Peter Cantor (Petrus Cantor, ca. 1130–1197) was a Parisian theologian and precentor of Notre-Dame Cathedral, one of the most prominent moral theologians of the late twelfth century. His major work, the Verbum Abbreviatum, is an expansive compendium on Christian morality, pastoral practice, and ecclesiastical abuses, drawing on Scripture, the Fathers, and canon law. He also produced the Summa de Sacramentis et Animae Consiliis, a systematic treatment of the sacraments and moral cases. A fierce critic of simony, clerical avarice, and corruption, Peter was a formative influence on the Paris schools and on the generation of theologians who shaped the Fourth Lateran Council (1215).
