PETER (St.), one of the apostles, was born at Bethsaida in Galilee, and was named Simon; but Christ having called him to be an apostle, changed his name
into that of Cephas, which is the same with Peter: for as he was fishing on the lake of Genazareth with Andrew his brother, the Son of God ordered them to leave their nets and to follow him; and from that time they continued his disciples. He was a witness to our Lord's transfiguration on the mount. He was present at the last supper; and was in the garden when the soldiers came to seize Jesus, where, being transported with zeal, he drew his sword and cut off the high-priest's servant's ear. But he soon after denied his knowing his Lord; and persisted in it three times, till the cock-crowing reminded him of Jesus's having foretold this instance of his weakness; on which he shewed his repentance by his tears. St. Peter was likewise a witness of Christ's resurrection and ascension, and of the descent of the Holy Ghost. He afterwards preached the gospel with great zeal, converted 3000 persons at his first sermon, and performed many surprising miracles in proof of his divine mission. Some time after, Herod Agrippa caused him to be put in prison at Jerusalem, whence he was delivered by an angel. Dr. Pearson has proved, that this apostle was at Rome, where he met with Philo the Jew, with whom he contracted an intimate acquaintance. When Claudius banished the Jews, he returned to Jerusalem; and, some say, travelled thence into Africa, or, according to others, preached in Britain: that toward the latter end of Nero he returned to Rome, where he was crucified, and buried in the Vatican. Constantine the Great rebuilt and enlarged the Vatican in honour of St. Peter, which at this day is one of the wonders of the world. He wrote two epistles, addressed to the converted Jews dispersed throughout Asia; but the other works attributed to St. Peter are spurious.
PETER of Blois, a learned man of the 12th century, was born about the year 1120, at the city of Blois in France, from whence he derived his name. His parents being opulent, gave him a learned education. In his youth, when he studied in the university of Paris, he was excessively fond of poetry; and when he was a little further advanced in life, he became no less fond of rhetoric, to the study of which he applied with the greatest ardour. From Paris he removed to Bononia in Italy, to acquire the civil and canon law; in the knowledge of both which he very much excelled. He appears from his writings to have cultivated medicine, and several branches of the mathematics, with no little care and success. The study of theology was the chief delight and business of his life, in which he spent the greatest part of his time, and made the greatest progress. But unfortunately it was that scholastic theology, which consisted in vain attempts to prove and explain the many absurd opinions which then prevailed in the church, by the subtleties of Aristotelian logic. In attempting to explain in this manner the most absurd of all opinions that ever existed amongst mankind, he was the very first person who employed the famous word transubstantiation, which was soon after adopted by the church of Rome, and hath ever since made so great a noise. Being appointed preceptor to William II. king of Sicily in 1167, he obtained the custody of the privy seal; and, next to the archbishop of Palermo, the prime minister, had the greatest influence in all affairs. But his power was not of long duration: for the archbishop being banished in 1168, our
our author soon after left the court of Sicily, and returned into France. He was not long, however, without a royal patron, being invited into England by Henry II. who employed him as his private secretary, made him archdeacon of Bath, and gave him some other benefices. When he had spent a few years at court, he conceived a disgust at that way of life, (of which he hath drawn a very unpleasing picture in one of his letters), and retired into the family of Richard archbishop of Canterbury, who had made him his chancellor about the year 1176. In this station he continued to the death of the archbishop in 1183, enjoying the highest degree of favour with that prelate, though he used much freedom in reproofing him for his remissness in the government of the church. Our author remained in the same station in the family of archbishop Baldwin, who succeeded Richard, acting both as his secretary and chancellor. He was also sent by that prelate on an embassy to Rome in 1187, to plead his cause before Pope Urban III. in the famous controversy between him and the monks of Canterbury about the church of Hackington. After the departure of his friend and patron Baldwin for the Holy Land in 1190, our author was involved in various troubles in his old age, the causes of which are not distinctly known; and died about the end of the 12th century. He appears from his works, which may be justly reckoned among the most valuable monuments of the age in which he flourished, to have been a man of great integrity and sincere piety, as well as of a lively inventive genius and uncommon erudition. His printed works consist of 134 letters, which he collected together at the desire of Henry II.; of 65 sermons, delivered on various occasions; and of 17 tracts on different subjects.
PETER the Hermit. See CRUSADE.