St. Peter Arbues
Birth: 1442
Death: 1485
Augustinian inquisitor. He was born in Aragon, Spain, and became a master of Canon Law at the University of Bolognabefore becoming an Augustinian canonat Saragossa in 1478. In 1484 he received appointment as Inquisitor of Aragon and soon earned the enmity of the Marranos, Jews who had been forcibly converted to Catholicism. Peter was murdered by a group of Marranos in the cathedral of Saragossa. His name has been associated with acts of wanton cruelty and inhumanity in the fulfillment of his office as Inquisitor, although these have never been substantiated.
Pedro de Arbués (c. 1441 – 17 September 1485) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest and a professed Augustinian canon.[2] He served as an official of the Spanish Inquisition until he was assassinated in the La Seo Cathedral in Zaragoza in 1485 allegedly by Jews and conversos.[3] The veneration of him came swiftly through popular acclaim. His death greatly assisted the Inquisitor-General Tomás de Torquemada's campaign against hereticsand crypto-Jews.
His canonization was celebrated on 29 June 1867.[4]
Life
Pedro de Arbués was born at Épila in the region of Zaragoza to the noblemanAntonio de Arbués and Sancia Ruiz.[4]
He studied philosophy perhaps in Huesca but later travelled to Bologna on a scholarship to the Spanish College of Saint Clement which was part of the Bologna college. He obtained his doctorate in 1473 while he served as a professor of moral philosophical studies or ethics.[3] Upon his return to Spain he became a member of the cathedral chapter of the canons regular at La Seo where he made his religious professionin 1474.[2][4]
At around that time Ferdinand and Isabella had obtained from Pope Sixtus IV a papal bull to establish in their kingdom a tribunal for searching out heretics. Those Jews who had received baptism were known as conversos; some might have continued to practice Judaism in secret.[3][4] Tomás de Torquemada was in 1483 appointed as the Grand Inquisitor for Castile. He then appointed Arbués and Pedro Gaspar Juglar as Inquisitors Provincial in the Kingdom of Aragon on 4 May 1484. Their work was opposed by converts and people who saw it as a threat to their freedoms.[3][2]
On 14 September 1485 Pedro was attacked in the cathedral as he knelt before the altar and had been wearing armour since he knew his work posed great risks.[3] Despite wearing a helmet and chain mail he died from his wounds on 17 September. His remains were entombed in a special chapel dedicated to him.[2]
The Inquisition was opposed in Aragonas it was seen as an imperial attack on the charters, privileges and local laws. The most powerful families among the converted Jews: the Sánchez, Montesa, Paterno and Santangel families seem to have been involved in the murder.[4]
As a result, a popular movement against the Jews arose in which nine were executed, two killed themselves, thirteen were burnt in effigy, and four punished for complicity, from 30 June to 15 December 1486, according to the historian Jerónimo Zurita. Leonardo Sciascia in Morte dell'inquisitore (1964) writes that Arbués along with Juan Lopez Cisneros (d. 1657) are "the only two cases of inquisitors who died assassinated".[4][5]
Sainthood
Pope Alexander VII beatified the late priest in Rome on 20 April 1664.
His canonization was celebrated on 29 June 1867 among protests from Jews and Christians. Pope Pius IX said in the document formalizing the canonization (Maiorem caritatem): "The divine wisdom has arranged that in these sad days, when Jews help the enemies of the church with their books and money, this decree of sanctity has been brought to fulfillment
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