Peter of Luxemburg, Bl.
PETER OF LUXEMBURG, BL.
Cardinal deacon; b. Ligny-en-Baurrois, Lorraine, July 20, 1369; d. Villeneuve-les-Avignon, July 2, 1387. He was the son of Guy of Luxemburg, count of Ligny. Despite his extreme youth, Peter was appointed to several ecclesiastical offices and finally, in 1384, was named bishop of Metz and cardinal by the antipope clement vii. Clement hoped to strengthen the avignon papacy through Peter's well-founded reputation for extraordinary asceticism and charity and through his family attachments in Luxemburg. Weary of the controversies accompanying the western schism, Peter renounced his bishopric in 1386 and, leaving Avignon, retired to a nearby Carthusian monastery, where he died, at age 18. He was beatified by the valid Pope clement vii on April 9, 1527; his relics are now in Saint-Didier, Avignon.
Feast: July 2 (formerly July 4).
Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum July 1:428–551. h. franÇois, La Vie du B. Pierre de Luxembourg (Nancy 1927). j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheureux selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes (Paris 1935–56) 7: 51–59. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints (New York 1956) 3:9–10. j. cambell, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (Freiburg 1957–65) 8:369.
[j. c. moore]