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Peter Damian 1

Saint Peter Damian

Bust of Peter Damian. Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence.

Bishop, Confessor and

Born c. 1007

Died 22 February 1072 or 1073 Faenza

Honored in Roman

Feast 21 February earlier 23 February (, 1823-1969)

Attributes represented as a cardinal bearing a knotted rope in his hand; also as a holding a papal Bull; Cardinal's hat, Benedictine 's habit

Saint Peter Damian, Order of St. Benedict (O.S.B.) (Petrus Damiani, also Pietro Damiani or Pier Damiani) c. 1007[1] – 21/22 February 1072 or 1073 was a reforming monk in the circle of Leo IX and a cardinal. In 1823, he was declared a Doctor of the Church. Dante placed him in one of the highest circles of as a great predecessor of Saint .

Early life Peter was born in Ravenna, Italy, around 1007. Orphaned early, he spent his youth in hardship and privation, but showed such signs of remarkable intellectual gifts that his brother, Damianus, at Ravenna, took him to be educated. Adding his brother's name to his own, Peter made such rapid progress in his studies of and canon law, first at Ravenna, then at Faenza, finally at , that when about twenty-five years old he was already a famous teacher at Parma and Ravenna.[2] Peter Damian 2

Religious life

About 1035, however, he deserted his secular calling and, avoiding the compromised luxury of Cluniac , entered the isolated hermitage of , near . Both as novice and as monk, his fervor was remarkable but led him to such extremes of self-mortification in that his health was affected. On his recovery, he was appointed to lecture to his fellow , then, at the request of Guy of Pomposa (Guido d'Arezzo) and other heads of neighboring monasteries, for two or three years he lectured to their brethren also, and (about 1042) wrote the life of St. for the monks of Pietrapertosa. Soon after his return to Fonte Avellana he was appointed economus (manager or housekeeper) of the house by the , who designated him as his successor. In 1043 he became prior of Fonte Avellana, and remained so until his death in February 1072.

Subject-hermitages were founded at San Severino, Gamogna, Acerreta, Murciana, San Salvatore, Sitria and Ocri. A zealot for monastic and clerical reform, he introduced a more-severe discipline, including the practice of ("the Saint Peter Damian (far right), depicted with disciplina"), into the house, which, under his rule, quickly Augustine, Anne, and Elizabeth attained celebrity, and became a model for other foundations, even the great of . There was much opposition outside his own circle to such extreme forms of penitence, but Peter's persistent advocacy ensured its acceptance, to such an extent that he was obliged later to moderate the imprudent zeal of some of his own .

Another innovation was that of the daily siesta, to make up for the fatigue of the night office. During his tenure of the priorate a was built, silver and a silver were purchased, and many books were added to the library, a collection which he cared about very much.

Reformer Although living in the seclusion of the cloister, Peter Damian closely watched the fortunes of the Church, and like his friend Hildebrand, the future Pope Gregory VII, he strove for reforms in a deplorable time. When Benedict IX resigned the pontificate into the hands of the archpriest John Gratian (Gregory VI) in 1045, Peter hailed the change with joy and wrote to the new pope, urging him to deal with the scandals of the church in Italy, singling out the wicked bishops of Pesaro, of Città di Castello and of Fano. Extending the area of his activities, he entered into communication with the Emperor Henry III. He was present in Rome when Clement II crowned Henry III and his consort Agnes, and he also attended a held at the in the first days of 1047, in which decrees were passed against . Peter Damian 3

Liber Gomorrhianus and Hildebrand's reforms After this he returned to his hermitage. About 1050, during the pontificate of Pope Leo IX, Peter wrote a scathing treatise on the vices of the clergy, including of minors and actions by church superiors to hide the crimes. was openly addressed to the pope. Meanwhile the question arose as to the validity of the ordinations of simoniacal clerics. Peter Damiani wrote (about 1053) a treatise, the Liber Gratissimus, in favor of their validity, a work which, though much combatted at the time, was potent in deciding the question in their favor before the end of the 12th century.

