Pedro de Alcántara (1499–1562)

Biography

He entered a Franciscan monastery at the age of sixteen. Later he founded a new branch of this congregation - “the barefoot” - very austere and poor, and encouraged Saint Teresa of Ávila to do the same in Carmel. Saint Peter frequently fell into ecstasy, and at those moments he could be heard shouting with joy, for which some considered him crazy. He was extremely austere and penitent with himself, but cheerful and friendly with others. Saint Teresa wrote the following about him: "To the affection he had for me I owe the confidences he gave me. He told me that for forty years he did not eat more than once every three days; that he did not sleep more than an hour and a half at night, lying on the ground, with his head resting on the wall. You could see nothing but skin on his bones, when I met him; you could say that he had a body made up of tree roots. He always kept his eyes downcast. He was so affable and so “tasty conversation that only spoke when asked.” She was undoubtedly a privileged soul, and God's grace and his correspondence to her worked wonders.