A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.
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December 2
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Bishop
Peter was born at Imola in 406, was baptized and ordained deacon by its bishop, and in 433 became Bishop of Ravenna. His piety and zeal won wide admiration, and his preaching earned him the name Chrysologus, 'golden word'. He enjoyed the trust of Pope Leo the Great and Empress Galla Placidia, and refused to support the heretic Eutyches. 176 of his short sermons were collected. He died at Imola in 450.
Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 99 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.
S. Germanus of Auxerre died at Ravenna, and was buried by S. Peter, who inherited as inestimable treasure his old rough sackcloth. Eutychec wrote to the archbishop to complain of his condemnation by Flavian, and Peter sent him a letter in reply which is still preserved. Seventy-six of his sermons are also extant.
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Learn from the kind of life it was. A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.
Born at Imola, 406; died there, 450. His biography, first written by Agnellus (Liber pontificalis ecclesi=E6 Ravennatis) in the ninth century, gives but scanty information about him. He was baptised, educated, and ordained deacon by Cornelius, Bishop of Imola, and was elevated to the Bishopric of Ravenna in 433. There are indications that Ravenna held the rank of metropolitan [the archbishop who heads a group of dioceses] before this time. His piety and zeal won for him universal admiration, and his oratory merited for him the name Chrysologus. He shared the confidence of Leo the Great and enjoyed the patronage of the Empress Galla Placidia. After his condemnation by the Synod of Constantinople (448), the Monophysite Eutyches endeavoured to win the support of Peter, but without success.
A collection of his homilies, numbering 176, was made by Felix, Bishop of Ravenna (707-17). Some are interpolations, and several other homilies known to be written by the saint are included in other collections under different names. They are in a great measure explanatory of Biblical texts and are brief and concise. He has explained beautifully the mystery of the Incarnation, the heresies of Arius and Eutyches, the Apostles' Creed, and he dedicated a series of homilies to the Blessed Virgin and St. John the Baptist. His works were first edited by Agapitus Vicentinus (Bologna, 1534), and later by D. Mita (Bolonga, 1634), and S. Pauli (Venice, 1775)-the later collection having been reprinted in P.L., LII. Fr. Liverani ("Spicilegium Liberianum"), Florence, 1863, 125 seq.) edited nine new homilies and published from manuscripts in Italian libraries different readings of several other sermons. Several homilies were translated into German by M. Held (Kempten, 1874).
BARDENHEWER, Patrology, tr. SHAHAN, 526 sqq.; DAPPER, Der hl. Petrus von Ravenna Chrysologus (Posen, 1871); LOOSHORN, Der hl. Petrus Chrysologus und seine Schriflen in Zeitschrift f. kathol. Theol., III (1879), 238 seq.; WAYMAN, Zu Petrus Chrysologus in Philologus, LV (1896), 464 seq.
S. Germanus of Auxerre died at Ravenna, and was buried by S. Peter, who inherited as inestimable treasure his old rough sackcloth. Eutychec wrote to the archbishop to complain of his condemnation by Flavian, and Peter sent him a letter in reply which is still preserved. Seventy-six of his sermons are also extant. If they obtained for him his title of “ Golden Speaker,” the average powers of preaching at the period must have been very leaden. The chapel in which he was accustomed to officiate is still standing, adorned with contemporary mosaics, in the archiepiscopal palace at Ravenna.
Feast: December 2
One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Peter Chrysologus's story, and a nudge to keep going.
From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.
From “Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Peter Chrysologus,” The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907–1914), via Wikisource. Public domain. Matched by name and feast date; text unedited except for our bracketed notes in grey.
From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.