Philosophy Peter often condemned . He claimed that the first grammarian was the , who taught to decline deus in the plural. He argued that monks should not have to study philosophy, because did not choose philosophers as disciples, and so philosophy is not necessary for salvation. But the idea (later attributed to ) that philosophy should serve theology as a servant serves her mistress originated with him.[3] However, this apparent animosity may reflect his view that logic is only concerned with the validity of argument, rather than the nature of reality. Similar views are found in Al-Ghazali and Wittgenstein. Damian's tract De divina omnipotentia is frequently misunderstood. Damian's purpose is to defend the "doctrine of omnipotence", which he defines as the ability of God to do anything that is good, i.e., God cannot lie. Toivo J. Holopainen identifies De divina omnipotentia as "an interesting document related to the early developments of medieval discussion concerning modalities and divine omnipotence." Peter also recognized that God can act outside time, as later argued.[4]

Papal envoy and Cardinal During his illness the pope died, and Frédéric, abbot of Monte Cassino, was elected pope as Stephen IX. In the autumn of 1057, Stephen IX determined to make Damian a cardinal. For a long time Damian resisted the offer, for he was more at ease as an itinerant -preacher than a reformer from within the , but was finally forced to accept, and was consecrated Cardinal Bishop of Ostia on November 30, 1057. In addition he was appointed administrator of the Diocese of Gubbio. The new cardinal was impressed with the great responsibilities of his office and wrote a stirring letter to his brother-cardinals, exhorting them to shine by their example before all. Four months later Pope Stephen died at Florence, and the Church was once more distracted by . Peter was vigorous in his opposition to the Benedict X, but force was on the side of the intruder and Damian retired temporarily to Fonte Avallana.

Milan About the end of the year 1059 Peter was sent as legate to by Pope Nicholas II. So bad was the state of things at Milan, that (a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services) were openly bought and sold, and the clergy publicly married the women with whom they lived. The resistance of the clergy of Milan to the reform of Ariald the Deacon and Anselm, Bishop of Lucca rendered a contest so bitter that an appeal was made to the . Nicholas II sent Damian and the Bishop of Lucca as his legates. The party of the irregular clerics took alarm and raised the cry that Rome had no authority over Milan. Peter boldly confronted the rioters in the , he proved to them the authority of the Holy See with such effect that all parties submitted to his decision. He exacted first a solemn oath from the archbishop and all his clergy that for the future no preferment should be paid for; then, imposing a penance on all who had been guilty, he reinstated in their benefices all who undertook to live in celibacy. This prudent decision was attacked by some of the rigorists at Rome, but was not reversed. Unfortunately, on the death of Nicholas II, the same disputes broke out; nor were they finally settled till after the martyrdom of St. Peter Damian 4

Ariald in 1066. Meanwhile Peter was pleading in vain to be released from the cares of his office. Neither Nicholas II nor Hildebrand would consent to spare him.

Later career He rendered valuable assistance to Pope Alexander II in his struggle with the antipope, Honorius II. In July 1061 the pope died and once more a schism ensued. Peter Damian used all his powers to persuade the antipope Cadalous to withdraw, but to no purpose. Finally Anno II, Archbishop of and acting regent in Germany, summoned a council at at which a long argument by Peter Damian was read and greatly contributed to the decision in favor of Alexander II. In 1063 the pope held a synod at Rome, at which Peter Damian was appointed legate to settle the dispute between the Abbey of Cluny and the Bishop of Mâcon. He proceeded to France, summoned a council at Chalon-sur-Saône, proved the justice of the contentions of Cluny, settled other questions at issue in the Church of France, and returned in the autumn to Fonte Avellana. While he was in France the antipope Cadalous had again become active in his attempts to gain Rome, and Peter Damian brought upon himself a sharp reproof from Alexander and Hildebrand for twice imprudently appealing to the royal power to judge the case anew. In 1067 the cardinal was sent to Florence to settle the dispute between the bishop and the monks of Vallombrosa, who accused the former of simony. His efforts, however, were not successful, largely because he misjudged the case and threw the weight of his authority on the side of the bishop. The matter was not settled until the following year by the pope in person. Having served the papacy as legate to France and to Florence, he was allowed to resign his bishopric in 1067. After a period of retirement at Fonte Avellana, he proceeded in 1069 as to Germany, and persuaded the emperor Henry IV to give up his intention of divorcing his wife Bertha. This task he accomplished at a council in before returning to Fonte-Avellana. Early in 1072 or 1073 he was sent to Ravenna to reconcile its inhabitants to the Holy See, they having been excommunicated for supporting their archbishop in his adhesion to the schism of Cadalous. On his return thence he was seized with fever near Faenza. He lay ill for a week at the of Santa Maria degl'Angeli, now Santa Maria Vecchia. On the night preceding the feast of the Chair of St. Peter at , he ordered the office of the feast to be recited and at the end of the Lauds he died. He was at once buried in the monastery church, lest others should claim his . During his concluding years he was not altogether in accord with the political ideas of Hildebrand. He died the year before Hildebrand became pope, as Gregory VII. "It removed from the scene the one man who could have restrained Gregory", Norman F. Cantor remarked (Civilization of the Middle Ages, p 251).

