The Blessed Peter Pattarini of Imola
Prior of the Order of Malta
Memorial: 5 October
He was born about 1250 at Imola (Italy) into the family of the lords of Linasio.
An able lawyer, he mediated between the Guelphs and Ghibellines at Romagna in 1297.
He became a knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and was elected Grand Prior at Rome.
He devoted great energy to caring for the sick at Florence (Italy) where he died on 5 October 1320.
He was buried in the Church of St. James in the Campo Corbolini.
Prayer:
O God, who gave to blessed Peter, Prior of our Order, the gift of healing discord and division, grant to us through his prayers the grace of striving for peace and so being called the children of God. Through the same Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(From: The Missal with readings of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes, & of Malta, London 1997)
With the Blessed Fra Peter d' Imola we find another aspect of the Order, which has always been interested in matters of the spirit.
In fact, that Knight was also a well-known jurist of his times.
Of his earthly life few things are known.
He was born at Imola, Emilia, and was the Prior of the Hospital in Rome.
Was he the Commander in Florence?
That is a supposition which takes its likelihood from the fact that after his death (October 15, 1320) he was buried in that city in the church of Saint James in Campo Corbellini, which belonged to the Order.
But if the existence of the Blessed Peter passed almost unnoticed here on earth, (it is enough to be a real saint, no one except God knowing it no one including the saint himself !), that was not the case after he died.
One day the brothers were preparing and adorning the church to celebrate the feast of Saint James in a worthy fashion.
A high ladder had been placed against the tomb of the Blessed Peter, and one of the priests auras working hard to attach to the wall some hanging.
His precautions support began to slip, threatening greatly to fall and shatter the bones of its religious burden.
It was then that the clerics present saw the arm of the holy man open the tomb slightly and hold the falling ladder as it passed him.
In consequence of that miracle, which was charitable though macabre, and well-authenticated by witnesses. the venerable body was taken out of its resting place - relative rest - and placed under the main altar in a reliquary that Commander Fra Augustine Mego had made for it, not without having set aside the miracle-working arm in a little box.
Nevertheless, it must be admitted that our saint is particularly humble, for, though we already knew so little about him, he allowed the documents concerning him - both his life and his miracles - to disappear when his church was flooded during the great inundation of the Arno, in 1557.
The reliquary was submerged for several days; evidently, it must have suffered much damage, together with the relics it contained.
But in the 17th century, they still venerated the arm, which had been preserved with its flesh and nails.
May we, like Peter d'Imola, be learned, pious, courageous and beneficent, alive and dead, without, however acting too much the ghost.
His humility, his charity, his knowledge, are virtues which we shall try to imitate without risking error, in the great simplicity of God.
His feast is celebrated on the fifteenth day of October.
(From: Ducaud-Bourget, Msgr. François: The Spiritual Heritage of The Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Vatican 1958)
Peter Pattarini (Imola, ... - Florence, Oct. 5, 1320) was an Italian jurist, venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church.
Coming from a family of Imola, he was a famous jurist, belonging to the dominant faction in the city, one of the Ghibellines.
In 1289 he was appointed judge of the City; in 1299 he took part in the peace negotiations between Guelph and Ghibellines of Romagna.
After Imola was conquered by the Guelphs, he was forced to leave the city (1311). He moved to Florence.
Here began the second part of his life, totally dedicated to the next. He dedicated himself to works of charity and assistance to the needy. He joined the Order of the Knights Hospitallers of Jerusalem. He continued his work in Rome. In the eternal city he obtained the appointment as Grand Prior of the Order itself.
Later he returned to the Tuscan capital, where he spent the rest of his life. He lived close to the sick and the sick in the hospital of St. James in Campo Corbolini.
He died in Florence on Oct. 5, 1320.
automatically translated by Google Translate from: Pietro Pattarini (Wikipedia)
The relics of Blessed Peter were transferred from St. James in Campo Carobilini to St. Lawrence's Church in Florence on 10 June 2016:
FLORENCE June 10, 2016
For long years the tombstone, the shrine and the mortal remains of Blessed Peter Pattarini from Imola, Grand Prior and Blessed of our Order, who died in Florence in 1320 during a trip, have been preserved in a church in the center citizen in what was the former Commandery of the Order of St James in Corbolini Campo, still located on via Faenza.
By the time the memory of the Blessed One is almost lost in oblivion and the property has passed to property owned by becoming a center of linguistic studies.
Some time ago, however, thanks to the efforts of the then Chief -marchese Don Raffaele Carrega Bertolini Prince of Lucedio of other confreres and people of good will, has started a laborious process in order to obtain the remains of Blessed Peter could be preserved in a most dignified place and suitable for veneration and prayer.
Thanks to the generosity of the owner of the complex, on 10 June, in the presence of H. Em. Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, Archbishop of Florence has finally concluded the administrative-canonical process with formal affixing of seals and translation of the Blessed Peter Pattarini casket from Imola in S Lorenzo basilica which was placed under the altar of the Madonna, finally restoring dignity and greater visibility for the veneration of the faithful to this our little known Blessed by most.
The delegation will hold a ceremony to celebrate and remember this occasion.
Translated automatically by "Google Translate" from: Apposizione dei sigilli e traslazione dell’urna con le spoglie del Beato Pietro Pattarini da Imola
Chiesa di San Jacopo in Campo Corbolini (Wikipedia)
Chiesa di San Jacopo in Campo Corbolini (Jesse Waugh)
Fresco at the Chapel in the Grandmaster's Palace in Rome
Oil painting in the Grand Magistry of the Order of Malta in Rome
Fresco at St. John's Co-Cathedral in La Valletta / Malta
Sketch for the above fresco
The tomb of Blessed Peter at the church of St. James in Campo Corbolini, Florence/Italy
The former Church of St. James in the Campo Corbolini
(Picture captured from Google Street View)
Reliquary at the Chapel in the Grand Magistry of the Order of Malta in Rome
The main relics of Blessed Peter are in St. Lawrence's Church in Florence/Italy since 10 June 2016
Blessed Peter Pattarini, Canvas, Collegio, Malta
Detail of the Our-Lady-of-Philerme-Icon at Ehreshoven / Germany
