Saint Peter Damian
Also known as
- Peter Damiani
- 21 February
- formerly 23 February
Profile
Youngest child in a large but impoverished family of local nobility. Orphaned young, Peter was sent to live with a brother who mistreated him and forced him to work as a swine-herd. A pious boy, Peter was eventually sent to live with another brother, Damian, a priest in Ravenna, Italy; Peter was so grateful that he took the name Damian. Well educated in Ravenna, in Faenza and in Parma Italy. Professor. He was known for his life of strict austerity.
Around 1035, Peter gave up teaching to retire from the world and become a Benedictine monk. His health suffered, especially when he tried to replace sleep with prayer. He was forced to spend time in recovery; he used it to study Scripture, and when he was healthy, he was assigned to teach his brother monks and then the public. Economus of Fonte-Avellana; prior of the house in 1043, a post in which he served for the rest of his life. He expanded the monastery, greatly improved its library, and founded sister hermitages in San Severino, Gamugno, Acerata, Murciana, San Salvatore, Sitria, and Ocri. Friend of the future Pope Saint Gregory VII.
Attended a synod in Rome in 1047, and encouraged Pope Gregory VI to support a revitalization of Church zeal and clerical discipline. Wrote Liber Gomorrhianus, which described the vices of priests, mainly in their concern with worldly matters, with money, and the evil of simony. Created cardinal-bishop of Ostia on 30 November 1057. Fought simony. Tried to restore primitive discipline among priests and religious who were becoming more and more worldly. Strongly opposed anti-pope Benedict X. Legate to Milan for Pope Nicholas II in 1059; worked there with Saint Ariald the Deacon and Saint Anselm of Lucca. Supported Pope Alexander II.
A prolific correspondent, he also wrote dozens of sermons, seven biographies (including a one of Saint Romuald), and poetry, including some of the best Latin of the time. He tried to retire to live as a simple monk, but was routinely recalled as papal legate, called upon to make peace between arguing monastic houses, clergymen, and government officials, etc. Declared a Doctor of the Church in 1828.
Born
- 22 February 1072 of fever at Ravenna, Italy while surrounded by brother monks reciting the Divine Office
- immediately buried in the in the monastery church; there were concerns that others would try to obtain his relics
- cultus developed almost immediately after his death
- relics moved several times, and since 1898 has been in the Chapel of Saint Peter Damian in the catherdral of Faenza, Italy
- cardinal bearing a whip in his hand
- pilgrim holding a papal bull, to signify his many legations
Additional Information
- American Catholic
- Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
- Catholic Culture
- Catholic Encyclopedia
- Catholic News Agency
- Catholic Online
- CRadio - audio
- Kirken i Norge
- Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler
- New Catholic Dictionary
- Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
- Pictorial Lives of the Saints
- Santi e Beati
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Svetniki
- uCatholic
Readings
Let us faithfully transmit to posterity the example of virtue which we have received from our forefathers. - Saint Peter Damian