Veneration Peter Damian is a saint and was made a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XII in 1823, with a feast day celebrated on 23 February. His body has been moved six times. Since 1898, Peter Damian has rested in a chapel dedicated to the saint in the cathedral of Faenza. No formal ever took place, but his cult has existed since his death at Faenza, at Fonte-Avellana, at Monte Cassino, and at Cluny. His feast has since been moved to 21 February. The saint is represented in art as a cardinal bearing a knotted rope (the disciplina) in his hand; also sometimes he is depicted as a pilgrim holding a papal Bull, to signify his many legations. Peter Damian 5

Works Peter Damian's voluminous writings, including treatises (67 survive), letters, sermons, prayers, hymns and liturgical texts (though, in a departure from many early medieval monks, no biblical commentaries)[5] reflect the spiritual conditions of Italy: the groundswell of intense personal piety that would overflow in the at the end of the century was an extremely vigorous controversialist, and his abounds in denunciatory epithets. His works include: • His most famous work is De Divina Omnipotentia, a long letter in which he discusses God's power. • In the short treatise Dominus vobiscum (The Book of "The Lord be with You") (PL 145:231-252), he questions whether a hermit praying in solitude should use the plural; Damian concludes that the hermit should use the plural, since he is linked to the whole church by faith and fellowship. • His Life of Romauld and his treatise The Eremitical Order demonstrate his continuing commitment to solitude and severe as the ultimate form of Christian life. • He was especially devoted to the Mary, and wrote an Officium Beatae Virginis

Footnotes [1] "five years after the death of the Emperor Otto III"

[2] Holopainen, Toivo J., "Peter Damian", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) (http:/ / plato.

stanford. edu/ archives/ win2012/ entries/ peter-damian/ ) [3] PL 145, p. 603, 1867 [4] Zupko [5] Bernard McGinn, The Growth of , (1994), p125

Further reading

Modern editions • Opera Omnia, in JP Migne, ed., , (PL), vols 144 and 145, Paris: Vives. [PL144 mostly contains his letters and sermons; PL145 contains his treatises] • Pierre Damien: Lettre sur la Toute-Puissance divine, ed Andre Cantin, SC 191 [a modern critical edition of this work]

Translations • St Peter Damian: Selected Writings on the Spiritual Life, trans Patricia McNulty, (London, 1959)

Secondary literature • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. • Zupko, J., article 'Gregory of Rimini' in A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages, e.d Gracia & Noone. • OJ Blum, Saint Peter Damin: His Teaching on the Spiritual Life, (Washington, 1947) • Berger, , "St. Peter Damian. His Attitude Toward the Jews and the Old Testament", The Yavneh Review, 4 (1965) 80-112. • Owen J. Blum, "The Monitor of the : St. Peter Damian", in Studi Gregoriani vol. 2 (1947), pp 459–76. • John Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality Chicago (1980). • Pierre J. Payer, 1962. Book of Gomorrah : An Eleventh-Century Treatise against Clerical Homosexual Practices, Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Peter Damian 6

External links

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• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry (http:/ / plato. stanford. edu/ entries/ peter-damian/ ) • "St. Peter Damian". . New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. Article Sources and Contributors 7 Article Sources and Contributors

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