Feastday: January 15
Death: 1208
Martyred Cistercian papal legate and inquisitor. Peter was born near Montpellier and served as archdeacon of Maguelone before entering the Cistercians at Fontfroide, circa 1202. Known for his devout nature and his intelligence, in 1203he was appointed by Pope Innocent III to the post of papal legate and inquisitor with the task of returning the heretic Albigensians to the Church. Among those who took part in his campaign was St. Dominic. The Albigensians were ill disposed to heed his call, and a group of overzealous heretics murdered Peter near Saint Gilles Abbey, probably at the connivance of Raymond VI, count of Toulouse, who harbored political ambitions and hoped to manipulate the crisis of the Albigensians to advantage. According to tradition, Peter's dying words were: "May God forgive thee, brother, as I fully forgive thee." His murder was the spark that launched the Albigensian Crusade against the heretics in Southern France.
"Peire de Castelnou" redirects here. For the troubadour, see Peire de Castelnou (troubadour).Pierre de Castelnau (? - died 15 January 1208), French ecclesiastic, was born in the diocese of Montpellier.
He was archdeacon of Maguelonne, and in 1199 was appointed by Pope Innocent III as one of the papal legates for the suppression of the Cathar heresy in Languedoc. In 1202, he made profession as a Cistercian monk at the abbey of Fontfroide, Narbonne, and was confirmed as papal legate and chief inquisitor, first in Toulouse, and afterwards at Viviers and Montpellier.
Murder of Blessed Pierre de Castelnau
In 1207 he was in the Rhone valley and in Provence, where he became involved in the strife between the count of Baux and Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse. Castelnau was assassinated on 15 January 1208, possibly by an agent of Raymond, but this was never proved. Nevertheless, Pope Innocent III, held Raymond responsible. The murder was the immediate cause of Raymond's excommunication and the start of the Albigensian Crusade.
He was beatified in the year of his death by Pope Innocent III, who held Raymond responsible. The relics of Pierre de Castelnau are interred in the church of the ancient Abbey of St-Gilles.
