He was assigned by his bishop to the Island of Futuna, and landed in Nov., 1837. No Christian missionary had ever set foot there, and the difficulties Peter en- countered amidst those savage tribes were almost in- credible. Nevertheless, he was beginning to see the results of his efforts, when Niuluki, king and also pon- tiff of the island, already jealous of the progress of the new religion, was exasperated by the conversion of his son and daughter. At his instigation, one of the min- isters gathered some of the enemies of Christianity and Peter was cruelly assassinated without uttering a word of complaint. Through his death, the venerable martyr obtained what he had so ardently desired and earnestly worked for, the conversion of Futuna. In 1842, two Marist missionaries resumed his work, and nowhere has the preaching of the Gospel produced more wonderful results. Peter was declared Venerable by Pius IX in 1857, and beatified by Leo XIII on 17 November, 1889.
BOURDIN, Vie du Vén. Serviteur de Dieu Pierre-Marie-Louis Chanel (Lyons, 1867); NICOLET, Life of Blessed P. M. L. Chanel (Dublin, 1890); Quelques guérisons et grâces signalées obtenues par l'intercession du Bienheureux P. M. L. Chanel (Lyons, 1891); HERVIER, Les Missions Maristes en Océanie (Paris, 1902); Life of the Ven. Fr. Colin, Founder and First Superior General of the Society of Mary (St. Louis, 1909).
JOSEPH FRERI.
Peter Mongus (μoyyós, "stammerer", or "hoarse"), intruded Monophysite patriarch of Alexandria (d. 490). Under Timothy Ailuros, who was made patriarch by the Egyptian Monophysites after Chalcedon (454 460), Peter Mongus was an ardent adherent of that party. As Timothy's deacon he took part in the per- secution of the Melchites. Timothy Ailuros was expelled from the patriarchal throne in 460 and the or- thodox Timothy Salophakiolos was set up by the gov- ernment instead (460-75). In 475 another revolution recalled Ailuros, who held his place till death (477). His party thereupon elected Peter Mongus to succeed him. The Emperor Zeno (474-91) sentenced Mongus to death; he escaped by flight. Meanwhile Salophakio- los returned and reigned till his death (481). The Mel- chites chose John Talaia to succeed (481-82: see JOHN TALAIA). Peter Mongus, always claiming to be patri- arch, now comes forward again. John had quarrelled with Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople, and refused to sign Zeno's Heuoticon (482; see HENOTICON); so he was expelled, the emperor changed his attitude, and supported Mongus (482). Talaia fled to Rome, Mongus took possession of the see, and sent notice of his suc- cession to Rome, Antioch, and Constantinople. He had signed the Henoticon and was therefore inserted in Acacius's diptychs as Patriarch of Alexandria. But the pope (Felix II or III, 483-92) defended Talaia's rights in two letters to Acacius.
From this time Mongus became the chief champion of all Monophysites. He held a synod to condemn Chalcedon, and desecrated the tombs of Proterios and Salophakiolos, his Melchite predecessors. He was excommunicated repeatedly by the pope. It was communion with Mongus and the acceptance of the Henotikon that caused the Acacian schism of Con- stantinople (484-519). When Acacius died and was succeeded by Flavitas (or Fravitas, 489-90) Mongus wrote to the new patriarch again condemning Chalce don and encouraging him in his schism with Rome. He died in 490 and was succeeded by another Mono- physite, Athanasius II (490-96). For a long time after his death the name of Peter Mongus was still a party word. To read it in the diptychs (of the dead) was a kind of profession of Monophysitism; the first condition of reunion with Rome and the Catholic world generally was to erase it, with that of Dioscurus and the other great champions of the heresy. In the line of Alexandrine patriarchs Mongus is counted as Peter III. He is said to have written many books, of which however nothing remains. A pretended cor- respondence between him and Acacius (in Coptic) is proved to be spurious by Amélineau in the "Mémoires publiés par les membres de la mission archéo logique française au Caire", IV (Paris, 1888), 196–228.
Mongus takes an important place in any history of Mono- physitism, as EVAGRIUS, Chronicon Paschale in P. G., XCII; LIBERATUS. See also GUTSCHMID, Verzeichniss der Patriarchen ron Alexandrien in Kleine Schriften, II (Leipzig, 1890), 395-525; HFFELE-LECLERCQ, Histoire des Conciles, 11 (Paris, 1908), 916-26; NEALE, History of the Holy Eastern Church, 11 (London, 1847), 21-24.
ADRIAN FORTESCUE.
Peter Nolasco, SAINT, b. at Mas-des-Saintes- Puelles, near Castelnaudary, France, in 1189 (or 1182); d. at Barcelona, on Christmas Day, 1256 (or 1259). He was of a noble family and from his youth was noted for his piety, almsgiving, and charity. Having given all his possessions to the poor, he took a vow of virginity and, to avoid communication with the Albigenses, went to Barcelona. At that time the Moors were masters of a great part of the Iberian peninsula, and many Christians were detained there and cruelly persecuted on account of the Faith. Peter ransomed many of these and in doing so consumed all his patrimony. After mature deliberation, moved also by a heavenly vision, he ST. PETER NOLASCO AND ST. RAYMOND OF PEÑAFORT Francisco Zurbaran, Louvre resolved to found a religious order (1218), similar to that established a few years before by St. John de Matha and St. Felix de Valois, whose chief object would be the redemption of Christian slaves. In this he was encouraged by St. Raymond Peñafort and James I, King of Aragon, who, it seems, had been favoured with the same inspiration. The institute was called Mercedarians (q. v.) and was solemnly ap- proved by Gregory IX, in 1230. Its members were bound by a special vow to employ all their substance for the redemption of captive Christians, and if nee- essary, to remain in captivity in their stead. At first most of these religious were laymen as was Peter himself. But Clement V decreed that the master general of the order should always be a priest. His feast is celebrated on the thirty-first of January.
Acta SS.; DE VARGAS, Chronica sancti et militaris ordinis B. M. de Mercede (Palermo, 1619); GARI Y SIUMELL. Bibliotheca Mercedaria (Barcelona, 1875); MARIN, Histoire de l'église (Paris, 1909).
A. ALLARIA. Peter of Alcántara, SAINT, b. at Alcántara, Spain, 1499; d. 18 Oct., 1562. His father, Peter Gara- vita, was the governor of the place, and his mother was of the noble family of Sanabia. After a course of grammar and philosophy in his native town, he was
