Vatican City, Sep 9, 2009 / 08:22 am
Pope Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis for today's general audience to the figure of St. Peter Damian. The great eleventh century monk offers people the insight that they should not to be overly absorbed by daily activities and the problems of life, thus "forgetting that Jesus must be central to our lives," the Holy Father said.
Peter Damian, who was born in Ravenna in 1007, lost both his parents while still very young and was raised by his siblings. He received a superlative education in law and Greek and Latin culture. As a young man, the saintly Italian dedicated himself to teaching and authored a number of literary works.
Peter Damian felt the call to become a monk and in 1034 entered the recently founded monastery of Fonte Avellana. This monastery “was dedicated to the Holy Cross,” Benedict XVI explained, “and of all the Christian mysteries the Cross would be the one that most fascinated Peter Damian." “Peter Damian’s example,” the Pope added, “encourages us to always look to the Cross as God's supreme act of love towards man."
In Fonte Avellana, Peter Damian "wrote a Rule in which he placed great emphasis upon the 'rigor of the hermitage.'” Pope Benedict explained to the gathered faithful that, “For Peter Damian hermitic life is the apex of Christian life. It is 'the highest state of life' because the monk, free from the ties of the world and of his own self, receives 'the pledge of the Holy Spirit and his soul felicitously unites with the heavenly Bridegroom.'”