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PIETRO DAMIANI (c. 1007-1072)

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 788 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PIETRO See also:

DAMIANI (c. 1007-1072)  , one of the most celebrated ecclesiastics of the rrth See also:century, was See also:born at See also:Ravenna, and after a youth spent in hardship and privation, gained some renown as a teacher . About 1035, however, he deserted his See also:secular calling and entered the hermitage of Fonte Avellana, near See also:Gubbio; and winning See also:sound reputation through his piety and his See also:preaching, he became the See also:head of this See also:establishment about 1043 . A zealot for monastic and clerical reform, he introduced a more severe discipline, including the practice of flagellation, into the See also:house, which, under his See also:rule, quickly attained celebrity, and became a See also:model for other See also:foundations . Extending the See also:area of his activities, he entered into communication with the See also:emperor See also:Henry III., addressed to See also:Pope See also:Leo IX. in 1049 a See also:writing denouncing the vices of the See also:clergy and entitled See also:Liber Gomorrhianus; and soon became associated with See also:Hildebrand in the See also:work of reform . As a trusted counsellor of a See also:succession of popes he was made See also:cardinal See also:bishop of See also:Ostia, a position which he accepted with some reluctance; and presiding over a See also:council at See also:Milan in 1059, he courageously asserted the authority of See also:Rome over this See also:province, and won a See also:signal victory for the principles which he advocated . He rendered valuable assistance to Pope See also:Alexander II. in his struggle with the See also:anti-pope, See also:Honorius II.; and having served the papacy as See also:legate to See also:France and to See also:Florence, he was allowed to resign his bishopric in 1067 . After a See also:period of retirement at Fonte Avellana, he proceeded in 1069 as papal legate to See also:Germany, and persuaded the emperor Henry`IV. to give up his intention of divorcing his wife Bertha . During his concluding years he was not altogether in See also:accord with the See also:political ideas of Hildebrand . He died at See also:Faenza on the 22nd of See also:February 1072 . See also:Damiani was a determined foe of See also:simony, but his fiercest wrath was directed against the married clergy . He was an extremely vigorous controversialist, and his Latin abounds in denunciatory epithets . He was specially devoted to the Virgin See also:Mary, and wrote an Officium Beatae Virginis, in addition to many letters, sermons, and other writings .

His See also:

works were collected by Cardinal See also:Cajetan, and were published in four volumes at Rome (1606-1615), and then at See also:Paris in 1642, at See also:Venice in 1743, and there are other See also:editions . See A . See also:Vogel, See also:Peter Damiani (See also:Jena, 1856) ; A . Capecelatro, Storia di S . See also:Pier Damiani e del suo tempo (Florence, 1862) ; F . Neukirch, Das Leben See also:des Peter Damiani (See also:Gottingen, 1875) ; L . Guerrier, De Petro Damiano (See also:Orleans, 1881); W. von See also:Giesebrecht, Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit (See also:Leipzig, 1885-189o) ; and See also:Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopddie, See also:Band iv . (Leipzig, 1898) .

End of Article: PIETRO DAMIANI (c. 1007-1072)
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