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St
Peter Damian |
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Feast
Day: February 21
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- Profile
- Youngest child in a large family. Orphaned. Sent to live with a
brother, he was mistreated and forced to work as a swine-herd. Cared for
another brother, a
priest in
Ravenna,
Italy. Well educated in Fienza and Parma.
Professor. Lived a life of strict austerity.
Gave up his
teaching to become a
Benedictine
monk. His health suffered, especially when he tried to replace sleep
with prayer.
Abbot. Founded
hermitages. Occasionally called on by the Vatican to make peace
between arguing
monastic houses, clergymen, and government officials, etc. Cardinal-Bishop
of Ostia. Fought
simony. Tried to restore primitive discipline among
priests and religious who were becoming more and more of the world.
Prolific correspondent, he also wrote dozens of sermons, seven
biographies (including a one of Saint
Romuald), and poetry, including some of the best Latin of the time.
Tried to retire to being a
monk, but routinely recalled as
papal legate. Declared a
Doctor of the Church in
1828.
"Let us faithfully transmit to posterity the example of virtue which we
have received from our forefathers." -Saint Peter Damian
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- Born
- 1007 at
Ravenna,
Italy
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- Died
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22 February 1072 of fever at
Ravenna while surrounded by brother monks reciting the Divine Office
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- Beatified
- wasn't
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- Canonized
- never formally canonized; cultus developed almost immediately after
his death; cultus approved and extended to the whole Church in 1823 by
Pope
Leo XII
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Representation
- cardinal bearing a discipline in his hand; pilgrim holding a papal
Bull, to signify his many legations
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