Peter was named Chrysologus because he had a gift for preaching and is considered one of the greatest preachers in the history of the Church.
Newsdesk (03/08/2022 10:01, Gaudium Press) St Peter Chrysologus, which means “golden word”, and St John Chrysostom, “golden tongue”, are names with which the Church to this day acclaims the oratory of these great men. Heirs to ancient Greek and Roman oratory, but, with the fiery influence of the Catholic spirit, they delivered works of a flight with content and language that made them immortal.
Saint Peter Chrysologus was born at Imola, not far from Rome, in the year 380. He became the first Western bishop to occupy the Diocese of Ravenna in 424, being consecrated personally by Pope Sixtus III.
He immediately showed himself to be a good pastor, prudent and without doctrinal ambiguities. He listened to the humble and the powerful with equal condescension and charity. The Empress Galatis Placidia had him as an advisor and friend.
He was considered one of the greatest preachers in the history of the Church, and wrote a total of one hundred and seventy-six popular homilies, leading to countless conversions. He also defended the authority of the Pope, then Leo I the Great, over the Monophysite question, which preached Christ in one nature.
St Peter Chrysologus was so named because he was noted primarily for his gift of preaching – Chrysologus means ‘The man of the golden word’ (this cognomen was given to him from the 9th century onwards).
Peter Chrysologus died at an uncertain date, but he is venerated by the Church on the 30th of July, that date in 450 being the most likely date of his death.
Saint Peter Chrysologus quotes
-“Man, offer your soul to God, offer the oblation of fasting, so that it may be a pure offering, a holy sacrifice, a living victim that at the same time remains in you and is offered to God. Whoever does not give this to God has no excuse, because everyone can offer himself.
-“Christ is the Kingdom who, like a mustard seed planted in the garden of a virginal body, spread Himself throughout the whole world on the tree of the Cross, and so great was the sweet flavour of His fruit that it was consumed with the Passion, so that every living person might taste it and be nourished by it.”
-“Without the grace of God and His direct intervention, no one would have the strength to resist the Devil’s craving”, for, his insatiable cruelty “is not satisfied with making men unworthy, but makes them promoters of vices and masters of delinquency.”
Prayer
O Saint Peter Chrysologus, who mastered your passions and clung to faith in Jesus Christ thus to persevere in the virtues that led you to holiness, intercede for us so that we too may be as perseverant and enthusiastic as you were in exhorting our brothers who are far from the Truth.
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan