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On Apostles Creed 34:2Ambrose of MilanAlthough these things may seem outwardly spoken, they are nevertheless necessary and useful to us; and therefore we must now return to order. Therefore, when the clay of our flesh, as has already been said, has been baked into a pot; that which was previously pressed down with heavy weight into the earth, having received the wings of spiritual grace, will fly to heaven with the support of angels, and there it will have the true and peaceful pledge of its eternal salvation. What can be found that is more true, more evident, more clear than this? Nevertheless, so that we do not seem to have omitted anything, consider the fullest and strongest example of this hope of ours, the bird of the East called the phoenix, unique, famous for its singularity, and monstrous in its posterity: which, willingly burying itself, dividing and cutting itself with its natural end, is again phoenix, again itself, and not another. For proof of our hope's strength, the Holy Spirit, who is God, placed in the holy Scriptures, saying: And they shall bloom like the phoenix, that is, they shall bloom from death, from their own funeral, just as the phoenix rises from its own ashes. Therefore, if the flesh of a bird rises from its ashes, will not the flesh of a human rise from its ashes? And where is it written that the Lord Christ declared that many sparrows are better? Where is that which He promised to us through the Prophet, saying: 'Your youth will be renewed like the eagle's' (see Rabbi Kimhi and other interpreters on this passage; also Peter Damian Opusc. 52, c. 23; Albertus Magnus l. XXIII de Animal.; Gesner, Aldrovandus, and others)? They say that the nature of this bird is as follows: when it has reached old age, it is said to soar in the air for a long time, until it reaches the clouds and fire: when it comes into contact with the fire, it immediately plunges into a hidden fountain, submerging itself three times; and then it is restored to the strength and appearance of its former youth. What the blessed Apostle promised to us, saying: The fire will test what kind of work each one has. For different birds eat grapes, olives, and other fruits; and after digesting their grains through excessive heat, the vines and trees are born again. If therefore the birds do this for you, at God's command, will God not do it for you because of your faith and his retribution? Believe me, he will do it because of his promise; for when we were nothing at one time, we were made by the Lord of all creatures, God himself commanding. Therefore, he who made something out of nothing, which did not exist, will be able to make again that which he made before out of nothing.On the Government of God · Book 1 4:15Salvian the Presbyter11. A conception of the religious life common throughout the Middle Ages, and mirroring for the saints in this life the future joys of paradise. Compare the familiar line from the hymn of Peter Damiani:Collationes de Decem Praeceptis · Collation 6 2:8Bonaventure15. Peter Damian relates that two men were together in the desert who performed the harshest penance. One of them was unlearned and, on account of his sins, was deceived by the devil, who told him that the sin of pollution against nature was no greater a sin than blowing mucus from one's nose. And then that wretched man practiced that shameful act. At death the devil carried away his soul. Seeing this, the other was amazed that a man of such great vigils and sufferings should be lost. And then an Angel of the Lord appeared, who related to him that he had defiled everything through such a sin.TREATISE ON THE RESURRECTION · Question 73 1:11Thomas AquinasFurther, Jerome [*St. Peter Damian, Opuscul. xlix; he quotes St. Jerome, but the reference is not known.] mentions fifteen signs preceding the judgment. He says that on the "first" day all the seas will rise fifteen cubits above the mountains; in the "second" day all the waters will be plunged into the depths, so that scarcely will they be visible; on the "third" day they will be restored to their previous condition; on the "fourth" day all the great fishes and other things that move in the waters will gather together and, raising their heads above the sea, roar at one another contentiously; on the "fifth" day, all the birds of the air will gather together in the fields, wailing to one another, with neither bite nor sup; on the "sixth" day rivers of fire will arise towards the firmament rushing together from the west to the east; on the "seventh" day all the stars, both planets and fixed stars, will throw out fiery tails like comets; on the "eighth" day there will be a great earthquake, and all animals will be laid low; on the "ninth" day all the plants will be bedewed as it were with blood; on the "tenth" day all stones, little and great, will be divided into four parts dashing against one another; on the "eleventh" day all hills and mountains and buildings will be reduced to dust; on the "twelfth" day all animals will come from forest and mountain to the fields, roaring and tasting of nothing; on the "thirteenth" day all graves from east to west will open to allow the bodies to rise again; on the "fourteenth" day all men will leave their abode, neither understanding nor speaking, but rushing hither and thither like madmen; on the "fifteenth" day all will die and will rise again with those who died long before.The Essay 27:98An Essay on the Development of Christian DoctrineOn this point I will but remark as follows. It cannot be doubted that the horror of heresy, the law of absolute obedience to ecclesiastical authority, and the doctrine of the mystical virtue of unity, were as strong and active in the Church of St. Ignatius and St. Cyprian as in that of St. Carlo and St. Pius the Fifth, whatever be thought of the theology respectively taught in the one and in the other. Now we have before our eyes the effect of these principles in the instance of the later Church; they have entirely succeeded in preventing departure from the doctrine of Trent for three hundred years. Have we any reason for doubting, that from the same strictness the same fidelity would follow, in the first three, or any three, centuries of the Ante-tridentine period? Where then was the opportunity of corruption in the three hundred years between St. Ignatius and St. Augustine? or between St. Augustine and St. Bede? or between St. Bede and St. Peter Damiani? or again, between St. Irenaeus and St. Leo, St. Cyprian and St. Gregory the Great, St. Athanasius and St. John Damascene? Thus the tradition of eighteen centuries becomes a collection of indefinitely many catenae, each commencing from its own point, and each crossing the other; and each year, as it comes, is guaranteed with various degrees of cogency by every year which has gone before it.Paradiso 21:2The Divine ComedyThe Seventh Heaven, or that of Saturn, where are seen the spirits of the contemplative—The Celestial Stairway—St. Peter Damiano—His invectives against the luxury of the Prelates.Paradiso 21:16The Divine ComedyThat cloister used to render to these heavens
Abundantly, and now is empty grown,
So that perforce it soon must be revealed.
I in that place was Peter Damiano;
And Peter the Sinner was I in the house
Of Our Lady on the Adriatic shore.
Little of mortal life remained to me,
When I was called and dragged forth to the hat
Which shifteth evermore from bad to worse.February 23:3The Roman MartyrologyAt Faenza, the holy Peter Damian, [988-1072,] Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, famous for his teaching and holiness, whom Pope Leo XII declared to be a Doctor of the Universal Church.