St. Peter Alcantara was the founder of the Spanish Discalced Franciscans. Born at Alcantara, Estremadura, Spain, he studied at Salamanca (c. 1511-1515) and entered the Observantist Franciscans in 1515. After receiving ordination in 1524, he headed several houses and was provincial of the Estremaduran province of St. Gabriel from 1538-1541. In this post, he reformed several constitutions and thus promoted a much more severe Franciscan reform. At the end of his term in office, he retired to a hermitage on Arabida Mountain near Lisbon, Portugal, where, within a short time, he was joined by other friars.

He then returned to Spain where, about 1557, he established a community at El Pedrosa del Acim, with the permission of Pope Julius III. This served as the foundation for the congregation that later named the Alcantarines, the Observance of St. Peter of Alcantara.

A brilliant spiritual director, Peter was valued friend and adviser to St. Teresa of Avila, who admired him greatly. Teresa wrote of Peter with deep reverence, observing that his “incomprehensible” ascetical practices had made him appear as though “made of the roots of trees.”

He is also renowned as a Spanish mystic and auther of the Treatise on Prayer and Meditation. Peter died at Estremadura on October 18. The patron saint of Brazil, he was canonized in 1669.