Events for Wednesday 21st February 2024

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Peter Damian,1007-1072, gave up teaching to become a hermit. Later he was Cardinal-bishop of Ostia and an outstanding reformer of Church life and discipline. He fought simony and upheld priestly celibacy. St. Damian was a defender of Gregorian reform and a promoter of religious life. He died on February 22, 1072. He was declared a doctor of the Church in 1828.

A Doctor of the Church, (from the Latin docere, to teach), is a saint from whose writings the whole Church is held to have derived great advantage and to whom "eminent learning" and "great sanctity" have been attributed. The honour is always bestowed posthumously.

St Peter Damian