St Peter of Alcantara: Life, Feast Day and Prayer

St Peter of Alcantara (1499-1562) was a Spanish Franciscan friar, a preacher and a reformer of his order, famous in his own century for a life of penance that seemed almost beyond human strength, and remembered by the whole Church as the man who reassured St Teresa of Avila when others told her that her prayer came from the devil. In the calendar of 1962 his feast falls on 19 October, as a feast of the third class, with a Mass whose Collect sums up his whole life: "wonderful penance and most lofty contemplation". Below are his life, drawn from Butler's Lives of the Saints, the prayer of his feast in Latin and English, what he is patron of, and how he died.

Who is St Peter of Alcantara?

He was born Peter Garavita in 1499 at Alcantara, a small town of Estremadura in western Spain, near the Portuguese border. His father was a lawyer and the governor of the town, and both his parents were known for their piety. After his first studies at home he was sent by his stepfather to the University of Salamanca, and there he resolved to become a Franciscan. At about sixteen he took the habit in the friary of Manjaretes, in the mountains between Castile and Portugal, a house of friars who were seeking, within the Observance, an even stricter observance of the Rule of St Francis.

Butler records two small stories from his novitiate that say a great deal. Put in charge of the refectory, he was rebuked after six months for never having given the friars any fruit; he answered that he had never seen any, because he had never raised his eyes to the ceiling, where the fruit hung in bunches. And by long mortification he seems to have lost the sense of taste: given warm water with vinegar and salt, he took it for his usual bean soup.

At twenty-two, not yet a priest, he was sent to found a small friary at Badajoz. He was ordained in 1524, and from then on he preached throughout Estremadura with such fruit that, as Butler says, "it was said that he had but to show himself to work conversions". He loved above all to preach to the poor, and to preach from the Wisdom books and the Prophets. He was guardian of several houses, then in 1538 minister provincial of the strict province of St Gabriel. The King of Portugal, John III, called him to Lisbon and tried in vain to keep him at court.

The reformer: the barefoot Franciscans

What he could not obtain from his own province, he built elsewhere. In 1540 he proposed even stricter statutes at a chapter at Plasencia; they were refused, and he resigned his office. He joined Friar Martin of St Mary, who was founding hermitages on the barren mountain of Arabida, near Lisbon, where the friars went barefoot, slept on vine twigs or the bare ground, never ate meat nor drank wine, and kept no library.

In 1554, troubled by the evils of his age, he resolved to found a congregation of friars "upon a yet stricter plan", to set prayer and penance against the disorders of the time. He walked barefoot to Rome to obtain the approval of Pope Julius III, and on his return a friend built the first friary of the new observance near Pedrosa. In his statutes each cell was to be seven feet long; a friary was never to have more than eight friars; the brothers were to go always barefoot, to give three hours every day to mental prayer, and never to accept a stipend for a Mass. In 1561 the reform became a province under the title of St Joseph. Its friars were called Alcantarines until Pope Leo XIII united the branches of the Observants in 1897.

He was called a hypocrite, a traitor and a disturber of the peace by the brethren he had left. His answer, kept by Butler, shows the man: "My fathers and brothers, make allowance for the good intention of my zeal in this matter, and if you are convinced it were better that it should not succeed, spare no pains to stop it." To a friend who lamented the wickedness of the world he gave the rule of every true reform: "You and I must first be what we ought to be: then we shall have cured what concerns ourselves. Let each one do the same, and all will be well."

His penances: the saint who slept an hour and a half

Most of what we know about his austerities comes from St Teresa of Avila, who wrote them down in her Life from what he told her in confidence, and whom Butler quotes at length. For forty years, she says, he slept only an hour and a half in twenty-four hours, and to master sleep he kept himself always kneeling or standing; Butler adds that his only bed was a skin on the floor, where he slept sitting, his head leaning against the wall. He never covered his head, in sun or rain, and never wore anything on his feet.

