Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “St. Peter Damian, monk, lover of solitude and, at the same time, intrepid man of the Church, personally involved in the work of reform undertaken by the popes of the time,” was the theme of the catechesis given by the Holy Father Benedict XVI during the General Audience on September 9, held in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican.
Mentioning the fundamental elements of his life, the Pope recalled that Saint Peter Damian was born in Ravenna in 1007 of a noble but poor family. He was orphaned, and lived a childhood of hardships and sufferings. By the time he was 25, he had dedicated himself to teaching. He spent his time studying law and writing, and becoming familiar with great Latin classics. “His sensitivity to beauty led him to a poetic contemplation of the world,” the Pope highlighted, recalling that “Peter Damian conceived the universe as an inexhaustible 'parable' and an extension of symbols, from which it is possible to interpret the interior life and the divine and supernatural reality.” From this perspective, around the year 1034, he was led to enter the monastery of Fonte Avellana, famous for its austerity, where he wrote the life of the founder, St. Romuald of Ravenna, and “dedicated himself to furthering his spirituality, expressing his ideal of eremitical monasticism.”
The hermitage of Fonte Avellana was dedicated to the Holy Cross, “and the cross would be the Christian mystery that most fascinated Peter Damian,” the Pope mentioned. In fact, “Peter Damian addressed most beautiful prayers to the cross, in which he reveals a vision of this mystery that has cosmic dimensions, because it embraces the whole history of salvation.” He also wrote a Rule which strongly stresses the "rigor of the hermitage," placing the eremitical life at “the summit of the states of life...because the monk, free from the attachments of the world and from his own self, receives 'the pledge of the Holy Spirit and his soul is happily united to the heavenly Spouse.'” Benedict XVI then highlighted that this is also “important for us today, even though we are not monks: To be able to be silent in ourselves to hear the voice of God...to learn the Word of God in prayer and meditation is the path for life.”
Saint Peter Damian was “a man of prayer, meditation and contemplation,” and was also a fine theologian. He expresses “with clarity and vivacity the Trinitarian doctrine” and he also often meditated on the figure of Christ, “who should be at the center of the monk's life.” “ It also implies for us an intense call not to allow ourselves to be totally absorbed by the activities, problems and preoccupations of every day, forgetting that Jesus must truly be at the center of our life.”
Peter Damian also developed “a theology of the Church as communion.” “Yet the ideal image of the 'holy Church' illustrated by Peter Damian does not correspond -- he knew it well -- to the reality of his time. That is why he was not afraid to denounce the corruption existing in monasteries and among the clergy, above all due to the practice of secular authorities conferring the investiture of ecclesiastical offices: Several bishops and abbots behaved as governors of their own subjects more than as pastors of souls. It is no accident that their moral life left much to be desired.” Thus, in 1057, Peter Damian left the monastery and accepted the appointment to cardinal bishop of Ostia: “He saw that it was not enough to contemplate, and had to give up the beauty of contemplation to assist in the work of renewal of the Church.”
Ten years later, in 1067, he obtained permission to return to Fonte Avellana, resigning from the Diocese of Ostia. Two years later he was sent to Frankfurt in an attempt to prevent Henry IV's divorce from his wife, Bertha; and again two years later, in 1071, he went to Montecassino for the consecration of the abbey's church, and, at the beginning of 1072 he went to Ravenna to establish peace with the local archbishop, who had supported the anti-pope, causing the interdict on the city. During his return journey to the hermitage, a sudden illness obliged him to stay in Faenza, where he died the night between February 22 and 23, 1072.
“It is a great grace that in the life of the Church the Lord raised such an exuberant, rich and complex personality as that of St. Peter Damian,” the Holy Father concluded. “He was a monk to the end, with forms of austerity that today might seem to us almost excessive. In this way, however, he made of monastic life an eloquent testimony of the primacy of God and a call to all to walk toward holiness, free from any compromise with evil. He consumed himself, with lucid consistency and great severity, for the reform of the Church of his time. He gave all his spiritual and physical energies to Christ and the Church, always remaining, as he liked to call himself...Peter, last servant of the monks.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 10/9/2009)
