St. Peter Damian

An orphan of Ravenna whose elder brother sent him into the fields to herd swine before another brother, a priest, recognized his gifts and sent him to school. He became prior of the monastery of Fonte Avellana, then a reforming cardinal-bishop of Ostia under Leo IX. His writings against simony and clerical corruption helped prepare the great Gregorian reform.

At Fonte Avellana he imposed a fierce ascetic discipline and attracted a generation of monks committed to the renewal of the Church. His Book of Gomorrah, addressed to Pope Leo IX, was an unflinching denunciation of clerical vice that made him powerful enemies. Yet he also wrote tender hymns and letters of spiritual counsel that reveal a soul of deep tenderness beneath the reformer's severity.

He served seven popes as troubleshooter and legate, settling disputes in Milan, Florence, and Cluny, always refusing honors and begging to return to his hermitage. He died in 1072 at Faenza, on his way back to Fonte Avellana, and was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1828.