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 Blessed Peter Faber Scott 1322 (2006) August 2 marks the feast day of Saint Peter Faber, one of the founding members of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits. The stamp shown above was issued in 2006 by Vatican City as part of a three stamp set honoring the founding Jesuits under the banner "Jubilees of Saints Ignatius, Xavier and Favre". The set celebrates the 450th anniversary of the death of Saint Ignatius of Loyola in 1566, and the 500th anniversary of the births of Saints Francis Xavier and Peter Faber in 1506. As a note, the stamp for Peter Faber identifies him as 'Beato Pedro Fabro' ('Blessed Peter Faber') since he had not been canonized as of 2006. Peter Faber (referred to as Pierre Favre in French and Pedro Fabro in Italian) was born on April 13, 1506, in the Upper Savoy region of France. In 1525, he traveled to Paris where he met Francis Xavier and Ignatius of Loyola. Along with four other companions, they formed what would become the Society of Jesus in 1534. 
 Saints Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier Scott 1323 and 1324 (2006) Ignatius has been referred to has the leader of the original group and provided spiritual guidance to the order. Francis Xavier was the patron of missions. Peter Faber was best suited to direct the spiritual endeavors of the order. He spent a great deal of his Jesuit life traveling through Europe to combat the Protestant Reformation of the mid-16th century, an especially tumultuous time in Europe. He was said to possess "the gift of friendship to a remarkable degree", and was known for not only his preaching, but for his engaging conversations with bishops, priests, nobles, and common people. His teachings were based on the "Spiritual Exercises" written by Ignatius of Loyola in the early 1520's. In 1546, Faber was appointed by Pope Paul III to act as a peritus (expert) on behalf of the Holy See at the Council of Trent. He set out from Spain on foot, but became ill and stopped in Rome, where he died on August 1, 1546, as a result of what has been viewed as "utter exhaustion" resulting from his extensive travels. He was just 40 years old.  Saint Peter Faber From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain In 1872, Peter Faber was beatified, but the cause for his sainthood stalled at that point for over 140 years. He was eventually canonized on December 17, 2013, by fellow Jesuit Pope Francis (coincidentally on the pope’s 77th birthday). Pope Francis summarized the strengths of Saint Peter Faber as his ability to have a: "dialogue with all, even the most remote and even with his opponents; his simple piety, a certain naïveté, perhaps; his being available straightaway; his careful interior discernment; the fact that he was a man capable of great and strong decisions but also capable of being so gentle and loving." REFERENCES: |
