Today, January 8, is the feast of Saint Peter Thomas.
Procurator General of the Carmelite Order.
Born in Perigord, France, around 1305, Peter Thomas came from a very poor peasant family. To unburden the family, the teenage Peter Thomas left. He attended school, lived on alms, and taught students.
At age 20, he joined the Order of Carmelites and continued his studies. He was also an effective preacher—so effective in fact that while preaching during a terrible drought, it started to rain. The people considered this a miracle.
He became Procurator General of the Carmelite Order and official preacher at the Pope Clement VI’s court at Avignon.
In 1354, Peter Thomas became Bishop of Patti and Lipari. In 1363, he was appointed Archbishop of Crete and the following year became the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople.
He is hailed as a precursor of ecumenism, due to this efforts for the unity of the Church.
His efforts for the unity of the Church make this fourteenth century saint a precursor of ecumenism.
Peter Thomas died in 1366 in Famagusta, Cyprus. Pope Paul V beatified him in 1609. Pope Urban VIII canonized him in 1628.