anima: a short Treatise declaring how necessary the Tranquillity of the Soul Is, London, 1665; reprinted London, 1876) seems to have been the second part of the De oratione rather than an independent composition.
The congregation founded by Peter of Alcantara numbered some twenty provinces in the seventeenth century, and had monasteries in Spain, southern Italy, Rome, the Tyrol, South America, the Philippines, and Japan. (0. ZOcKLERf.)
Bibliography: Laurentius a Divo Paulo, Portentum paenitentice, seu vita S. Petri de Alcantara, Rome, 1669 (also in ASB, Oct., viii. 700-809; this is based upon the earlier works of Johannes a S. Maria and the Oratorian Francesco Marchese, Rome, 1667); Acta canonizationis S. Petri de Alcantara et S. Magdalence de Pazzis, Rome, 1669 ; F. Hueber, Leben, Tugend und Wunderwerke des heiligen Petrus von Alcantara, Munich, 1670; Helyot, Ordres monastiques, vii. 137 sqq.; O. Zockler, in Zeitschrift jilr die gesamte lutherische Theologie, 1864, pp. 39-78; KL, ix. 1880-84.
PETER OF ALEXANDRIA: Bishop and martyr; d. at Alexandria 311. He seems to have been the second successor of Theognostus as the head of the catechetical school at Alexandria; and though only scanty fragments of his writings have survived, it is known that he was an opponent of Origen, criticizing his opinions on the relation of the body to the soul and on the resurrection of the dead, but at the same time agreeing with him that Christianity must supply an inerrant knowledge as a condition of attainment to the perfect life.
From Peter's treatise " On penitence " are drawn fourteen " penitential canons " which have been incorporated in canon law. These canons were evidently composed by Peter himself in an epistle written in 306 to the Egyptian churches; and in them he pleaded for greater leniency toward the Lapsed (q.v.). Those who had denied the faith under torture might be received after forty days of penance; those who had lapsed during imprisonment, after a year; those who had denied the faith without compulsion should be judged according to Luke xiii. 6 sqq.; and the impenitent should be excommunicated. Those who had pretended to abandon Christianity might be restored after penance of half a year; masters who had caused their slaves to offer sacrifice for them were required to do penance for three years, and their slaves for one year; but those who had suffered imprisonment for the faith were to enjoy the rights of Christian fellowship. Such of the clergy as had needlessly exposed themselves to persecution and had lapsed during the trial of their faith could never be restored to more than lay communion with the Church. On the other hand, those who had paid for immunity were deemed the reverse of blameworthy, and flight was also considered justifiable, even if others were taken instead of the fugitive.
The attitude taken by Peter toward the lapsed has been assigned as the cause of the schism of Meletius of Lycopolis (q.v.), though the real rea-
son was more probably the rivalry between the two bishops. Meletius having unwarrantedly consecrated bishops and ordained priests in place of those who were imprisoned or had fled, he was excommunicated by Peter. According to another, but more dubious, tradition, the two bishops became estranged while fellow prisoners, in consequence of their conflicting views regarding the treatment of the lapsed. The acts of Peter's martyrdom also record that he ordained Arius to the diaconate, but afterward excluded him from the fellowship of the Church because of his adherence to the excommunicated Meletius. The imprisonment and execution of Peter of Alexandria seem to have been quite unexpected. His day is Nov. 26.
An interesting document on the observance of the Sabbath, which has been edited by C. Schmidt (TU, xx., 1901, pp. 4 sqq.), is ascribed to Peter, though its authenticity is still a matter of doubt. A number of other fragments obviously referring to Peter of Alexandria have also been discovered, but these, like the treatise on the Sabbath, seem to show many interpolations. Equally doubtful is a fragment of a " Teaching of Peter," and the same statement holds good of the fragments " On Blasphemy " and " On the Passover " which have been ascribed to him. Finally, if the acts of the martyrdom of Peter may be believed, he fled from persecution from place to place through Mesopotamia, Syria, and the islands of the Mediterranean, so that he must have left Egypt and interrupted his immediate supervision of his diocese.
(N. Bonwetsch.)
A second of the name (d. Feb. 14, 380) was bishop of Alexandria in succession to Athanasius, who nominated him just before his own death in 373. He suffered persecution from the Arians, who called in the pagan prefect, and was compelled to flee. He lived five years in Rome, and returned in 378. He was highly honored by Gregory Nazianzen and Basil.
Bibliography: Remains of Peter's writings are edited in M. J. Routh, Reliquiae sacras, iv. 19 sqq., Oxford, 1846; P. de Lagarde, Reliquiae juris ecclesice antiquice, pp. 63- 73, 99-117, cf. pp. xlvi.-liv., Leipsic, 1856; MPG, xvi. 449-522; J. B. Pitra, Analecta sacra, iv. 187-195, 425- 430, 8 vols., Paris, 1876 sqq.; Schulthess, in ZDMG, 1902, pp. 257-258; W. E. Crum, in JTS, 1903, pp. 387- 397; C. Heer, in Oriens Christianus, ii. 2, pp. 344 sqq. An Eng. transl. of some fragments is in ANF, vi. 269-283. The Acts of his martyrdom are in F. Combefis, Illustrium Christi martyrum lecti triumphi, pp. 189 sqq., Paris, 1660; and J. Viteau, Passions des saints Ecaterine et Pierre d'Alexandrie, Barbara, et Anysia, Paris, 1897, and in MPG, xviii. 453 sqq. (all these, the Greek Acts) ; the Latin Acts are in A. Mai, Specilegium Romanum, iii. 673 sqq., Rome, 1840, and thence reprinted in MPL, cxxix. 691 sqq.; the Syriac are in P. Bedjan's Acta martyrum, v. 543 sqq., Paris, 1895; the Coptic are in H. Hyvemat, Les Actes des martyres, i. 263 sqq., ib. 1886-87.
Further sources are: Eusebius, Hist, eccl., VII., xxxii. 31, VIII., xiii. 7, IX., vi. 2; Epiphanius, ffasr., lxviii.; Socrates, Hist, eccl., I., vi.; Sozomen, Hist, eccl., I., xv. Consult (for a list of works, principally old) ANF, Bibliography, p. 74. For discussions: C. Schmidt, in TU, xx. 4 (1901); O. Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchliche Litteratur, ii. 203 sqq., Freiburg, 1903; L. B. Radford, Three Teachers of Alexandria, Cambridge and New York, 1908; Kriiger, History, pp. 219-222; idem, in ZWT,xxxi (1888), 434-448; Analecta Bollandiana, vols., xix.-xx.; Harnack, Litteratur, i. 443 sqq., ii. 2, pp. 71 sqq.; idem, Dogma, vols, iii.-iv., passim; Ceillier, Auteurs sacre"s, ii. 615-616, iii. 56-61; KLi is. 1884-85; DCB, iv. 331-336.