Blessed Peter Adrian Toulorge
Feastday: October 13
“Ah! How can it happen to me, a sinner, to be crowned a martyr? I confess to God that I am most unworthy of such a benefit. But what should I say? This is the fate of those who have remained faithful in the Catholic, apostolic, and Roman faith, which by the grace of God I follow to the utmost…”(From a letter written by Bl. Peter Adrian the night before his martyrdom)
Peter Adrian Toulorge, beatified on April 29, 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI, is our Order’s newest blessed, martyred during the French Revolution. Born in 1757, he was ordained for the diocese of Coutances in 1782 and assigned to a parish where a Norbertine priest was pastor. Edified by this priest’s holy example, Peter Adrian entered the Norbertine Abbey of Blanchelande. After suppressing the abbey in 1790, the revolutionary government passed a law in 1792 requiring all priests who were public servants to take the revolutionary oath. Rejecting the oath, Peter Adrian went to the Isle of Jersey. There, upon learning that the law did not actually apply to him, he immediately decided to return to France. When a law was passed condemning to death any emigrés who returned, Peter Adrian nevertheless resolved to remain in France, despite the risk, and minister to the faithful underground.
In 1793, he was discovered and arrested for being a priest, but at his trial, the charge produced was emigration. In fear, he denied it, saying that the seas had been rough and he had never embarked. Stricken with remorse for his lie, he later resolved to tell the whole truth, although he knew it would provide the pretext for his death. He presented himself to the court and told the whole truth. Condemned to death, he loudly cried, “Deo gratias! (Thanks be to God!)” He returned so joyful that the other prisoners initially believed he was to be released. His last words before he was guillotined were: “Into your hands, my God, I commend my soul! I ask you to reestablish and preserve your holy Church. I pray you to forgive my enemies.” The locals immediately venerated him as a martyr for the faith and for the truth.
(Saint drawings courtesy of Saint Norbert Abbey, De Pere, Wisconsin.)
"Almighty and eternal God, who filled the priest Blessed Peter Adrian with the steadfastness of the Holy Spirit in persecution, wherein he would hand over his life as a martyr of the truth of Christ, grant us, that by his intercession and example, we may continually cleave to the admonitions of the Gospel way and profess Your charity toward our neighbor. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen."
– Prayer in honor of Blessed Peter Adrian
(Original Artwork by the Norbertine Canonesses of Bethlehem Priory of St. Joseph)
