Peter Thomas

Peter Thomas, OCarm (1305–1366), also known as Petrus de Thomas or Pierre de Thomas, was a French Carmelite friar, preacher, and teacher. He was entrusted with a number of diplomatic missions by the Holy See. Thomas was canonized by Pope Urban VIII in 1628.

Life Peter Thomas was born around the year 1305 to a very poor family in Périgord. His father was a serf. At the age of twelve, he left his parents and his younger sister to ease the burdens on his family and went to the nearby small town of Monpazier. He attended school for about three years, living on alms and teaching younger pupils. He led the same type of life at Agen, studying at the College of the Carmelites until the age of twenty, when he returned to Monpazier briefly, before going to Lectoure.

Carmelite friar In 1325 the prior of the Carmelite convent of Lectoure employed Thomas as a teacher for a year in that school. He entered the Carmelite Order at the age of twenty-one and made his profession of religious vows at Bergerac where he taught for two years. He studied philosophy at Agen, where he was ordained a priest three years later. For the next few years, he continued his studies, while also teaching in Bordeaux, Albi, and again in Agen. This was followed by three years of study in Paris. where he then assisted the Master of Theology as head of the curia department dealing with doctrinal matters submitted to the pope.

Diplomat In October 1353, Pope Innocent VI appointed legate to regularizing relations between the rival republics of Venice and Genoa.