Saint of the Day – April 14 – Saint Peter Gonzales

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Today is Friday, March 29, 2024

The Memorial of Saint Peter Gonzales

Saint Peter Gonzales is the Patron Saint of

• Boatmen, mariners, sailors, watermen
• Fisherman
• Tui, Spain
• Tui-Vigo, Spain, diocese of

Saint Peter Gonzales Date of Birth, Country of Birth, Profession, Place of Work, Date of Death, Place of Death, Feast Day, Beatification Date, Canonization DateMatrimony/Holy OrdersPriests who became Saints

Saint Peter Gonzales brief life History

Date of Birth 1190 AD
Country of Birth Spain in Europe
Profession Priest and Confessor
Place of Work Spain
Date of Death 15 April 1246
Place of Death Saintiago de Compostela, Tui, Spain
Feast Day April 14
Beatification By Pope Innocent IV in 1254 in Rome, Papal States
Canonization By Pope Benedict XIV on December 13, 1741 in Rome, Papal States
Patron Saint of • Boatmen, mariners, sailors, watermen
• Fisherman
• Tui, Spain
• Tui-Vigo, Spain, diocese of

Saint Peter Gonzales Short life History

Saint Peter Gonzales is also known as Pedro, Pietro, Elm, Elmo, Erasmus, Telm, Telmo

• He was a Castilian nobility who mis-spent a worldly youth.
• He was educated by his uncle, the bishop of Astorga, Spain.
• He was Priest, primarily as a step to high office.
• He obtained special papal dispensation to become Canon of Palencia when he was officially still too young.
• During a grand Christmas Day entrance into the city, his horse was spooked by the noise of the crowds. It threw him in all his finery onto a dung-heap, much to the delight of the citizens who knew his was a political, not a spiritual appointment.

• Dazed, filthy, humiliated, and with the undeniable understanding that his parishioners thought he was a hack, he withdrew from the world for a period of prayer and meditation. It worked. He had a true conversion experience and spent the rest of his life making up for his lost youth and the mockery he made of his position.
• He joined the Dominicans.
• His family and friends tried to draw him back to his old life and their planned pursuit of position, but he responded, “If you love me, follow me! If you cannot follow me, forget me!”

• He was Confessor and court chaplain to King Saint Ferdinand III of Castile. • Against the opposition of more worldly courtiers, he reformed court life around the king.
• He worked for the Crusade against the Moors, accompanied Ferdinand into the battlefields, and then worked for humane treatment of Moorish prisoners.

A favourite of the king, Peter feared the honours and easy life would lead him to a return to his previous ways, so he left the court and evangelized to shepherds in the hills, along the waterfronts, and among Spanish and Portugese sailors who still venerate him and consider him their special patron, blending his story with that of Saint Elmo, and calling upon him for protection in the face of bad weather.

Legend says that when he lacked food for those in his charge, he would kneel and pray by a river; fish would leap onto the banks.

Today’s Catholic Quote:

Saint Peter Gonzales was born 1190 at Astorga, Spain and died on 15 April 1246 at Saintiago de Compostela, Tui, Spain. He was buried in the cathedral at Tuy, Spain

Saint Peter Gonzales
Saint Peter Gonzales


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About Laban Thua Gachie 10721 Articles
The founder of Catholicreadings.org is Laban Thua Gachie. I am a Commissioned Lector, a commissioned Liturgy Minister, and a Commissioned member of the Catholic Men Association. We at Catholic Daily Readings, operate the catholicreadings.org, a Catholic Church-related website and we pride ourself in providing you, on a daily basis the following; 1. Catholic Daily Mass Readings 2. Reflections on those Daily Readings 3. Daily prayers 4. Bible Verse of the Day 5. Saint of the Day