St. Peter Damian (988 - 1072)

Feast Day: February 21
Canonization: Pre-congregation

St. Peter Damian, a Doctor of the Church, is one of its greatest reformers.

Born in Ravenna, Italy in 988, he was orphaned early and entered a hermitage in 1035. There, he communicated with popes and emperors in efforts to shore up lax morals and weak ecclesial Church discipline.

Peter wrote against simony (the buying of church offices) and other scandals. Around 1050, he published his famous Liber Gomorrhianus, or “Book of Gomorrah,” a scathing indictment of sodomy threatening the integrity of the clergy then.

Seven successive popes relied on him as their advisor, yet he wasn’t declared a Doctor of Church until 1828.

In 1057, Pope Stephen IX made Peter a cardinal and bishop of Ostia. Peter also served as papal legate to Milan, France, and Germany, and used his persuasive powers to sideline antipopes. Rarely tending to his own health, he rose early to pray, hear confessions, preach, and sing solemn Masses – ever ready to sacrifice for those entrusted to him.

Pope Benedict XVI, in 2009, described Peter Damian as “one of the most significant figures of the 11th century ... a lover of solitude and at the same time a fearless man of the Church, committed personally to the task of reform.”