S. Peter hastened back to his desert of Font-Avellano. Whatever austerities he prescribed to others he was the first to practise himself, remitting nothing of them, even in his old age. He lived shut up in his cell as in a prison, fasted every day, except festivals, and allowed himself no other subsistence than coarse bread, bran, herbs, and water, and this he never drank fresh, but what he had kept from the day before. He tortured his body with iron girdles and frequent disciplines, to render it more obedient to the spirit. He passed the first three days of every Lent and Advent without taking any kind of nourishment whatsoever; and often for forty days together, lived only on raw herbs and fruits, or on pulse steeped in cold water, without touching so much as bread, or anything that had passed the fire. A mat spread on the floor was his bed. He used to make wooden spoons and such like useful cheap things, to exercise himself at certain hours in manual labour. Henry, archbishop of Ravenna, having been excommunicated for grievous enormities, S. Peter was sent by Pope Alexander II. in the character of legate, to adjust the affairs of the Church. When he arrived at Ravenna, in 1072, he found the unfortunate prelate just dead; but brought the accomplices of his crimes to a sense of their guilt, and imposed on them a suitable penance. This was his last undertaking for the Church, God being pleased soon after to call him to eternal rest, and to the crown of his labours. Old age and the fatigues of his journey did not make him lay aside his accustomed mortifications, by which he fulfilled his burnt-offering. In his return towards Rome, he was stopped by a fever in the monastery of Our Lady, outside the gates of Faenza, and died there, on the eighth day of his sickness, whilst the monks were reciting Matins round about him. He passed from that employment, which had been the delight of his heart on earth, to sing the same praises of God in eternal glory, on the 22nd of February, 1072, being fourscore and three years old. He is honoured as patron at Faenza and Font-Avellano, on the 23rd of the same month. [Illustration] February 24. S. MATTHIAS, _Ap. M., after_ A.D. 60. SS. MONTANUS, LUCIUS, JULIAN, VICTORIUS, AND COMPANIONS., _MM. in Africa_, A.D. 259. S. SERGIUS, _M. at Cæsarea in Cappadocia_, A.D. 304. S. MODESTUS, _B. of Treves, circ._ A.D. 480. S. PRÆTEXTATUS, _of Rouen, B. M._, A.D. 586. S. LIUTHARD, _of Senlis, B. C. in England, end of 7th cent._ S. ETHELBERT, _K. of Kent_, A.D. 616. S. JOHN THERISTIS, _Monk at Stylum in Calabria; circ._ A.D. 1129. S. MATTHIAS, AP. M. (AFTER A.D. 60.)