21ST FEBRUARY 2003
ST.PETER DAMIAN
BISHOP CONFESSOR, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH (10071072)
LIFE
:Peter Onesti, the youngest of a large Ravenna family of noble
ancestry, was orphaned at an early age & sent to tend swine.But his
piety &intellectual gifts prompted one of his brothers, the Archpriest Damian
of Ravenna , to pay for his education 7 peter , in gratitude , added
the name Damian to his own. His subsequent progress wa s so rapid that at
25 he was already noted as a teacher at Ravenna and at Parma 9 Italy)
But the life in these university towns was too wordly &
distracting for him, and so he became in 1034 a hermitmonk in the
Benedictine establishment of Fonte Avellana in the Apennines , which was known
for austerities & sever rule . His zeal and extreme penances made him
ill.,after which he was appointed to give spiritual discourse to the
monks of his own and several neighbouring monasteries.
St. Peter Damian was particularly devoted to our Lady.At the age
of 36 he became abbot of Fonte Avellana and remained so until his death
29 years later.As such he wisely moderated the rule , established the
regular use of the discipline & found a number of hermitages.Together with
his friend Hildebrand, the future great reformerPope Gregory VIIhe strove
continually by pen & word to combat and correct the scandalous abuses then
widespreaded in the church; luxury and laxity among the clergy, the buying
and selling of church benefices and papal schisms.He is best known for his
terrible indictment of the clergy, the Liber Gomorrhianus`.
In 1507,Pope Stephen X insisted the Abbot to accept cardinalate;
and so he was made Cardinal bishop of Ostia .Besides being administrator
of the diocese of Gubbio, he served seven successive Popes with
remarkable success on various delicate missions , as papal legate & visitor
of Bishoprics and Abbey`s & was in constant contact with all the eminent men
of his age.
Died in 1072 of fever at Ravenna while surrounded by brother monks reciting the
Divine Office. Declared a Doctor of the Church in 1828.Wasn`t beatified, never
formally canonized; cultus developed almost immediately after his death; cultus
approved and extended to the whole Church in 1823 by Pope Leo XII
.
REFLECTION:
" what u are ,I was ; What I am, you will be, Remember me, I pray for
you. Have pity on the dust of Peter that lies here.."" ( Epitaph on the
tomb of St.Peter Damian, written by himself)
"Let us faithfully transmit to posterity the example of virtue which we have received
from our forefathers." -Saint Peter Damian
Oh! sweet Eucharist ! & beloved Mother keep me as thy own.....
S.THOMAS
NOTTINGHAM
ENGLAND
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