Note 654 — Chapter V · THE KINGDOMS OF ARAGON.
Reading edition
Memoria de diversos Autos (Appendix).—Libro Verde (Revista de España, CVI, 281-6, 288).—Raynald Annal. ann. 1485, n. 23, 24.—Zurita, Añales, Lib. XX, cap. lxv.—Juan Gines Sepúlveda, Descriptio Collegii Hespanorum Bononiensis.—Blancas, Aragon. Rerum Comment. p. 268.—Bibliothèque nat. de France, fonds espagnol, 80, fol. 33.
In spite of these miracles and of innumerable others which manifested the sanctity of Arbués, the Holy See was distinctly averse to his canonization. A papal brief even ordered the removal from the cathedral of the sanbenitos of the assassins and strenuous efforts were required to procure its revocation.
Repeated investigations were made by successive popes without result—at the request of Charles V in 1537; of Philip III in 1604, 1615 and 1618; of Philip IV in 1622 and 1652, until at length in 1664 he was beatified (Trasmiera, pp. 98, 99, 133, 137, 139). The matter then rested for two centuries until, in 1864, it was taken up again and finally, June 29, 1867, he was canonized by Pius IX (Dom. Bartolini, Comment. Actor. Omnium Canonizationis, Romæ, 1868).
It is significant that the Inquisition did not await the tardy action of Rome. Instructions of the Suprema in 1603, 1623 and 1633 show that his feast was regularly celebrated with prescribed offices (MSS. of Royal Library of Copenhagen, 218b, p. 257) and, during the 17th and 18th centuries, he is constantly spoken of, in the documents of the Inquisition relating to the feast, as San Pedro Arbués.