JANUARY 10TH, SATURDAY OF THE BVM

(Pre-55: Day in the Octave of the Epiphany)

Month in honor of the Most Holy Name of OLJC.

Saint Peter Orseolo, Confessor.

Peter Orseolus was born in AD 928 to a wealthy, noble, and prominent family of Venice. At age 18, he married Felicitas and by her he became the father of one son, Peter (who later became the Doge of Venice in 991). When he was 20, Peter became the admiral and commander of the Venetian, and in the capacity he rid the Adriatic Sea of pirates.

At the age of 48, on August 12th, AD 976, he was elected as Doge of Venice at a very tumultuous time. The day before his election, his predecessor had been murdered and, in the revolt that followed, a fire destroyed much of the city. As Doge [Duke], Peter patiently built hospitals and orphanages, and started reconstruction of the Cathedral of Saint Mark. He founded social programs to help widows, orphans, pilgrims, and the abandoned. He poured much of his own fortune into the effort, and within two years, Peter had restored law and order, and rebuilt much of the city, making him rightly considered one of Venice's greatest rulers.

On the night of September 1st, 978, believing his duty to the world now fulfilled, and possibly feeling crushed by it all, Peter secretly left Venice for the Benedictine (Camaldolese) monastery of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa in the Pyrenees on the border of France and Spain, not even telling his family of his plans. There, he was received as a monk. While the move was sudden, it was apparently something he'd been considering for over a decade, and when his wife learned of his desire, she approved. They therefore lived chastely from the time of the birth of their son. In the monastery, Peter became a spiritual son of Saint Romuald at Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa at whose suggestion he built a hermitage, and retired even further from the world, spending the rest of his life in solitude and prayer. He gave up his soul to God on January 10th, AD 987, at Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa Abbey, in the Pyrenees mountains, France, at the age of 57. His veneration was cultus confirmed by Pope Clement XII in 1731.