PETER OF LA PALU (PALUDANUS)

French Dominican theologian and patriarch of Jerusalem, known by the scholastic title Doctor fructuosus; b. Varambone (Ain), c. 1277; d. Paris, Jan. 31, 1342. The sixth son of Gerard of La Palu, lord knight of Varembone and allied territory, Peter entered the Dominican order at Lyons. After studying theology at Toulouse, he was sent to Paris to lecture on the Sentences (1309–10) as successor to durandus of Saint Pourçain. He incepted in theology on June 13, 1314, and remained regent master until 1317. After the general chapter of Metz in 1313, he, together with harvey nedellec and john of naples, was appointed to a commission entrusted with examining the works of Durandus for errors. The first investigation resulted in a list of 91 errors that were sent to the 1314 chapter of London; a second investigation (1316–17), in which Peter examined bks. 2 and 3 of Durandus's commentary, resulted in a list of 235 errors. Beginning with his Advent quodlibet of 1314, Peter defended the rights of mendicant orders against the attacks of John of Pouilly (fl. 1301–21); this prolonged controversy culminated in a three-year trial at Avignon in which Peter showed his skill as a prosecutor. The trial ended with the condemnation of John of Pouilly on July 24, 1321. Simultaneously, Peter composed his Commentaria in universa biblia. Between April and June 1318, he was sent by the pope to make peace between Flanders and France in the ultimate hope of organizing a crusade. Having failed to secure the desired peace, he was twice charged with treachery by the king of France, but he was vindicated. At Avignon during the trial of John of Pouilly, Peter was also on a commission with six other theologians to examine the Postilia on the Apocalypse by peter john olivi; this commission censured 60 propositions. Between 1321 and 1329 he returned to Saint-Jacques in Paris, continued his commentary on Scripture, undertook various missions for the Church and crown, and wrote two important works on ecclesiology: De causa immediata ecclesiasticae potestatis (ed. Paris 1506) and De potestate papae (c. 1324).

In 1329 Peter became patriarch of Jerusalem. Commissioned by john xxii and the King of France to inquire diplomatically whether the Sultan of Egypt would negotiate a return of the Holy Places to Christians, he accompanied William Durant, bishop of Mende, to Cyprus. Failing to reach agreement, he returned to Avignon and suggested a new crusade. Apathy and enmity among Christian princes rendered all attempts impossible. On Dec. 19, 1333, the king of France established a commission of 29 Paris masters to study the view of John XXII concerning the state of the blessed before the Last Judgment. Peter was one of the leading theologians; some scholars believe that he directed the entire discussion. In a letter to the king, the commission asserted that the pope neither held nor taught the view attributed to him, but only mentioned and examined it. In 1335 benedict xii called Peter to Avignon to assist in drawing up the bull settling the controversy over the beatific vision. He was then successively administrator of the Diocese of Limisso in Cyprus (1335–36) and of Conserans in St. Lizier (1336). In 1338 he tried to dissuade the pope from changing the Dominican constitution in matters of poverty.

Peter was one of the most eager promoters of thomism in the early 14th century, but this apparently was not based on an extensive reading or profound comprehension of St. Thomas Aquinas. He was more successful as a polemicist and diplomat than as an original and speculative thinker. Although he had great prestige among his confreres, James of Lausanne compiled a list of teachings "in which Peter departs from Thomas," and John capreolus frequently rejected Peter's views as unfaithful to St. Thomas.

Bibliography: f. stegmÜller, Repertorium commentariorum in Sententias Petri Lombardi (Würzburg 1947) l: 327–328. j. koch, "Der Prozess gegen Magister Johannes de Polliaco und seine Vorgeschichte," Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 5 (1933) 391–422. p. fournier, Histoire littéraire de la France 37 (1938) 39–422. j. quÉtif and j. Échard, Scriptores ordinis praedicatorum (New York 1959) 1.2:603–609. w. eckert Lexicon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 8:374–375. p. stella, Enciclopedia filosofica 3:1379–80. f. j. roensch, Early Thomistic School (Dubuque 1964).

[j. a. weisheipl]