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In 1815 a group of Aleut seal and otter hunters, including Peter, were captured by Spanish sailors, who took them to San Francisco for interrogation. With threats of torture, the [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] priests in California attempted to force the Aleuts to deny their Orthodox faith and to [[convert]] to Roman Catholicism.
When the Aleuts refused, the priest had a toe severed from each of Peter's feet. Peter still refused to renounce his faith and the Spanish priest ordered a group of California Indians to cut off each finger of Peter's hands, one joint at a time, finally removing both his hands. They eventually disemboweled him, crowning his life with [[martyr]]dom. They were about to torture the next Aleut when orders were received to release them under escort to their [[monastery ]] in Monterey.
Upon receiving the report of Peter's death from Simeon Yanovsky, St. Herman back on Kodiak Island was moved to cry out, "Holy new-martyr Peter, pray to God for us!" Peter the Aleut was formally declared recognized as a [[saint]] , as the "Martyr of San Francisco" , in 1980. We have the account of St. Peter's martyrdom from Simeon Yanovsky as related him by St. Peter's cellmate who escaped torture. Simeon Yanovsky ended his life as the [[schemamonk ]] Sergius in the St. Tikhon of Kaluga [[Monastery]], and is the author of ''The Life of St. Herman of Alaska''.
==Hymns==
