Peter Chrysologus

Saint Peter Chrysologus was bishop of Ravenna from about 433 until his death around 450, and a famous preacher. His surname Chrysologus means "golden-⁠worded". Pope Benedict XIII declared him a Doctor of the Church in 1729. He is honoured as a saint of the undivided Church and commemorated on 30 July.

Early life

He was born around 380 at Imola in Italy. Bishop Cornelius of Imola baptized him, raised him and ordained him deacon. Through the influence of the emperor Valentinian III he became archdeacon. Around 433 Pope Sixtus III appointed him bishop of Ravenna, apparently rejecting the candidate the people had elected. According to the account in the Roman Breviary, the pope had a vision of the Apostle Peter and Saint Apollinaris, the first bishop of Ravenna, who showed him the future bishop. When a group from Ravenna reached Rome, among them Cornelius and his archdeacon Peter of Imola, the pope is said to have recognized Peter as the young man in the vision.

Bishop of Ravenna

Ravenna was then the capital of the West. The empress Galla Placidia, mother of Valentinian III, patronized many of the bishop's projects. According to tradition it was she who gave him the surname Chrysologus after hearing his first sermon.

Peter was known for sermons that were short, simple and inspired, since he feared tiring the attention of his hearers. He explained Biblical texts briefly, condemned Arianism and Monophysitism, and explained the Apostles' Creed and the mystery of the Incarnation. He urged the faithful to receive Communion often and to trust in the forgiveness offered by Christ. He devoted a series of homilies to Saint John the Baptist and to the Mother of God. In the eighth century Archbishop Felix of Ravenna collected 176 of his homilies, which survive and show Christian life at Ravenna in the fifth century.

Eutyches

A synod at Constantinople in 448 condemned Eutyches for Monophysitism. Eutyches appealed to Peter but received no support. The text of a letter of Peter, urging Eutyches to accept the ruling of the synod and obey the bishop of Rome, is preserved in the acts of the Council of Chalcedon (451).

His end

Peter died around 450 during a visit to Imola, his native town. Older reference works give 2 December, but a recent reading of the Book of the Pontiffs of Ravenna points to 31 July. A portrait of him from his own time survives among the mosaics of the church of San Giovanni Evangelista at Ravenna.