The feast day of St. Peter Chrysologus is celebrated on July 30. Peter was born around the year 400 in the small town of Imola, Italy. He studied theology and was ordained a deacon by Bishop Cornelius. Bishop Cornelius was the local bishop of Imola and had also baptized him. Bishop Cornelius was Peter’s spiritual director teaching him the value of humility.
St. Peter embraced a simple life of prayer as a monk for many years. After the death of the Archbishop of Ravenna in 430, Peter traveled to Rome with Bishop Cornelius to see Pope Sixtus III. Tradition tells us that because of a vision the Pope overruled the choice for a new bishop and declared Peter the new Bishop of Ravenna.
Peter Chrysologus was known as a good preacher. His sermons were short but inspirational and filled with zeal. As bishop he battled the heresy of monophysitism which denied the humanity of Christ. He insisted that Christ was both fully human and fully divine and supported the authority of the popes in teaching about the nature of Christ. He encouraged everyone to accept the mystery of the Incarnation with simple faith. He believed that learning was second only to virtue for improving the mind.
St. Peter Chrysologus died in 450 in the town of Imola. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XIII in 1729.
The Good Shepherd lowered His shoulders to carry back
to the fold of salvation the sheep who had been lost.
Quote of St. Peter Chrysologus
July is the Month of the Most Precious Blood
