Saint Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Peter Damian was born at Ravenna about 1007. Orphaned young, he was put to work herding pigs by an elder brother until another brother, a priest named Damian, took him in and paid for his studies; Peter took his name in gratitude. After teaching for a time, he joined the hermits of Fonte Avellana, and became their prior in 1043.

He wrote fiercely against the buying of church offices and the worldliness of the clergy, and served the reforming popes as a legate. In 1057 he was made cardinal bishop of Ostia, much against his will, and he kept asking to return to his hermitage. He died at Faenza on 22 February 1072, coming back from a mission. In 1828 he was named a Doctor of the Church.