Peter Damian

Peter Damian

Petrus Damiani

1007–1072
Wikipedia

Peter Damian (1007–1072) was an Italian Benedictine monk, reforming abbot of Fonte Avellana, and cardinal-bishop of Ostia. One of the most influential figures of the eleventh-century Gregorian Reform, he combined rigorous asceticism with prolific polemical and pastoral writing, directing his efforts against clerical concubinage, simony, and the corruption of the institutional church. His Liber Gomorrhianus attacked sexual immorality among the clergy, while his Liber Gratissimus (1052) addressed the thorny canonical question of whether ordinations performed by simoniacal bishops were valid — arguing, against Humbert of Silva Candida, that they were, so that the ordained recipients could retain their orders without reordination. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1828.

Pamphlets on the Controversy Between Emperors and Popes in the 11th and 12th Centuries, Volume I

Pamphlets on the Controversy Between Emperors and Popes in the 11th and 12th Centuries, Volume I

Libelli de Lite Imperatorvm et Pontificvm Saecvlis XI. et XII. Conscripti, Tomus I

1891·690 pages

The Most Welcome Book

Liber Gratissimus

Peter Damian's Liber Gratissimus (1052) is a sustained canonical and theological argument on one of the most contested questions of the Gregorian Reform: whether clerics ordained by simoniacal bishops received valid orders. Written in response to the reforming synods of Clement II and addressed to the archbishop of Ravenna, the work argues that ordinations performed by simoniacs — though gravely sinful — are nonetheless valid and need not be repeated, since sacramental efficacy derives from God and not from the moral state of the minister. This position set Damian in direct conflict with Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida, who argued for the invalidity and heretical character of simoniacal ordination. Damian's more moderate position eventually prevailed in practice, and was confirmed by the synodal decisions of Pope Nicholas II. Edited by L. de Heinemann for the MGH Libelli de Lite, vol. I (1891).

Petri Damiani Liber Gratissimus·fol. 15–75