Peter Martyr
an Italian reformer; born in Florence, Italy, Sept. 8, 1500; entered at 16 the order of the canons regular of St. Augustine at Fiesole, studied at Padua, and became abbot of Spoleto, and later prior of St. Peter at PETERSBURG Aram near Naples. Here he was drawn into the doctrines of the Reformers by the teaching of Juan Valdes and Ochino, yet was appointed visitor-general of his order in 1541. His rigor made him hateful to the dissolute monks, and he was sent to Lucca as prior of San Frediano, but soon fell under the suspicions of the Inquisition, and had to flee to Zurich (1542). At Strassburg he was welcomed by Bucer, and made Professor of the Old Testament. In 1547 he went to England on Cranmer's invitation, lectured at Oxford on I Corinthians and Romans, and took an active part in the great controversy of the day. Mary's accession drove him back to Strassburg, then grown too Lutheran for his tastes, and at length in 1555 he repaired to Zurich, where he died Nov. 12, 1562.