Peter Martyr Vermigli, generally known as Peter Martyr (1500-1562), was a theologian of the Reformation period born in Florence, Italy. Originally christened with the name Piero Mariano, he took the name Peter Martyr when he was ordained into the Augustinian order after St. Peter Martyr (1206-1252). Educated in the Augustinian cloister at Fiesole, he was transferred in 1519 to the convent of St John of Verdara near Padua, where he graduated D.D. about 1527 and made the acquaintance of the future Cardinal Pole. From that year onwards he was employed as a public preacher at Brescia, Pisa, Venice and Rome; and in his intervals of leisure he mastered Greek and Hebrew. In 1530 he was elected abbot of the Augustinian monastery at Spoleto, and in 1533 prior of the convent of St Peter ad Aram at N