Subj : =?UTF-8?Q?July_30th_=E2=80=93_St_Peter_Chrysologus?= To : All From : rich Date : Sun Jul 29 2018 10:08:44 From: rich July 30th =E2=80=93 St Peter Chrysologus, Bishop & Doctor of the Church (380-450 AD) Saint Peter Chrysologus, a fifth-century Italian bishop was known for testifying courageously to Christ's full humanity and divinity duri= ng a period of doctrinal confusion in the Church. The saint's title, Chrysologus, signifies =E2=80=9Cgolden speech=E2= =80=9D in Greek. Named as a Doctor of the Church in 1729, he is distinguished as the =E2=80=9CDoctor of Homilies=E2=80=9D for the concise but theologically rich reflections he delivered during his time as the Bishop of Ravenna. His surviving works offer eloquent testimony to the Church's traditional beliefs about Mary's perpetual virginity, the penitenti= al value of Lent, Christ's Eucharistic presence, and the primacy of St= ... Peter and his successors in the Church. Few details of St. Peter Chrysologus' biography are known. He was b= orn in the Italian town of Imola in either the late 4th or early fifth century, but sources differ as to whether this occurred around 380 or as late as 406. Following his study of theology, Peter was ordained to the diaconate by Imola's local bishop Cornelius, whom he greatly admired and regarded as his spiritual father. Cornelius not only ordained Peter, but taught him the value of humility and self-denial. The lessons of his mentor inspired Peter to live as a monk for many years, embracing a lifestyle of asceticism, simplicity, and prayer. His simple monastic life came to an end, however, after the death of Archbishop John of Ravenna in 430. After John's death, the clergy and people of Ravenna chose a succes= sor and asked Cornelius, still the Bishop of Imola, to journey to Rome and obtain papal approval for the candidate. Cornelius brought Peter, then still a deacon, along with him on the visit to Pope Sixtus III. Tradition relates that the Pope had experienced a vision from God on the night before the meeting, commanding him to overrule Ravenna's choice of a new archbishop. The Pope declared that Peter, instead, was to be ordained as John's successor. In Ravenna, Peter was received warmly by the Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III, and his mother Galla Placidia. She is said to have given him the title of =E2=80=9CChrysologus=E2=80=9D because of his preachi= ng skills. Throughout the archdiocese, however, he encountered the surviving remnants of paganism along with various abuses and distortions of the Catholic faith. Peter exercised zeal and pastoral care in curbing abuses and evangelizing non-Christians during his leadership of the Church in Ravenna. One of the major heresies of his age, monophysitism, held that Christ did not possess a distinct human nature in union with his eternal divine nature. Peter labored to prevent the westward spread of this error, promoted from Constantinople by the monk Eutyches. The Archbishop of Ravenna also made improvements to the city's cathedral and built several new churches. Near the end of his life he addressed a significant letter to Eutyches, stressing the Pope's authority in the monophysite controversy. Having returned to Imola in anticipation of his death, St. Peter Chrysologus died in 450, one year before the Church's official condemnation of monophysitism. He is credited as the author of around 176 surviving homilies, which contributed to his later proclamation as a Doctor of the Church. A man who vigorously pursues a goal may produce results far beyond his expectations and his intentions. Thus it was with Peter of the Golden Words, as he was called, who as a young man became bishop of Ravenna, the capital of the empire in the West. At the time there were abuses and vestiges of paganism evident in his diocese, and these he was determined to battle and overcome. His principal weapon was the short sermon, and many of them have come down to us. They do not contain great originality of thought. They are, however, full of moral applications, sound in doctrine and historically significant in that they reveal Christian life in fifth-century Ravenna. So authentic were the contents of his sermons that, some 13 centuries later, he was declared a doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XIII. He who had earnestly sought to teach and motivate his own flock was recognized as a teacher of the universal Church. In addition to his zeal in the exercise of his office, Peter Chrysologus was distinguished by a fierce loyalty to the Church, not only in its teaching, but in its authority as well. He looked upon learning not as a mere opportunity but as an obligation for all, both as a development of God-given faculties and as a solid support for the worship of God. Quite likely, it was St. Peter Chrysologus's attitude toward learni= ng that gave substance to his exhortations. Next to virtue, learning, in his view, was the greatest improver of the human mind and the support of true religion. Ignorance is not a virtue, nor is anti-intellectualism. Knowledge is neither more nor less a source of pride than physical, administrative or financial prowess. To be fully human is to expand our knowledge=E2=80=94whether sacred or secular=E2=80=94= according to our talent and opportunity. --By Matthew Saint Quotes: =E2=80=9CAnyone who wishes to frolic with the devil cannot rejoice with Chr= ist.=E2=80=9D --Saint Peter Chrysologus =E2=80=9CFasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. = So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God's ear to yourself.=E2=80=9D --St. Peter Chrysologus =E2=80=9CWe exhort you in every respect, honorable brother, to heed obedien= tly what has been written by the Most Blessed Pope of the City of Rome; for Blessed Peter, who lives and presides in his own see, provides the truth of faith to those who seek it. --Saint Peter Chrysologus, from a letter to Eutyches, 449 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. [Proverbs 1:7] RSVCE * [1:7] Fear of the LORD: primarily a disposition rather than the emotion of fear; reverential awe and respect toward God combined with obedience to God's will. <><><><> Prayer of St Peter Chrysologus Loving Father, Clothe me with the garment of sanctity. Gird me with the cincture of chastity. Let Christ be the covering of my head, the cross of Christ, the protection of my face; instill in me the sacrament of Divine wisdom, and let the odor of my prayers always ascend on high. Amen. --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .