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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 December 2011
Dante, in his vision of Paradise, passes (Canto XXI) into the sphere of Saturn, over which the Thrones preside and where Love has an almost blinding splendour. The Thrones, in the Celestial Hierarchy described for the Middle Ages by the Pseudo-Dionysius, represented tranquillity, the peace which passes understanding, gained through contemplation of God and then interpreted to the world of men. There he sees the golden Jacob's Ladder of Contemplation, with many bright beings passing up and down, one of whom above the others reflected and revealed the brightness. The poet seeks to know why this special intensity and this nearness to humanity is given to one more than to others, and on asking finds that it is Peter Damiani, “Peter the Sinner” as he called himself in life and calls himself here. In his own age Peter was a striking and well-known character of many sides, but Dante's conception of him is strangely unlike that held by most of the modern writers. To some of them he seems the sternest of rigid reformers, to others the most eccentric of ascetics; to theologians he may be known as a learned and prolific writer who has found a secluded sanctuary in Migne's collection: to some historians he is a man who unaccountably influenced a curious age, to others he is the writer of an unblushing and unreadable account of clerical vice. But to Dante he stands for something very different; in the Seventh Sphere, the special home of contemplative saints, he is supreme. He is the type of the contemplative life which comes nearest to God and is therefore most useful to man. If we take this as the centre of Damiani's personality, all his activities and all his writings fall into their proper place. Instead of accidental denunciations of evils and corruptions, isolated comments on theological or clerical life, we have a coherent whole, a full expression of a well-ordered personality. If to most people he is merely an ascetic and a prophet of asceticism, he himself valued the ascetic life as a help to contemplation and as necessary to ensure its perfection.
page 226 note 1 On the contemplative life and mysticism see Dom Butler's Benedictine Monachism, chap, vii (Benedictine mysticism). On the Pseudo-Dionysian writings see Westcott's “Dionysius the Areopagite,” Contemporary Review, 1883, reprinted in Religious Thought in the West; Article on Dionysius (Pseudo-Areopagita) in Dict, of Christian Biography, by J. H. Lupton. The connexion with Grosseteste and Colet should not be forgotten. Also Inge, Christian Mysticism.
page 226 note 2 Migne, vol. 144 (Patrologia latina), Epp. I.14 (col. 224) (to Alexander II): “Eugubina Ecclesia quae mihi dudum a vestris decessoribus commissa est, etc.”
page 227 note 1 For details see Vita P. D. by John of Lodi (Migne, P. L. vol. 144), col. 116; Opusc. XXXVI. chap. 14, XLII. chap. 2, LI. chap. 13; and Kleinermanns, p. 19.
page 227 note 2 One change had taken place which lessened the distinction between monks and secular priests. By now a large proportion of monks were ordained. Hence corruptions of monks and priests were much the same. By A.D. 1OOO monks were, almost as a rule, ordained. See Dom Butler, Benedictine Monachism, p. 293.
page 228 note 1 On Fonte Avellana see Helyot, Dictionnaire des Ordres religieuses, under “Camaldules” (in vol. 1): also the Dissertation of Guido Grandius, prefixed to Migne, P. L. vol. 144, col. 17 seq. The beginnings of the monastery are uncertain and mixed up with the controversy about Romwald, the Benedictine Rule and his own eremitic adaptation of it. For Romwald see Fleury, Histoire du Christianisme, bk 157, chap, i seq. and bk 159, chap, viii seq.; more shortly in Biron. Life of P. D., chap. ii. Damiani himself wrote (about 1042) a life of Romwald, Migne, vol. 144, col. 953 seq., which is more instructive and original than his other biographies.
page 228 note 2 It produced 77 saints, 35 bishops and 4 cardinals. Biron, p. 12.
page 229 note 1 “Quod ad animarum videatur pertinere negotium.”
page 229 note 2 See Epp. I. 4. The Liber itself is well and discreetly treated by Biron, chap. iv.
page 229 note 3 Migne, vol. 145, col. 15 seq. See Jaffé-Löwenfeld, Regesta, 4312.
page 229 note 4 See Biron, p. 68, and Neukirch, p. 55. These writers decide rightly, although the former admits that P. D. was less prominent in Leo's later years. But this is accounted for by the Pope's long absences from Rome and the causes mentioned above.
page 230 note 1 Epp. II. 6.
page 230 note 2 The letter with its dramatic colour is worth reading, and the contrast between the ascetic's frankness and the Pope's diplomacy is sharp. “Ex his tamen cum expostulatur, arridet caputque meum tamquam oleo jocosae urbanitatis suavitate demulcet.” Once when consulted by Alexander as to the reason for the shortness of Papal lives, none reaching the annos Petri (for which failuré at that epoch artificial causes were often assigned), Damiani's explanation was more ethical than courtly: it was meant, he said, that the constant fear of death should be a stimulus to well-doing. See Opusc. XXIII (De brevitate Vitae Pontificum Romanorum et Divina Providentia).