His only garment was a habit of coarse cloth, with a short cloak over it; in the cold he would take off the cloak and open door and window, so that when he put it on again he might feel a little warmer. He commonly ate once in three days. "When I came to know him," she writes, "he was very old, and his body so shrivelled and weak that it seemed to be composed as it were of the roots and dried bark of a tree rather than flesh." And she adds, which matters as much: "He was very pleasant but spoke little unless questions were asked him."

These are not penances to imitate, and the Church never proposed them as a rule for all. They are the language of a soul that had understood how seriously God takes sin and how near Christ crucified is to those who suffer with Him. For the measured penance that belongs to every Christian life, see our page on Christian mortification and penance. Because of his long night vigils, Butler notes, he came to be regarded as the patron saint of night watchmen.

St Peter of Alcantara and St Teresa of Avila

About the year 1560, during a visitation, Peter came to Avila. Teresa, then still a nun of the Incarnation, was in great distress: many told her that her visions and her prayer were illusions of the devil. A friend arranged for him to speak with her at leisure for eight days. From his own experience of the things of God, Butler writes, "he understood hers, cleared her perplexities, gave her strong assurances that her visions and prayer were from God, and spoke to her confessor in their favour".

He did more. In 1562, in the last months of his life, he spent his remaining strength helping her to found her first convent of the Carmelite reform, St Joseph's at Avila, using his influence with the bishop. He wrote to her in defence of absolute poverty for the new house, with a sentence that every founder should read: "The abuses in monasteries which have given up revenues arise from this — that poverty in them is endured rather than desired."

On 24 August 1562 he was present at the first Mass in the chapel of St Joseph's. According to her testimony, quoted in the decree of his canonization, no one did more than he for her nascent reform. You can read more about her in our page on St Teresa of Avila, and pray to her with the novena to St Teresa of Avila.

The treatise on prayer and meditation

At the solitary friary of Lapa, Peter wrote his short book on prayer, known in English as the Treatise on Prayer and Meditation. Butler says it was "justly esteemed a masterpiece by St Teresa, Louis of Granada, St Francis of Sales and others" and was translated into most European languages. It is a short and practical book, written by a man who gave three hours a day to mental prayer and required the same of his friars; its aim is the one his whole life served, to lead the soul through meditation to habitual union with God. If you want to begin where he would begin, our guides to mental prayer and to how to meditate with God follow the same traditional method.

How did St Peter of Alcantara die?

Two months after the opening of St Joseph's at Avila he fell mortally ill and asked to be carried to the friary of Arenas, to die among his brethren. In his last moments he repeated the words of the psalm: "I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord" (Psalm 121:1, Douay-Rheims). Then, Butler says, "he rose upon his knees, and in that posture calmly died". The date was 18 October 1562.

St Teresa wrote that he appeared to her several times after his death "in great glory", and that he gave her counsel in her trials. She records a word of Our Lord about him that has made him a beloved intercessor: "Our Lord told me once that men should ask nothing in the name of St Peter of Alcantara wherein He would not hear them. I have recommended many things to him that he might beg them of our Lord, and I have always found them granted." That is a private revelation, recorded by a saint and a Doctor of the Church; it binds no one, but it explains why so many have turned to him with confidence.

He was beatified by Pope Gregory XV in 1622 and canonized by Pope Clement IX in 1669.

St Peter of Alcantara feast day

In the traditional Roman calendar, the feast of St Peter of Alcantara, Confessor, is kept on 19 October, the morrow of his death, 18 October being the feast of St Luke the Evangelist. In the Missal and Breviary of 1962 it is a feast of the third class, in white vestments, with the Mass Justus ut palma from the Common of Confessors not Bishops, a proper Collect, and as Epistle the words of St Paul to the Philippians: "I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord" (Philippians 3:8).

