**PETER CHRYSOLOGUS, Saint.** — Bishop of Ravenna from c. 425 to c. 451. Doctor of the Church.
I. LIFE
Agnellus (*Liber Pontif. Ecclesiae Ravenna*, col. 49, ed. Holder-Egger [MGH, *Script. rer. Langobard.*, pp. 265-391], pp. 310-15; ed. A. Testi Rasponi [RIS, II, 1], pp. 70-76, 138-54), writing c. 830, weaves his biography, celebrating him as a writer and orator, recalls his building activity in Ravenna and Classe, the miracles that determined his election as bishop of Ravenna despite not being from Ravenna, and his burial in Imola, usually recounting miracles and confusing him with a Peter, a contemporary of Theodoric.More reliable sources inform us that P. C. received Holy Orders from a Bishop Cornelius, who does not appear among the bishops of Ravenna (*Serm.*, 165). *Serm.*, 165 seems to exclude that he was born in Imola. He was elected bishop of Ravenna after 425, during the reign of Valentinian III and Galla Placidia (*Serm.*, 130). *Serm.*, 136, addressed to Ado of Aquileia (426-440), dates before 431, as does *Serm.* 175, which celebrates the elevation of Ravenna to the ecclesiastical metropolis of Roman Aemilia. He was a friend of St. Germanus of Auxerre (d. 448, in Ravenna), and of Popes Sixtus III (d. 440) and Leo the Great (d. 461). As archbishop of Ravenna, he was consulted in 431 by Theodoret of Cyrus (*PG* 93, 1309) and in 449 by Eutyches during the great Christological controversies; P. C. urged Eutyches to adhere to the decisions of the Pope (*PL* 52, 24). He probably died on July 31 between 451 (*Serm.*, 97 is after the Council of Chalcedon) and 458, when Bishop Neon was already in office. Agnellus first recalls him as a saint with the title Chrysologus; Benedict XIII declared him a Doctor of the Church in 1729. Feast day: July 4.
II. WORKS
Manuscripts from the 6th-7th centuries already contain works by P. C., though without the author’s name. In the 8th century, Archbishop Felix (708-24) compiled a collection, certainly neither complete nor reliable, including the letter to Eutyches and 176 sermons, plus some introductory and closing remarks; the oldest surviving manuscript is Vat. Lat. 4952, 9th century, of Ravenna origin (A. Mercati, *Codici latini Pico Grimani Pio* [Studi e testi, 75], Rome 1938, pp. 132 ff. [*PL* 52 based on the Venetian edition of 1750)). No critical edition exists. For other works by P. C., cf. H. Jannel, *Commentationes philologicae in Zenonem Veronensem, Gaudentium Brixiensem, Petrum Chrysologum Ravennatem*, Ratisbon 1905-1906; F. Lanzoni, op. cit. in bibliography; J. H. Baxter, *The homilies of st. Peter Chrysologus*, in *Jour. of theol. stud.*, 22 (1921), pp. 250-58; M. M. Wilkins, *Word-order in selected sermons of the fifth and sixth Centuries*, Washington 1940, pp. 156 ff. An appendix of 7 sermons was added to the 1750 edition with little success; Liverani published 9 more (*Spicilegium Liberianum*, Florence 1863, pp. 185-202), De Bruyne recognized 9 in 1928 (*Nouveaux sermons de st Pierre Chrysologue*, in *Journ. of theol. stud.*, 29 [1927-28], pp. 362-68), and Olivar 3 in 1949 (*Deux sermons restitués à st Pierre Chrysologue*, in *Rev. bénéd.*, 59 [1949], pp. 117-20; *S. Pedro Crisologo y la solemnidad in medio Pentecostes*, in *Ephem. Liturg.*, 63 [1949], pp. 398-99). Cabrol found Christological phrases in the orations of the “Ravenna Rotulus” (*Autour de la liturgie de Ravenne. St Pierre Chrysologue et le Rotulus*, in *Rev. bénéd.*, 23 [1906], 489-500) and Lanzoni in the *Benedicito fontis Romana* (*La Benedicito fontis e i sermoni s. P. C.*, in *Rass. gregor.*, 7 [1908], pp. 425-29). The sermons collected in the Felician collection are arranged not chronologically but, for the most part, by subject. Main groups: serm. 1-14 and 37-43 on Lent; 15-21 on Mt 8; 22-27 on Lk 13; 32-36 on Christ’s miracles; 44-46 on the Psalms; 47-49 on Mt 13; 56-62 on the Creed; 63-66 on Lazarus; 67-72 on the Pater Noster; 73-84 on Easter; 86-92 on St. John the Baptist; 93-96 on Mary Magdalene; 96-99, 121-26 and 161-72 on parables; 108-20 on the Letters of St. Paul; 127-38 on saints’ feasts; 140-60 on Advent and the Christmas season.The Sermons provide valuable insights into the entire Christian life of mid-5th-century Ravenna, particularly regarding the liturgical year and the order in which Gospel pericopes were read (G. Lucchesi, *Nuove note agiografiche ravennati*, Faenza 1943, pp. 109-11), the baptismal preparation of catechumens, the *Traditio* and *Redditio Symboli*, the general structure of the liturgical assembly, and the Eucharistic anaphora. The exegesis of scriptural pericopes is mostly moral in tone; the few doctrinal sermons mostly treat the Incarnation. All too often, the somewhat bombastic style obscures their interpretation.