page 230 note 3 On his definition of simony see Epp. II. 1, where he makes flattery and wirepulling as bad as the payment of money. So too with service at court; by such things a priest sold himself. See also Opusc. XXII and Epp. I 13. For Humbert's view of simony see Tres Libri, III. 20–22 (also Neukirch, p. 69, n. 4). But there is a difference. Humbert dislikes simony because it confuses the spiritual and temporal spheres. P. D. condemns it more on moral and religious grounds.
page 230 note 4 Opusc. XIII. Epp. VI. 6. The Life of St Romwald. MPL, 144, col. 953 seq.
page 231 note 1 Such as that about Ravenna (Opusc. XLII. chap. 2) which tells us of his residence there after boyhood, and incidental mention of monks and clerks illustrating his experiences. For his love of places, e.g. Cluny, Epp. VI. 4.
page 231 note 2 For the general sketch of the life see Biron, chap, ii, “Le Prieur de Fonte-Avellana,” and Damiani's own very full account in Opusc. XIV and XV.
page 231 note 3 In the work Liber qui dicitur Dominus vobiscum, Opusc. XI. chap. 19 (Laus erermtiticae vitae), the mystic feeling is seen. Also in Opusc. XIII.
page 231 note 4 Biron, p. 192.
page 231 note 5 See Opusc XIV (Migne, vol.145, col. 334) and Opusc XV chap. 18, col. 350. Damiani while giving secular learning a secondary place encouraged it for others as he sought it for himself: he sent his nephew Damian to Gaul to gain it, Epp. VI. 3 (commending him to Hugh of Cluny). This was a spoiling of the Egyptians to adorn the Temple. Kleinermanns, pp. 213–14, discusses the matter with a right judgment.
page 232 note 1 His writings have a wide range, from an Exposition of the Canon of the Mass (MPL, 145, col. 879), his De Sacramentis per improbos administratis (Opusc XXX) to his interesting Contra sedentes tempore Divini Officii (Opusc XXXIX). He is sometimes said to have been the first to use the word transubstantiatio (Exposition of the Canon of the Mass, chap. 7), and he was certainly one of the first. P. D. uses it less definitely than in its later crystallized form.
page 232 note 2 This is well illustrated by the controversies which grouped themselves around Berengar of Tours.
page 232 note 3 For Damiani's place see Wulf, M. de, Hist, of Medieval Philosophy (trans, by P. Coffey, London, 1909) shortly, p. 176.Google Scholar Dialectic was superfluous because only the Scriptures gave a solid basis for truth. Nevertheless Philosophy was a handmaid to Theology and must be read. Opusc. XXXVI (De Divina Omnipotentia) deals with Philosophy.
page 232 note 4 For Ratherius see his works edited by the Ballerini, Verona, 1765: a good life by A. Vogel, Ratherius of Verona und das 10 Jahrhundert. Jena, 1876.
page 233 note 1 For an interesting short summary of the letters see Fliche, A., Les Prégrégoriens, Paris, 1916, pp. 122–53.Google Scholar Biron's verdict (p. 194) is right: “Nous ne savons si en dehors celle de Grégoire VII, il existe de l'époque une correspondance d'une telle importance.”
page 233 note 2 Sermon 73 de vitio linguae, and 10 in coena Domini, may be taken as examples. All are plain, pointed and based on Scripture.
page 233 note 3 The Rural Deanery was revived for Gloucester by Bishop Benson (1735–52): for London under Bishop Blomfield (c. 1844): for Canterbury and Exeter about the same time: then it became general and is now in full working order. In Damiani's day a similar new spirit was being breathed into existing but often ineffective institutions.
page 233 note 4 See Jaffé, Monumenta Gregoriana, Regesta, I. 42 and IV. 11. P. D.'s Letter to Clement II, Epp. I. 3.
page 234 note 1 Epp. I. 1.
page 234 note 2 Epp. VII. 2. Wazo of Liège, a strict canonist, was displeased.
page 234 note 3 Epp. VII. 2. Damiani always kept his high opinion of Henry III, although Cardinal Humbert thought differently.
page 234 note 4 Epp. VII. 3, for which Giesebrecht (III. 116) has high praise.
page 235 note 1 For simony Epp. I. 13; II. 1 (he extends the criminality to the reception of gifts without any agreement and to flattery); Opusc. XXII, Contra clericos aulicos, and XXXI. And he had the dislike of clerical wire-pulling for promotion which Leo IX shared.
page 235 note 2 See Saltet, , Les Reordinations, Paris, 1907 (an excellent and instructive book), p. 173Google Scholar seq. It was the musician Guido (Guy) of Arezzo, who first asserted that simony was a heresy and therefore invalidated the acts of those guilty of it.
page 236 note 1 Saltet, , Les Réordinations, Paris, 1907Google Scholar, comments on the whole matter well (chap. x. p. 190): He holds it one of the most remarkable theological works of the century.
page 236 note 2 Chaps, iii—v, xx, xxxii, xxxiii.
