Feast of St. Peter Damian, Doctor of the Church

Edit: St. Peter Damian had his feast extended to the 23rd of February by Pius IX in 1923 at which time the Pope also pronounced the great reformer a Doctor of the Entire Church.  No doubt this Doctor could prescribe some medicine for the Church today.  Some may want to sweep the Saint under the rug or at least severely mute the author of Liber Gomorrhianus’ witness.  We found this appropriate citation:

“This vice strives to destroy the walls of one’s heavenly motherland and rebuild those of devastated Sodom. Indeed, it violates temperance, kills purity, stifles chastity and annihilates virginity ... with the sword of a most infamous union. It infects, stains and pollutes everything; it leaves nothing pure, there is nothing but filth ... This vice expels one from the choir of the ecclesiastical host and obliges one to join the energumens and those who work in league with the devil; it separates the soul from God and links it with the demons. This most pestiferous queen of the Sodomites [which is homosexuality] makes those who obey her tyrannical laws repugnant to men and hateful to God ... It humiliates at church, condemns at court, defiles in secret, dishonors in public, gnaws at the person’s conscience like a worm and burns his flesh like fire... 
     “The miserable flesh burns with the fire of lust, the cold intelligence trembles under the rancor of suspicion, and the unfortunate man’s heart is possessed by hellish chaos, and his pains of conscience are as great as the tortures in punishment he will suffer ... Indeed, this scourge destroys the foundations of faith, weakens the force of hope, dissipates the bonds of charity, annihilates justice, undermines fortitude, ... and dulls the edge of prudence. 
     “What else shall I say? It expels all the forces of virtue from the temple of the human heart and, pulling the door from its hinges, introduces into it all the barbarity of vice ... In effect, the one whom ... this atrocious beast [of homosexuality] has swallowed down its bloody throat is prevented, by the weight of his chains, from practicing all good works and is precipitated into the very abysses of its uttermost wickedness. Thus, as soon as someone has fallen into this chasm of extreme perdition, he is exiled from the heavenly motherland, separated from the Body of Christ, confounded by the authority of the whole Church, condemned by the judgment of all the Holy Fathers, despised by men on earth, and reproved by the society of heavenly citizens. He creates for himself an earth of iron and a sky of bronze ... He cannot be happy while he lives nor have hope when he dies, because in life he is obliged to suffer the ignominy of men’s derision and later, the torment of eternal condemnation” (Liber Gomorrhianus, in PL 145, col. 159-178).

The Feast of St. Peter Damian: A Window to the Past

Edit: today is the feast of St. Peter Damian, the great reformer who authored the book "Liber Gomorrhianus” and presided in his office during a time of great reforms as well as tribulations.  Along with the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, it provides a a parallel, a back drop and historical prospective in the face of current events which all too many feel are unprecedented, if not apocalyptic.

During St. Peter Damian’s time, Benedict IX resigned his office to St. Peter's friend, the brilliant John Gratian.  After abdicating in penitence, the very troublesome and corrupt Benedict IX entered the seclusion of the monastery of Grottaferrata.  Here’s an excerpt from Catholic Encyclopedia:

Although living in the seclusion of the cloister, Peter Damian watched closely the fortunes of the Church, and like his friend Hildebrand, the futureGregory VII, he strove for her purification in those deplorable times. In 1045 when Benedict IX resigned the supreme pontificate into the hands of the archpriest John Gratian (Gregory VI), Peter hailed the change with joy and wrote to the pope, urging him to deal with the scandals of thechurch in Italy, especially with the evil bishops of Pesaro, of Città di Castello, and of Fano (see BENEDICT IX; GREGORY VI.) He was present inRome when Clement II crowned Henry III and his wife Agnes, and he also attended a synod held at the Lateran in the first days of 1047, in whichdecrees were passed against simony. After this he returned to his hermitage (see CLEMENT II; DAMASUS II). Pope St. Leo IX was solemnlyenthroned at Rome, 12 Feb., 1049, to succeed Damasus II, and about two years later Peter published his terrible treatise on the vices of theclergy, the "Liber Gomorrhianus", dedicating it to the pope. It caused a great stir and aroused not a little enmity against its author. Even thepope, who had at first praised the work, was persuaded that it was exaggerated and his coldness drew from Damian a vigorous letter of protest. Meanwhile the question arose as to the validity of the ordinations of simoniacal clerics. the prior of Fonte-Avellana was appealed to an wrote (about 1053) a treatise, the "Liber Gratissimus", in favour of their validity, a work which, though much combatted at the time, was potent in deciding the question in their favour before the end of the twelfth century. In June, 1055, during the pontificate of Victor II, Damian attended asynod held at Florence, where simony and clerical incontinence were once more condemned. About two years later he fell ill at Fonte-Avellanaand nearly died, but suddenly, after seven weeks of pain, recovered, as he believed, through a miracle.

Image taken from “Catholic Family Today Blog" Here is also some ongoing analysis by Doctor Moynihan of La Repubblica’s article with some interesting interactions with the clergy…

It’s interesting to note that Moynihan doesn’t seem to think that any documents could have found their way into unfriendly hands by way of Paolo Gabrielle.

It’s also interesting to note that he identified the La Repubblica journalist as having Communist connections.