Damian

“ Born at Ravenna towards the close of the tenth century, the youngest of a large family, who only saw in him another to divide their slender inheritance, Peter Damian was all but abandoned in his infancy, and on the death of his parents was maintained by a brother, who treated him as a slave, and employed him to keep swine. The poor farm-drudge grew up without friends and without education ”

“ During Lent, but for the counsels of Father Russell himself, a shrewd man, well aware that St. Damian's represented the one Anglican oasis in an incorrigibly moderate Manchester, even her serviceable and elastic strength would have given way, so hard she was to that poor 'sister the body,' which so many patient ages have gone to perfect and adjust. ”

“ Cardinal Damian also relates of the same Dominic the Cuirassed, that he at last changed his discipline of rods into that of leather-thongs, which was still harsher; and that he had been able to accustom himself to that laborious exercise. Nay, so punctual was he in performing the duties he had imposed upon himself, that, ‘when he happened to go abroad (being an Hermit) he carried his scourge in his bosom, to the end that, wherever he happened to spend the night, he might lose no time, and flog himself with the same regularity as usual. ”

“ Any written communications in the future are to pass, if you please, through the hands of the rector of Sandwich. The delicate health of the new Lady Damian makes it only too likely that the lives of her husband and herself will be passed, for the most part, in a milder climate than the climate of England. I am instructed to say this, and to convey to you Sir Gervase’s best wishes. ”

“ Nay, several persons openly blamed the pious ceremonies in question, during the times of Cardinal Damian; for it was too alarming a practice, for Men not to be concerned at its sudden progress; it was an exercise of too ticklish a nature, for them to suffer themselves [212] to fall asleep on its introduction, or too interesting in its consequence, for them not to be roused by the rattling of the blows.
Among those who thus condemned voluntary flagellations, the most conspicuous was Peter Cerebrosus, a Monk who lived in those times, and was moreover a friend to Cardinal Damian. ”

“ Meanwhile the old huntsman made his way towards the entrance, before which Damian remained standing, in apparent uncertainty whether he should enter or not, regardless of the crowd around, and at the same time attracting their attention by the singularity of his deportment.
Raoul had a private regard for Damiah; for which, perhaps, it was a chief reason, that of late his wife had been in the habit of speaking of him in a tone more disrespectful than she usually applied to handsome young men. ”

“ Cardinal Damian then proceeds to relate the manner in which the same Dominic informed him he performed the hundred years penance. ‘A Man (said he) may depend he has accomplished it, when he has flagellated himself during the whole time the Psalter was sung twenty times over [78] .’ The same Author adds several circumstances which make the penances performed by the holy Man appear in a still more admirable light. He, in the first place, was so dextrous as to be able to use both his hands at once, and thus laid on twice the number of lashes others could do, who only used their right-hand. ”

“ It would be a grievous injustice to a good man if Damiani should only bear with us the character of an ardent zealot and not of a Christian poet. In this last guise he is at his best. Doubtless he often offends by his Mariolatry, but he will as often charm by the music of his verse. He may serve also as a convenient example of this worship of Mary, for in one of his prayers he has given us the pith and core of that peculiar devotion. ”

“ It seems to have been expected that brilliant minds would go on shining like those exhaustless lamps which are fabled to have been found in the tombs of the old magicians. If such was the case, with the intense intellect of Damiani he must have tapped some source of real spiritual power early in his course, for he burns brightly even now as we read his vivid truthfulness and peruse some of his lovely verses, out from which leap, nevertheless, tongues of flaming scorn for hypocrites and simonists. ”

“ It sees behind it that little stadium of mortal life, already traversed; it sees before it the range of endless aeons. That flown moment which it has lived it perceives to be an instant; it contemplates the infinite length of time to come." [45]
From Damiani's stricken thoughts upon the wickedness of the age, we may turn to the more personal disclosures of one who wrote himself Petrus peccator monachus. There is one tell-tale letter of confession to his brother Damianus, whom he loved and revered:
"To my lord Damianus, my best loved brother, Peter, sinner and monk, his servant and son. ”

