St. Peter Damian: Monk, Bishop, Cardinal, Reformer, Doctor of the Church

Peter was the youngest child born to a large family in Ravenna, Italy in 1007. His parents both died when he was young and he was placed in the care of one of his brothers, who treated him like a slave. His eldest brother, a priest in Ravenna, rescued him and sent him away to study. Peter was quite brilliant and excelled in his studies (theology and cannon law) and later returned to Ravena as a professor. In his late 20's, he joined a group of Benedictine monks (followers of St. Romauld known as the Camaldolese) who were living in northern Italy, where he became prior at the young age of 36: a position he held unto his death.

Peter performed austere penances to the extent that he developed near permanent insomnia and was forced to modify them. Although living in a cloister, Peter kept close watch on the Church and worked for her purification. He wrote to the pope, urging him to deal with the scandals of the Church in Italy. In 1051, Peter published his treatise on the vices of the clergy, "Liber Gomorrhianus". He fought the scandolous behavior among the clergy of the time and upheld priestly celibacy. He was illustrious and brilliant, simple and outspoken in his denunciation of all heresies and evils and was a great reformer of the Church in troubled times. His personal example and many writings exercised great influence on religious life in the 11th and 12th centuries. One of his greatest works is the biography of Saint Romuald, the founder of his Order.

Pope Stephen IX named him a cardinal and Bishop of Ostia. He died on 21 February 1072 and was immediately acclaimed as a saint. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1828.

Marian Prayer of St. Peter Damian

Quotes from St. Peter Damian:

“[The vice of sodomy] is this vice that violates temperance, slays modesty, strangles chastity, and slaughters virginity.”

“Without fail, [the vice of sodomy] brings death to the body and destruction to the soul. It pollutes the flesh, extinguishes the light of the mind, expels the Holy Spirit from the temple of the human heart, and gives entrance to the devil, the stimulator of lust.”

“It is not sinners, but the wicked who should despair; it is not the magnitude of one’s crime, but contempt of God that dashes one’s hopes.”

For further information on St. Peter Damian, read One Man Who Made a Difference by Ian at Musings from A Catholic Book Store and Catholic Encyclopedia.