Peter's Amazing Memory

I know that every one has probably already read this passage from Yates about Peter of Revena but it was so amazing to me that I had to put it in a blog.

"As a young man he started with one hundred thousand memorised places, but he has added many more since then. On his travels, he does not cease to make new places in some monasteryor church, remembering through them histories, or fables, or Lenten sermons. His memory of the Scriptures, of canon law, and many other matters is based on this method. He can repeat from memory the whole of the canon law, text and gloss...; two hundred speeches and sayings of Cicero; three hundred sayings of the philosophers; twenty thousand legal points" (Yates 113).

His memory must have been incredible to remember so many things. If what Yates says is true, just the fact that he can repeat the entirety of the canon law from memory is amazing. Here is a link to the canon law of today so you can get an idea of how big it is. There were probably some additions made since Peter memorized the whole thing, but I am willing to bet that it was still an incredible feet of memory.

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_INDEX.HTM