ONE-EYED PETER, ABBOT - 18 MAY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 18th of May

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ONE-EYED PETER, ABBOT 

Blessed Peter the one-eyed (Petrus Monoculus), the eighth abbot at Clairvaux, was born of royal blood, and on entering the monastery was frightened by a large dog, in which he recognised the indignation of the devil regarding his plans to become a monk.

THE ZEAL OF SOMEONE NEWLY CONVERTED

As a monk and abbot he was a paragon of every virtue, especially of strict and persistent penance. Although he was always concerned about the temporal needs of the monastery, he strove even more to successfully complete its internal spiritual development. He always carried on with the zeal of someone newly converted.

HIS DEVOTION TO OUR BLESSED MOTHER

Among the sacred devotions which he most liked to practice and which he advised others to practise, was the most heartfelt veneration and most trusting invocation of the Mother of God. 

"ONE ENEMY LESS"

When he lost one eye in an illness he congratulated himself on having one dangerous enemy less. His death overtook him on a visitation trip in 1186. 

The Annals of the Cistercians and other religious writers call him "blessed," some even "saint." In some calendars, Bl. Peter's feast day is on May 14 or October 29.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)