Title: Saint

Alternate names/spellings:

Dates: 1180 - 1275 (Dates are approximate. ) 

Venerated today as patron saint of those who pursue the law, Raymond of Peñafort was a consummate lawyer; the Spanish Dominican was a professor of canon law at the University of Bologna and was given the task of organizing the decretals (papal opinions on legal issues) which had accrued in the years following the appearance of Gratian’s Decretum in 1140. He is also particularly well known for his public disputations with Spanish Jews, undertaken at the behest of King James I of Aragon. For further information, see: