Was he a native of the town of Catana?
There is no precise indication of it.
It appears more probable that he belonged to the noble family _dei Cattani_, already known to Francis, and of which Orlando, Count of Chiusi in Casentino, who gave him the Verna, was a member.

However that may be, we must not confound him with the Brother Pietro who assumed the habit in 1209, at the same time with Bernardo of Quintavallo, and died shortly afterward.

Tradition, in reducing these two men to a single personage, was influenced not merely by the similarity of the names, but also by the very natural desire to increase the prestige of one who in 1220-1221 was to play an important part in the direction of the Order.[37] At the time of his departure for the East Francis had left two vicars in his place, the Brothers Matteo of Narni and Gregorio of Naples.

The former was especially charged to remain at Portiuncula to admit postulants;[38] Gregorio of Naples, on the other hand, was to pass through Italy to console the Brothers.[39] The two vicars began at once to overturn everything.

It is inexplicable how men still under the influence of their first fervor for a Rule which in the plenitude of their liberty they had promised to obey could have dreamed of such innovations if they had not been urged on and upheld by those in high places.