“ But Damiani’s masterpiece was the discovery and education of Dominic, a priest, and the greatest master of the art of self-flagellation. Dominic wore a light iron cuirass, which he never put off except to chastise himself. His body and arms were confined by iron rings, his neck loaded with heavy chains, his clothes were scanty rags. His usual exercise was to recite the Psalter twice a day, while he flogged himself with both hands at the rate of a thousand lashes to ten psalms. These self-flagellations were said to serve as a satisfaction for the sins of other men. ”

“ The Hymn "De Gloriâ Paradisi," ascribed usually to Cardinal Peter Damiani, and printed in the Rome, Leyden, and Paris editions of his works, is unquestionably the noblest literary production of the century in which he lived. It is described in the title as being gathered out of the writings of Augustine of Hippo; from the "Liber Meditationum," no doubt, in which it is included, though under protest, by the Benedictine editors. Yet a much larger portion of its contents is found in the Cardinal's own prose works, "Institutio Monialis," cap. xvi. ”

“ In the mean time, Signor Catafago and myself were much amused by the exceeding apprehension of Signor Damiani, lest he should be poisoned. The governor generally dined with us: but Damiani would neither eat nor drink in our tent. He affected an air of mystery in every thing, and soberly advised her ladyship, if she wished to succeed, to sacrifice a cock of a particular colour, and at a particular hour of the day, to ensure success. Derwish Mustafa was too phlegmatic to be acted upon by any hopes or [164] fears. ”

“ Here speaks the hermit temper, by the mouth of a supreme exponent. If Hildebrand, who compelled all men to his purposes, kept Peter Damiani in the world, that ascetic soul did not cease to yearn for the hermit life. His skilful pen served it untiringly. Its temper, its merits, and its grounds, appear with unique clarity in the writings [Pg 369] of him who, sore against his will, was the Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia. [445]
“The solitary life is the school of celestial doctrine and the divine arts (artes divinae) ,” says Damiani, meaning every word. “For there God is the whole that is learned. ”

“ As wide apart as life will be the phases of its manifestations. The tears of Peter Damiani are not like the love of the God-man in St. Bernard; St. Francis’s love of Christ and love of man is again different and new; and the mystic thought-shot visions of a Hildegard of Bingen are as blue to crimson when compared with the sense-passion for the Bridegroom of a Mechthild of Magdeburg. ”

“ Such also is the celebrated "Pange lingua gloriosi prœlium certaminis" of Venantius Fortunatus, written in the sixth century, and other trochaic hymns earlier than the time of Damiani. But the truth is, that Latin verse composition in general, except when it forced itself to the adoption of Greek models, retained its own native rhythmical character, subject to no rule but that of accentual pronunciation. Such are the trochaics of the Latin dramatists, tragic and comic alike; as, for instance, the familiar line of Terence:—
"Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto;" ”

“ With this last sentence Damiani makes his transition to the emotional side of the Christian vita contemplativa. He will now pour himself out in a rhapsody of praise of tears, which purify and refresh the soul, and open it to the love of God.
“From the fire of divine love rises the grace of contrition (gratia compunctionis) , and again from the contrition of tears (ex compunctione lacrymarum) the ardour of celestial yearning is increased. The one hangs from the other, and each promotes the other ”

“ See also Damiani, in our Preface, p. 1.
Vv. 37–39. There is a great variety in the reading of the first of these lines. That of all the editions, except those of Leyden and Paris, scarcely gives any sense,—quid nescire nequeunt. By reading qui, and taking the three lines together, we elicit that "those who know Him who knoweth all things, and, therefore, are ignorant themselves of nothing, who read the secrets of each other's hearts, have the same will, and are perfectly unanimous always." Our disagreement is owing to our ignorance; if we knew more, there would be less difference of opinion ”

“ DAMIANI, PIETRO (c. 1007–1072) , one of the most celebrated ecclesiastics of the 11th century, was born at Ravenna, and after a youth spent in hardship and privation, gained some renown as a teacher. About 1035, however, he deserted his secular calling and entered the hermitage of Fonte Avellana, near Gubbio ”

