Cardinal Bishop
(988-1072)
St. Peter Damian, born in 988, lost both his parents at an early age. His eldest brother, to whose hands he was left, treated him so cruelly that another brother, a priest, moved by his piteous state, sent him to the University of Parma, where he acquired great distinction. His studies were sanctified by vigils, fasts, and prayers, until at last, thinking that all this was only serving God halfway, he resolved to leave the world. He joined the monks of Fonte Avellano, then in the greatest repute, and by his wisdom and sanctity rose to be Superior.
St. Peter was called upon for the most delicate and difficult missions, among others the reform of ecclesiastical communities, which his zeal accomplished. Seven Popes in succession made him their constant adviser, and he was finally created Cardinal Bishop of Ostia. He withstood Henry IV of Germany, and labored in defense of Pope Alexander II against an antipope, whom he forced to yield and seek pardon. He was charged, as papal legate, with the repression of simony and correction of scandals; again, was commissioned to settle discords amongst various bishops; and finally, in 1072, to adjust the affairs of the Church at Ravenna. He had never paid attention to his health, which was at best fragile, and after enduring violent onslaughts of fever during the night, would rise to hear confessions, preach, or sing solemn Masses, always ready to sacrifice his well-being and life for the salvation of the souls entrusted to him.
Peter was instrumental in propagating many devout practices; among these may be mentioned, fasting on Fridays in honor of the Holy Cross; the reciting of the Little Office of our Lady; and the keeping the Saturday as a day especially devoted to Mary.
After succeeding in this final mission as he ordinarily did, on his journey back to Ostia he was laid low by fever; he died at Faenza, on February 23, in a monastery of his Order, on the eighth day of his sickness, while the monks chanted Matins around him. His relics are kept in the Cisterian Church in Faenza, and is the Patron Saint of it too.
Not only is he called a 'Confessor' and Bishop, but Pope Leo XII added to his name the title of Doctor of the Church. A quote from this Saint: "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 ones hopes."
Following is what was happening in the Church during his time (Homosexuality?):
In an open letter to Pope Leo IX, St. Peter Damian tells bishops if they’re complacent about correcting their sodomite clerics under their authority then they’ll be complicit in their sins of impurity.
In his zealous letter penned in 1049, famously titled The Book of Gomorrah, St. Peter Damian admonishes bishops to stamp out the “epidemic of sodomy among the priests of Italy,” which was part of a “plague of sexual perversion” and a “larger crisis of moral laxity in the priesthood” of his time.
In his letter, St. Peter decried the silent bishops who failed to take action against clerics immersed in the grievous moral perversion of sodomy:
Listen, you do-nothing superiors of clerics and priests. Listen, and even though you feel sure of yourselves, tremble at the thought that you are partners in the guilt of others; those, I mean, who wink at the sins of their subjects that need correction and who by ill-considered silence allow them license to sin. Listen, I say, and be shrewd enough to understand that all of you alike are deserving of death, that is, not only those who do such things, but also they who approve those who practice them.
For his part, Pope Leo IX received St. Peter’s letter well and reinforced it by urging bishops to take action. The Holy Father responded:
'So, let it be certain and evident to all that we are in agreement with everything your book contains, opposed as it is like water to the fire of the devil. … Therefore, lest the wantonness of this foul impurity be allowed to spread unpunished, it must be repelled by proper repressive action of apostolic severity.'
The Roman Pontiff affirmed that silent shepherds do indeed share in the guilt of those in their charge, whom they fail to correct. “For he who does not attack vice, but deals with it lightly, is rightly judged to be guilty of his death, along with the one who dies in sin,” said Leo IX.
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