In the reform of the calendar of 1969 his name was removed from the General Roman Calendar and left to local and particular calendars, where he is often kept on 18 October. In the calendar of 1962, which is the calendar of this app, his feast keeps its place on 19 October. You can see where it falls this year in our traditional Catholic calendar of 1962 feasts.

The prayer of St Peter of Alcantara (Missal of 1962)

The most authentic prayer to St Peter of Alcantara is the Collect of his Mass, the prayer of the Church herself on his feast. It asks, through his merits, for exactly the two gifts that made him a saint: mortification of the flesh and an easier grasp of heavenly things.

Collect of the feast, 19 October

Deus, qui beátum Petrum Confessórem tuum admirábilis pœniténtiæ et altíssimæ contemplatiónis múnere illustráre dignátus es: da nobis, quǽsumus; ut, ejus suffragántibus méritis, carne mortificáti, facílius cœléstia capiámus. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.

O God, who didst vouchsafe to make blessed Peter, Thy Confessor, illustrious by the gift of wonderful penance and of most lofty contemplation: grant us, we beseech Thee, that, his merits pleading for us, we may be mortified in the flesh and so lay hold the more readily on heavenly things. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

Those who wish to prepare for his feast may pray this Collect for nine days, from 10 to 18 October, adding an Our Father, a Hail Mary and a Glory be, and presenting their intention with the confidence St Teresa recommends.

What is St Peter of Alcantara the patron saint of?

• Brazil, of which he was declared patron in 1826, in the time of the Empire.
• Estremadura, his native region in Spain, of which he was declared patron in 1962, the fourth centenary of his death.
• Night watchmen, because of his vigils, as Butler records.

He is also, by every title, a patron for all who are drawn to mental prayer and to penance, and for those who seek the reform of the Church by beginning with their own souls. He takes his place among the great Franciscan saints of Spain's golden century and among the Catholic saints whose lives show what grace can make of a man who refuses it nothing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is St Peter of Alcantara?

A Spanish Franciscan priest (1499-1562), born at Alcantara in Estremadura, who founded a strict reform of the Franciscan friars, wrote a celebrated treatise on prayer and meditation, and was the spiritual guide and supporter of St Teresa of Avila. He was canonized in 1669.

When is St Peter of Alcantara's feast day?

On 19 October in the traditional Roman calendar, as a feast of the third class in the books of 1962. Since 1969 he is no longer in the General Roman Calendar; where he is still kept locally, it is usually on 18 October, the day of his death.

How did St Peter of Alcantara die?

Of an illness, at the friary of Arenas, on 18 October 1562, two months after helping St Teresa open her first reformed convent. He died on his knees after repeating the psalm verse "I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord."

What is St Peter of Alcantara known for?

For his extraordinary penances, for the barefoot reform of the Franciscans called after him the Alcantarines, for his Treatise on Prayer and Meditation, and above all for his help to St Teresa of Avila and the Carmelite reform.

Is there a prayer to St Peter of Alcantara?

Yes: the Collect of his Mass, given above in Latin and English, is the Church's own prayer to God through his merits. St Teresa's testimony that Our Lord would grant what is asked in his name has made him a favourite intercessor for difficult requests.

What did St Peter of Alcantara write?

His best-known work is the Treatise on Prayer and Meditation, written at the friary of Lapa, praised by St Teresa, Louis of Granada and St Francis de Sales. He also drew up the statutes of his reform and wrote letters of direction, among them his letter to St Teresa on poverty.

The Iter Fidei app carries the calendar of 1962 with every feast, the Roman Missal and the Breviary in Latin and English, so you can pray St Peter of Alcantara's Mass and Office on his day. Join early access here.

Sources. Roman Missal (1962), Proper of Saints, 19 October (St Peter of Alcantara, Confessor; Mass Justus ut palma). Butler's Lives of the Saints, 19 October. Holy Scripture, Douay-Rheims (Psalm 121:1; Philippians 3:8).