Bl. Peter Faber, Priest

Bl. Peter Faber was St. Ignatius of Loyola’s first recruit. He was born on April 13, 1506, in Villaret, Savoy, and went (1525) to study at the University of Paris, where his roommate was St. Francis Xavier (see December 3), and later St. Ignatius (see July 31). Under the latter’s direction, Peter decided to become a priest. On August 15, 1534, he and six companions vowed poverty, chastity, and to go to the Holy Land to convert the Turks. When they arrived in Venice and learned that it was impossible to advance further because of imminent war with the Turks, Peter and his friends went to Rome and offered (November 1538) their services to Pope Paul III. The pope then appointed Peter to teach Scripture at Rome’s Sapienza College, and in 1540 the pope sent him to Worms and Regensburg (Germany) to attend the Catholic—Protestant dialogue. From there, he went (1541) to Spain where, by his sermons and missions, he made the young Society of Jesus known. Responding to a new papal order, he again went to Germany, this time as assistant to the papal nuncio. Then, at the request of King John III of Portugal, he visited that country and prepared the way for the Jesuits to work there. Because Pope Paul III had named Peter one of the papal theologians to assist at the Council of Trent, Peter traveled to Rome to see Ignatius before making his way to the council. While in Rome, he became ill, and he died on August 1, 1546. Pope Pius IX, acknowledging the cult that had been shown to Peter Faber in his native Savoy, declared, on September 5, 1872, that he was among the blessed in heaven.