Peter Thomas,
Feast day: January 28
Born in Breil, Gascony, France, c. 1305; died January 6, 1366; cultus approved in 1608; feast day was January 25.
Saint Peter was a French Carmelite, who spent his life in diplomacy. In 1342, he was sent to Avignon a procurator of his order. There he entered the service of the pope and went on diplomatic missions to Italy, Serbia, Hungary, and the Near East. He was successively appointed the bishop of Patti and Lipari (1354), and Coron (Morea; 1359), archbishop of Candia (1363), and in 1364 became the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople.
On behalf of Pope Urban V and with the support of King Peter I of Cyprus, he led a crusade against the Turks. In an unsuccessful attack on Alexandria, Peter was wounded and died three months later on Cyprus. Throughout his active life, he remained true to the spirit of his contemplative profession (Benedictines).
In art, Saint Peter Thomas is portrayed as an elderly Carmelite wearing a missioner's cross and hat, carrying a staff, with a ray of light shining on the heart of the Virgin Mary on his breast. Sometimes he may be shown reading with a hat and staff near at hand
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