Peter Damian

Peter Damian (c. 1007 – 21 or 22 February 1072 or 1073) was an Italian Benedictine monk and cardinal who worked for reform alongside Pope Leo IX. Dante later placed him in a high circle of Paradise, calling him a forerunner of Francis of Assisi, and he was named a Doctor of the Church on 27 September 1828. His feast day is 21 February. Born in Ravenna around 1007, he was the youngest child of a large but poor noble family.

Orphaned early, he was first taken in by an older brother who mistreated him, fed him poorly, and made him work as a swineherd. After several years, another brother, Damianus, an archpriest in Ravenna, took pity on him and provided for his education. Peter added his brother’s name to his own and studied theology and canon law at Ravenna, Faenza, and the University of Parma.

Religious life

By about age 25, he was a famous teacher in Parma and Ravenna. Around 1035, he left secular life and, avoiding the luxury of Cluniac monasteries, entered the isolated hermitage of Fonte Avellana near Gubbio. As a novice and monk, his fervor led him to extreme self-mortification, which damaged his health and caused severe insomnia. After recovering, he was asked to lecture his fellow monks, and later, at the request of Guy of Pomposa (Guido d’Arezzo) and other monastery heads, he taught their communities for two or three years.

Around 1042, he wrote a life of Romuald for the monks of Pietrapertosa. Soon after returning to Fonte Avellana, the prior made him economus (manager) and designated him as successor. In 1043, he became prior of Fonte Avellana, a role he held until his death in February 1072.

Under his leadership, subject hermitages were founded at San Severino, Gamogna, Acerreta, Murciana, San Salvatore, Sitria, and Ocri. A zealous reformer, he introduced stricter discipline, including the practice of flagellation (“the disciplina”), into the house. Fonte Avellana quickly became famous and a model for other foundations, including Monte Cassino. There was opposition to such extreme penance, but Peter’s persistent advocacy led to its acceptance, though he later had to moderate the overzealousness of some of his own hermits.

He also introduced the daily siesta to compensate for the fatigue of the night office. During his priorate, a cloister was built, silver chalices and a processional cross were purchased, and many books were added to the library. Though living in seclusion, Peter closely watched church affairs. Like his friend Hildebrand (the future Pope Gregory VII), he pushed for reform during a troubled time.

Reformer

After nearly two centuries of political and social upheaval, doctrinal ignorance and clerical venality had become severe. When Benedict IX resigned the papacy to John Gratian (Gregory VI) in 1045, Peter welcomed the change and wrote to the new pope, urging him to address church scandals in Italy, singling out the wicked bishops of Pesaro, Città di Castello, and Fano. He also corresponded with Emperor Henry III, was present in Rome when Clement II crowned Henry and his wife Agnes, and attended a Lateran synod in early 1047 that passed decrees against simony.

After returning to his hermitage, he published many open letters on theological and disciplinary issues. Around 1050, he wrote Liber Gomorrhianus to Pope Leo IX, sharply condemning simony, concubinage, and sodomy as threats to clerical integrity. Around 1053, he wrote Liber Gratissimus, arguing for the validity of ordinations by simoniacal clerics—a position that, though contested at the time, helped decide the matter in their favor by the late 12th century. Pope Benedict XVI later called him “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.”

Philosophy

Damian was not hostile to philosophy but insisted that the liberal arts, including philosophy, must remain subservient to religion. He argued that monks need not study philosophy, since Jesus did not choose philosophers as disciples, and philosophy is not necessary for salvation. The idea that philosophy should serve theology as a servant serves her mistress—later attributed to Thomas Aquinas—originated with him.

This apparent animosity may reflect his view that logic concerns only argument validity, not the nature of reality, a stance similar to that of Al-Ghazali and Wittgenstein. His tract De divina omnipotentia is often misunderstood; its purpose is to defend the doctrine of omnipotence, defined as God’s ability to do anything good (for example, God cannot lie). Toivo J. Holopainen calls it “an interesting document related to the early developments of medieval discussion concerning modalities and divine omnipotence.” Peter also recognized that God can act outside time, as Gregory of Rimini later argued.