THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
and entered the Augustinian monastery of St. Victor at Paris where he remained until his death. He left eighty sermons {MPL, cxcviii.) and the Historia scholastica (Strasburg, 1470?; Augsburg, 1473; MPL, cxcviii., after the edition, Madrid, 1690; French transl., Paris, 1510?). This work treats of Biblical history in the Old and New Testaments as far as the second year of Paul's sojourn in Rome and abounds in references to the Hebrew text and ancient versions, giving now a literal and now an allegorical interpretation and employing also secular writings in its philosophical and theological explanations. The work was for a long time very famous and seems to have been a main source for medieval writers. See Bible Versions, B, III., and VI., § 2.
Bibliography: Ceillier, Auteurs sacres, xiv. 744 sqq.; Histoire litteraire de la France, xiv. 12 sqq.; L. G. Michaud, Biographie Universelle, viii. 679, 45 vols., Paris, 1843-65; KL, ix. 1903-04.
PETER DAMIAN (PIETRO DAMIANI), SAINT.
I. Early Career.
Education and Training (§ 1).
Monk and Reformer of Monastic Life (§ 2).
Church Reformer (§3). II. Official Activities.
Cardinal, and Bishop of Ostia (§ 1).
In the Time of Hildebrand (§ 2).
In the Time of Alexander II. (§ 3).
Mission to Henry IV of Germany (§4). III. Influence. IV. Characterization.
1. Early Career: St. Peter Damian, cardinal and reformer, was born at Ravenna in 1006 or 1007; d. at Faenza (31 m. s.w. of Ravenna) Feb. 22, 1072.
A joyless youth was his lot; he was i. Educa- neglected by his parents, and after tion and their early deaths by his elder brother. Training. Another brother, named Damianus, took him up — in grateful recollection of whom, perhaps, he assumed his second name Damianus — and made it possible for him to study in Faenza and Parma. When he began to lecture on grammar and rhetoric he was much appreciated, but the ideal of the ascetic life gained power over him and he fled, perhaps in the year 1035, to the settlement of hermits at Fontavellana near Gubbio in the Apennines, founded possibly by a disciple of Romuald. See Camaldolites.
Peter was allowed to omit the novitiate and take
the vows at once. Soon he had so distinguished
himself that he was called to other
2. Monk monasteries to revive the discipline, and Re- In 1043 he succeeded to the position
former of of prior of Fontavellana. Under his Monastic leadership the monastery flourished, Life. and the number of those who came from outside to escape the world increased; and from the new settlements was formed the Congregation of Fontavellana. In this circle Peter found his favorite form of activity, to cultivate and to advance himself and others in the monastic virtues. Rigorous fasting and self-scourging were fostered, the latter especially by Dominicus Loricatus (see Flagellation, I., § 2); but the reading of Holy Scripture and the Church Fathers, and manual labor were not neglected.
But even if the charm of this cloister life completely satisfied him, Peter was far too actively constituted not to turn his attention to 3. Church church life outside his cloister. Cry- Reformer, ing needs called for reforms; above all, the two fundamental evils of the eleventh century, Simony (q.v.) and Nicolaitanism (see Nicolaitans). Peter entered the lists against them. When the priest Johannes Gratianus ascended the papal throne in 1045 as Gregory VI. (q.v.), Peter hailed him with acclaim, but he turned out to be incapable and, moreover, was polluted with simony; hence Damian's hopes turned toward the German King Henry III., and without mistake. This morally strict and energetic monarch, convinced of the necessity of thoroughgoing reforms of ecclesiastical life, brought aid to the Church. In 1046 he appeared in Italy, had the three popes Benedict IX., Sylvester III., and Gregory VI. deposed by synods at Sutri and Rome, and took care that the Church obtained a worthy supreme head. Clement II. towered above his predecessors; but his was not a vigorous personality, and Peter, who had already been brought into contact with the German king by their common interest in the reform of the Church, and had been instructed by him to support the pope, was impatient with the weakness of the latter. The sudden death of Clement II. brought a second German bishop, Poppo of Brixen, as Damasus II. to the Holy See, but he also had only a brief reign. It was all the more important then that in his successor Leo IX. a man was found who took up reform systematically and with great energy. Peter placed great confidence in him, and this was reciprocated by the pope. His relation to Victor II. was not so close.
II. Official Activities: Hitherto the activity of Peter in the cause of the elevation of church life had -been entirely free of any official attitude. This state of affairs ceased under Pope Ste- 1. Cardinal phen IX. In the hope of increasing and thereby the efficiency of Peter for the Bishop Church, he appointed him, in 1057, of Ostia. cardinal and bishop of Ostia. This promotion was no joy to the man thus distinguished; he shrank from reentering the world from which he had fled; but his sense of duty compelled him to accept the position. From the moment of his appointment he dedicated himself with great devotion to the new tasks, and supported the reform policy of Stephen with all his might. But this pope, too, reigned but a short time. When after Stephen's death the Roman nobility elevated Bishop John of Velletri as Benedict X., Peter with other cardinals fled from Rome, and went to Fontavellana. When he had returned to the old conditions, he became fully aware of what he had given up in leaving the monastery. He therefore addressed to Nicholas II., who had been elected by the cardinals successor of Stephen, the most pressing petition for release from his offices in the government of the Church. Whatever he could adduce in favor of this request he brought forward; but he was not mistaken when he thought that Hildebrand (see Gregory VII.), who had procured