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12 Book of Gomorrah Peter Damian At the time of Leo's accession to the papacy in Rome, Peter Damian was busy working for the reform of monastic institutions and clerical morals from his base at the monastery of Fonte Avellana in the diocese of Gubbio in central Italy. Born in 1007, Damian was to become a leading figure as monk, cleric, bishop, and cardinal who played an active role both in encouraging general ecclesiastical reform and in working strenuously to promote it.37 His reforming activities took him throughout Italy and into France and Germany , placing him in an ideal position to be familiar with the state of the church in his day. But above all he was a monk who opted for a life of contemplation, prayer, and mortification, finally successful in resigning his high ecclesiastical office (A.D. 1069) and returning to the monastic life he loved so much. In addition to his activities in support of reform Peter Damian left a legacy of writings which themselves assure him a singular place in the history of Christian spirituality. He addressed himself to all levels of secular and ecclesiastical society, encouraging his recipients to the ideals of Christian living.38 Some might find his writings harsh in places, but it must be remembered that he was writing in a harsh age which in many quarters had lost sight of the goal ofChristian spirituality . One of his consistent themes was an attack on the sexual immorality of the clergy and the laxness of superiors who refused to take a strong hand against it. W. Ullmann, A Short History of the Papacy in the Middle Ages (London: University Paperback, 1974), 128-41. 37 The finest general introduction to Damian isJ. Leclercq, Saint Pierre Damien ermite ethomme d'Eglise (Uomini et dottrine, 8; Rome, I960). SeeFliche, Lareforme, 175-264; J. Whitney, "Peter Damiani and Humbert," The Cambridge Historical Journal 1 (1925), 225-48; O. J. Blum, "The Monitor of the Popes: St. Peter Damian," Studi Gregoriani 2 (1947), 459-76; and K. Little, "The Personal Development of Peter Damian," in Order and Innovation: Essays in Honor of Joseph R. Strayer (Princeton, 1976), 317-41. 38 SeeO. J. Blum, St. Peter Damian: His Teaching ontheSpiritual Life (Washington , DC, 1947); J. Leclercq, F. Vandenbroucke, and L. Bouyer, The Spirituality of the Middle Ages, trans, by The Benedictines of Holme Eden Abbey (NewYork, 1968), 97-100. ...

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