A very bad childhood

Peter was abused and neglected from the day he was born.

When he was able to go to school, he excelled at his studies, but even there he was afflicted and surrounded by ill will and immorality.

He decided to leave the world behind and be totally alone with God in prayer.

Peter was very successful and ended up inspiring a broad renewal of monastic life.

But God also wanted Peter to be his instrument of peace and truth in the world.

And so Peter ended up spending much time away from the monastery, working hard to reconcile people within a Church that was in tumult and to restore the faith and practice of the clergy.

St. Peter Damian – monk, bishop, and Doctor of the Church – died in his mid-sixties in 1072 and his memory is celebrated on this day.