page 236 note 3 Chap. ix.
page 236 note 4 Chap. xii.
page 236 note 5 Chap. xvi.
page 236 note 6 Liber Gratissimus, chap, xviii. It was a case of a woman possessed of an evil spirit who would be cast out by none but the Bishop.
page 236 note 7 See Libelli de Lite, I. 16. He left out 16–18, 29–31.
page 237 note 1 The changes are well sketched by Saltet in the work referred to.
page 237 note 2 Printed, the best text, in Libelli de Lite, I. 95–253, edited by Thaner, F., with an adequate preface. Also in Migne, P. L. vol. 143, col. 1003–1212, reprinted from Martene and Durand, Thesaurus Novus. See also Halfmann, H., Cardinal Humbert, sein Leben und seine Werke, Göttingen, 1882Google Scholar; Saltet, Les Réordinations, p. 193 seq.
page 237 note 3 For the evidence see Thaner, Preface, p. 95, note 1: Lanfranc's statement is the more likely. Humbert also was a Lorrainer in his outlook.
page 238 note 1 For Humbert's share in the controversies and negotiations with the Eastern Church see Hefele-Leclercq, IV. 1076 seq.; Cambridge Medieval History, IV. 265 seq. (a chapter by Prof. L. Bréhier).
page 239 note 1 See edition by Thauer, F., in Libelli de Lite, I. 95–253.
page 239 note 2 The date is fixed by internal evidence between the death of Victor II and that of Henry I of France. See Libelli de Lite, I 100. Hauck, K. G., III. 673 note 6, rightly prefers a date before the death of Stephen IX. See also Mirbt, Die Publizistik, p. 11. For the occasion etc. of the Tractate, Halfmann, Cardinal Humbert, Göttingen, 1882, p. 24 seq.
page 239 note 3 See especially Saltet, Les Réordinations, p. 193, who thinks Book 1, written in answer to Damiani, earlier than Books 11-III Internal evidence favours this view.
page 239 note 4 Hefele-Leclercq, IV. 1196–7 with note.
page 239 note 5 For this, chaps. 35–36.
page 239 note 6 in. chap. 7. On Constantine the Great, chap. 8.
page 240 note 1 This is the principle which is carried into practice in the Election Decree of 1059, at least in its original form, the so-called Papal version.
page 240 note 2 III. chap. 8.
page 241 note 1 Epp I. 5.
page 241 note 2 For this see P. D.'s report of his Milanese legation. Migne, vol. 145, col. 89. The interval between the legation, which must be dated in the early spring of 1059, and the report (late autumn) is often noted with surprise. But this report was P. D.'s Apologia for the course he always upheld. It was really intended to defend his policy just when a defence might be of weight at Rome.
page 241 note 3 Opusc V. col. 89–90. We might hear Hildebrand himself speaking these words.
page 242 note 1 See P. D. himself: Epp. II. 8; Vita P. D. chap. 14.
page 242 note 2 Opusc XXI, Defuga dignitatum ecclesiasticarum
page 242 note 3 Epp. II. 1.
page 243 note 1 The Disceptatio Synodalis in Migne, P. L. vol. 146, but better in Libelli de Lite, I. 76–94 (ed. L. de Heinemann), long extracts, in English, in T. Greenwood, Cathedra Petri, IV. (bks IX-XI) 423–7. This is an old work, too little known: an anti-papal bias has to be allowed for.
page 243 note 2 He was probably thinking of Jeremiah, the true prophet, and his false rival, Hananiah (Jeremiah xxviii. 5–17): he quotes Jeremiah sometimes in the Discept. The etymology is justified by the accepted derivation of diabolus from deorsum fluens as in Isidore's Etymologies, but the juxtaposition is uncomplimentary. Libelli de Lite, I. 92. The letters, Epp. I 20 (with derivation and prophecy) and 21: fulfilment, Opusc. XVIII. col. 397.
page 244 note 1 The letters to Cadalus in Migne, vol. 144; Epp. I. 20, 21: to Henry IV, Epp. VII. 3: to Anno, Epp. III. 6: to Hildebrand, clearing himself of blame, Epp. I. 16.
page 244 note 2 P. D. wrote in his Liber Gratissimus “regnum namque et sacerdotium a Deo cognoscitur institutum.” Libelli de Lite, I. p. 31. And in Disceptatio (p. 93): “ut summum sacerdotium et Romanum simul confoederetur imperium.”
page 245 note 1 Libelli de Lite, I. 21.
page 245 note 2 On Damiani also see Kühn, Leopold, , Petrus Damiani und seine Anschauungen über Staat und Kirche, Karlsruhe, 1919 (for the Discept. Syn., pp. 19 seq.)Google Scholar; Fliche, Aug.Les Prégrégoriens (a good account). For Discept. Syn., Meyer V. Knonau, Jahrb. I. 297 seq., and Excursus IX. 688–94; Hefele-Leclercq, IV. 1228 seq. especially note 3.
page 245 note 3 See Church's essay on Dante.