Peter, subdeacon

Peter the Subdeacon (Petrus subdiaconus) was a close associate and agent of Pope Gregory the Great (pontificate 590-604), who entrusted him with administering the papal patrimony in Sicily as rector (defensor) of the estates there. Gregory's letters to Peter, preserved in the Register, are largely managerial and pastoral, instructing him on the just management of church lands, the relief of the poor, the discipline of clergy, and the handling of disputes. Peter is also remembered as Gregory's interlocutor in the Dialogues, where he plays the questioner whose prompts draw out Gregory's accounts of Italian saints and miracles, making him one of the more vividly characterized figures in the pope's circle.