He founded five more communities of Benedictine hermits while encouraging the monks to always seek the spirit of silence, charity, and humility. St. Dominic Loricato and St. John of Lodi, his disciples, are sons of those reforms.
In 1057 Peter Damian was created cardinal and bishop of Ostia, renouncing what pleased him most: his life in silence and solitude.
His good name became known to all, and he considerably increased the contact he already had with the Roman Curia, and even with the pope. He wrote numerous letters criticizing “simony” — the purchase of spiritual goods as if they were material goods, which included ecclesiastical offices, performance of sacraments, sacramentals, the trade of relics, and promises of prayer.
He wrote the so-called Book of Gomorrah (a title alluding to the Old Testament city of Gomorrah) and spoke out strongly against the impure customs of his time. He also wrote about the duties of clerics and monks, to whom he recommended spiritual discipline rather than prolonged fasting.
The future of the Church
“It is impossible to restore discipline once it has fallen into decay; if we, through negligence, allow the rules to fall into disuse, future generations will not be able to return to the primitive observance. Let us guard against incurring such a fault, and let us faithfully transmit to our successors the legacy of our predecessors,” the saint wrote sharply, concerned about the responsibility we have toward future generations of Christians.
A curious fact about St. Peter Damian: In his spare time, he used to make wooden spoons and other utensils for his brothers in the faith.
The final episode
Pope Alexander II sent Peter Damian to solve a problem in Ravenna, where the archbishop had declared himself in open rebellion and had incurred excommunication. Unfortunately, the saint arrived after the prelate had died, but such was his example of justice and charity in fraternal correction that the accomplices of the rebel recognized their error, assumed their penance, and reformed their conduct.
On his way back to Rome, Peter Damian fell ill during his stay in a monastery on the outskirts of Faenza and died there on Feb. 22, 1072.
Dante Alighieri, author of The Divine Comedy, in the XXI canto of “Paradise,” places St. Peter Damian in the heaven of Saturn, destined for high contemplative spirits. He was declared a doctor of the Church in 1828 by Pope Leo XII.
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This article was originally published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.
ACI Prensa is the Catholic News Agency's sister agency, which was founded in Lima, Peru, in 1980 by Fr. Adalbert Marie Mohm (†1986). In 1997, ACI Prensa launched the website
www.aciprensa.com, which is the largest and most visited online source of Catholic news in Spanish. In 2014,
Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) acquired Catholic News Agency and ACI Prensa. Since the merger, CNA and ACI Prensa have expanded their distribution platform. Now it is a service of
EWTN News Inc.