“ Yea, salvation! If indeed this monk shall not have attained that, of a truth he would be of all men most miserable save for the quiet, thought-filled calm which is his inner and his veritable life. It is a calm not riven by the storms which drove the soul of Peter Damiani. God was not less to Guigo; but the temperaments of the two men differed. Not beyond or out of one's nature can one love or yearn, or even know the stress of storm. ”

“ The pilgrimage with a predetermined goal was not recognized by the books of penance; but, in 1059, Peter Damiani imposed a pilgrimage to Rome or Tours on the clerics of Milan, whom he had absolved (Acta medial. patrol. lat. 145, p. 98) .
As the system of indulgences developed, a new motive came to the fore which rapidly overshadowed all others: pilgrimages were now undertaken to some sacred spot, simply in order to obtain the indulgence which was vested in the respective church or chapel. ”

“ How can I imagine that I am alone, and without Damie? I am not alone—I belong to Damie, and he belongs to me. And for Damie it would be better if he had a fatherly hand to guide him—it would help him up. But why do you want anybody else, Amrei?—can you not take care of him yourself, if it be necessary? If he once starts out in that way, I can see that he'll be nothing but a servant all his life, a drudge for other people. And who knows how uncle's children will behave toward us? Because they're poor people themselves, they'll play the masters with us. ”

“ I have now come far enough to meet you on a common ground of fact; and I tell you that, to a mind not prejudiced by jealousy, all the reforms of the lazaretto, and even those which he most vigorously opposed, are properly the work of Damien. They are the evidence of his success; they are what his heroism provoked from the reluctant and the careless. Many were before him in the field; Mr. Meyer, for instance, of whose faithful work we hear too little: there have been many since; and some had more worldly wisdom, though none had more devotion, than our saint. ”

“ Both to break my promise, and to suffer me to see thee die,
Whom so dearly I love: this small request grant me,
I shall never ask thee more, my desire is but friendly.
Do me this honour, that fame may report triumphantly,
That Pithias for his friend Damon was contented to die.
Damon. That you were contented for me to die, fame cannot deny;
Yet fame shall never touch me with such a villainy,
To report that Damon did suffer his friend Pithias for him guiltless to die;
Therefore content thyself, the gods requite thy constant faith,
None but Damon’s blood can appease Dionysius’ wrath. ”

“ A pledge you did require, when Damon his suit did meve,
For which with heart and stretched hands most humble thanks I give:
And that you may not say but Damon hath a friend,
That loves him better than his own life, and will do to his end,
Take me, O mighty king: my life I pawn [75] for his:
Strike off my head, if Damon hap at his day to miss.
Dionysius. What art thou, that chargest me with my word so boldly here?
Pithias. I am Pithias, a Greek born, which hold Damon my friend full dear.
Dionysius. Too dear perhaps, to hazard thy life for him: what fondness [76] moveth thee? ”

“ Take it for what it is, rough private jottings of the worst sides of Damien’s character, collected from the lips of those who had laboured with and (in your own phrase) “knew the man”;—though I question whether Damien would have said that he knew you. Take it, and observe with wonder how well you were served by your gossips, how ill by your intelligence and sympathy; in how many points of fact we are at one, and how widely our appreciations 325 vary. ”

“ And there rises up before me all that was there foreshadowed, and I see visions of Damon and Pythias, of life-saving crews and Red Cross nurses, of martyrs and leaders of forlorn hopes, of Father Damien, and of the Christ himself, and of all the men of earth, mighty of stature, whose strength may trace back to the elemental loins of Lop-Ear and Big-Tooth and other dim denizens of the Younger World. ”

“ Damien has been too much depicted with a conventional halo and conventional features; so drawn by men who perhaps had not the eye to remark or the pen to express the individual; or who perhaps were only blinded and silenced by generous admiration, such as I partly envy for myself—such as you, if your soul were enlightened, would envy on your bended knees. It is the least defect of such a method of portraiture that it makes the path easy for the devil’s advocate, and leaves for the misuse of the slanderer a considerable field of truth. ”