Today, on the memorial of Peter Damian, the Church honors a saint who proves that authentic mercy is never sentimental. It is fierce, clear-eyed, and willing to wound in order to heal.
If ever there were a patron for what I call mercy with teeth, it is this 11th-century reformer.
A Church in Crisis
Peter Damian did not live in calm ecclesial times. The 1000s ad were marked by serious moral corruption among clergy: simony (the buying and selling of Church offices), concubinage, and sexual immorality. In some places, religious vows and priestly promises were treated as flexible suggestions rather than sacred promises.
Rather than look away, Peter wrote directly to the pope in a treatise known as the Liber Gomorrhianus (Book of Gomorrah). In it, he addressed sexual sins among clergy with disarming clarity. He did not minimize the evil. He did not excuse it as weakness. He did not hide behind vague language.
He named it.
And he demanded accountability.
Strong Medicine for Sick Souls
Peter Damian recommended firm, even severe, penalties for clerics who violated their vows and promises—especially those who exploited others. He called for removal from ministry in grave cases. He urged real penance, not cosmetic apologies. He insisted that shepherds who wounded the flock should not simply resume leadership as if nothing had happened.
Why so strong?
Because he understood something we often forget: mercy without justice is not mercy. It is indifference dressed up as compassion.
A priest’s vows and promises are not private lifestyle choices. They are public, sacred promises made before God for the sake of souls. When they are violated—particularly in ways that harm the vulnerable—the wound is not merely personal. It is ecclesial. It is spiritual. It is scandal in the deepest biblical sense.
Peter Damian believed that tolerating grave sin in clergy was itself a failure of charity.
Mercy That Refuses to Lie
Modern ears can find Peter Damian’s tone harsh. But beneath his severity was a profound pastoral concern:
- Sin destroys the sinner.
- Sin harms the innocent.
- Sin disfigures the Church.
- And pretending otherwise compounds the damage.
True mercy does not pretend evil is smaller than it is.
True mercy does not prioritize institutional comfort over wounded souls.
True mercy calls the sinner to repentance—even if that repentance includes humiliation, removal, or lifelong penance.
That is not cruelty. That is love that refuses to lie.
The Courage to Purify
It is tempting in every age to avoid conflict “for the good of the Church.” But Peter Damian teaches the opposite: the Church is strengthened, not weakened, by purification.
Holiness requires clarity.
Reform requires courage.
And charity sometimes requires consequences.
In my own work writing about forgiveness and healing, I have often said that authentic mercy has teeth. It does not excuse. It does not enable. It does not call darkness light. It seeks the salvation of the sinner and the protection of the vulnerable at the same time.
Peter Damian understood that protecting the flock is mercy.
Holding shepherds accountable is mercy.
Calling sin by its name is mercy.
A Saint for Our Time
The memorial of St. Peter Damian is not merely historical remembrance. It is a summons.
- For bishops: to shepherd with courage.
- For priests: to live vows and promises with integrity.
- For laity: to demand holiness without hatred.
- For all of us: to accept correction as grace.
The saint who confronted corruption in the 11th century still speaks today.
May we have his clarity.
May we have his courage.
And may we learn that mercy is strongest when it is rooted in truth.
St. Peter Damian, pray for the Church—and teach us how to love her enough to purify her.
