Vigils Reading – St Peter Damien
February 21
ST PETER DAMIAN
From a discourse of Pope Benedict XVI
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St Peter Damian was one of the most significant figures of the 11th
century… a lover of solitude and at the same time a fearless man of the
Church, committed personally to the task of reform. Born during 1007 in the
Italian city of Ravenna, Peter belonged to a large family but lost both his father
and mother early in life. An older brother took the boy into his household, yet
treated him poorly. But another of Peter’s brothers, a priest, took steps to
provide for his education; and the priest’s own name, Damian, became his
younger brother’s surname. Peter excelled in school while also taking up
forms of asceticism, such as fasting, wearing a hair shirt, and spending long
hours in prayer with an emphasis on reciting the Psalms. He offered
hospitality to the poor as a means of serving Christ, and eventually resolved to
embrace voluntary poverty himself through the Order of Saint Benedict.
The monks he chose to join, in the hermitage of Fonte Avellana, lived
out their devotion to the Cross of Christ through a rigorous rule of life. They
lived mainly on bread and water, prayed all 150 Psalms daily, and practiced
many physical mortifications. Peter embraced this way of life somewhat
excessively at first, which led to a bout with insomnia. Deeply versed in the
Bible and the writings of earlier theologians, Peter developed his own
theological acumen and became a skilled preacher. The leaders of other
monasteries sought his help to build up their monks in holiness, and in 1043
he took up a position of leadership as the prior of Fonte Avellana. Five other
hermitages were established under his direction.
Serious corruption plagued the Church during Peter’s lifetime, including
the sale of religious offices and immorality among many of the clergy. Through
his writings and involvements in controversies of the day, the prior of Fonte
Avellana called on members of the hierarchy and religious orders to live out
their commitments and strive for holiness.
In 1057, Pope Stephen IX became determined to make Peter Damian a
bishop, a goal he accomplished only by demanding the monk’s obedience
under threat of excommunication. Consecrated as the Bishop of Ostia in
November of that year, he also joined the College of Cardinals and wrote a
letter encouraging its members to set an example for the whole Church. With
Pope Stephen’s death in 1058, and the election of his successor Nicholas II,
Peter’s involvement in Church controversies grew. He supported Pope
Nicholas against a rival claimant to the papacy, and went to Milan as the
Pope’s representative when a crisis broke out over canonical and moral issues.
In 1067, Peter Damian was allowed to resign his episcopate and return
to the monastery at Fonte Avellana… In 1072, Peter returned to his own
birthplace of Ravenna, to reconcile the local church with the Pope. The monk’s
last illness came upon him during his return from this final task, and he died
after a week at a Benedictine monastery in Faenza during February of that
year. Never formally canonized, St Peter Damian was celebrated as a saint
after his death in many of the places associated with his life. In 1823, Pope Leo
XII named him a Doctor of the Church and extended the observance of his
feast day throughout the Western Church.