Peter Chrysologus, Saint

PETER CHRYSOLOGUS, Saint. - Bishop of Ravenna from 425 to about 451. Doctor of the Church.

I. LIFE

Agnellus (Liber Pontif. Ecclesiae Ravennatis, col. 49, ed. Holder-Egger [MGH, Script. rer. Langobard., pp. 265-391], pp. 110-15; ed. A. Testi Raspone [RIS, II, 1], pp. 70-76, 138-54), around 830, weaves his biography, celebrating him as a writer and orator, recalls his building activity at Ravenna and at Classe, the prodigies that determined, though he was not a native of Ravenna, his election as bishop of Ravenna and his burial at Imola, resorting, as usual, to prodigies and confusing him with a Peter, a contemporary of Theodoric.

More reliable sources inform us that P. C. received the sacred Orders from a bishop Cornelius, who does not appear among the bishops of Ravenna (Serm., 165). The Serm., which seems to exclude that he was born at Imola. He was elected bishop of Ravenna after 425, under Valentinian III and Galla Placidia (Serm., 130). The Serm., 136, to Adelphus of Aquileia (426-440), is earlier than 431, as is 175, in which the elevation of Ravenna to ecclesiastical metropolis of Roman Emilia is celebrated. He was a friend of St. Germanus of Auxerre (d. 448, at Ravenna), and of the popes Sixtus III (d. 440) and Leo the Great (d. 461). To him, as archbishop of Ravenna, Theodoret of Cyrrhus (PG 93, 1309) and Eutyches in 449 appealed in 431, on the occasion of the great christological controversies; P. C. invited Eutyches to adhere to the decisions of the Pope (PL 52, 24). He died probably on July 31 between 451 (the Serm., 97 is later than the Council of Chalcedon) and 458, when Neon was already bishop. Agnellus recalls him for the first time as a saint with the title of Chrysologus; Benedict XIII in 1729 declared him a doctor of the Church. Feast on Dec. 4.

II. WORKS

Already codices of the 6th-7th centuries contain works of P. C., though without the author's name. In the 8th century the archbishop Felix (708-24) compiled a collection of them, certainly neither complete nor reliable, comprising the letter to Eutyches and 176 sermons, plus some words of introduction and conclusion; of this the oldest codex is Vat. Lat. 4952, of the 9th century, of Ravenna origin (A. Mercati, Codici latini Pico Grimani Pio [Studi e testi, 75], Rome 1938, p. 132 ff. [PL 52 on the Venetian edition of 1750]). A critical edition is lacking. For other works of P. C., cf. H. Jannel, Commentationes philologicae in Zenonem Veronensem, Gaudentium Briviensem, Petrum Chrysologum Ravennatem, Regensburg 1905-1906; F. Lanzoni, op. cit. in bibl.; 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, p. 156 f. An appendix of 7 sermons was added to the edition of 1750 with little success; another 9 were published by Liverani (Spicilegium Liberianum, Florence 1863, pp. 185-202), 9 more were likewise identified by De Bruyne in 1928 (Nouveaux sermons de st Pierre Chrysologue, in Journ. of theol. stud., 29 [1927-28], pp. 362-68) and 3 by Olivar in 1949 (Deux sermons restitués à st Pierre Chrysologue, in Rev. bénéd., 59 [1949], pp. 117-20; S. Pedro Crisólogo y la solemnidad in medio Pentecostei, in Ephem. Liturg., 63 [1949], pp. 398-99). Phrases of a Christological flavor were found by Cabrol in the prayers of the "Ravenna Rotulus" (Autour de la liturgie de Ravenne. St Pierre Chrysologue et le Rotulus, in Rev. bénéd., 23 [1906], 489-500) and by Lanzoni in the Benedictio fontis Romana (La Benedictio fontis e i sermoni di s. P. C., in Rass. gregor., 7 [1908], pp. 425-29). The sermons gathered in the Felician Collection are arranged not in chronological order but, for the most part, according to subject. Principal groups: serm. 1-14 and 37-43 on Lent; 15-21 on Mt. 8; 22-27 on Lk. 13; 32-36 on the miracles of Christ; 44-46 on the Psalms; 47-49 on Mt. 13; 56-62 on the Creed; 63-66 on Lazarus; 67-72 on the Pater; 73-84 on Easter; 86-92 on St. John the Baptist; 93-96 on the Magdalene; 96-99, 121-26 and 161-72 on parables; 108-20 on the Letters of St. Paul; 127-38 on feasts of saints; 140-60 on Advent and the Christmas season.

From the Sermons precious elements are derived concerning the whole Christian life of the mid-5th century at Ravenna, and in particular concerning the liturgical year and the order in which the Gospel pericopes were read there (G. Lucchesi, Nuove note agiografiche ravennati, Faenza 1943, pp. 109-11), the baptismal preparation of the catechumens, the Traditio and Redditio Symboli, the general conduct of the liturgical assembly and the Eucharistic anaphora. The exegesis of the scriptural pericopes is for the most part of a moral order: the few doctrinal sermons treat for the most part of the Incarnation. Not infrequently the rather emphatic style makes their interpretation obscure.

Chrysologus und seine Schriften, in Zeitschr. für Kath. Theol., 3 (1879), pp. 238-65; C. Weyman, Zu Petrus Chrysologus, in Philologus, 55 (1896), pp. 464-71; P. Lannoni, I Sermoni 1+2 e 130 di s. P. C., Pavia 1910-77; J. Peters, Petrus Chrysologus als Homilet, ein Beitrag zur Gesch. der Predigt im Abendland, Cologne 1918; G. Böhmer, Petrus Chrysologus, Erzbischof von Ravenna, als Prediger; ein Beitrag zur Gesch. der alchr. Predigt, Paderborn 1919; L. Baldisseri, S. P. Ch. arcto. di Raccum, Imola 1920; G. Bardy, s. v. in Pauly-Wissowa, XIX, coll. 1361-1373; E. Dekkers, Clavis Patrum latinarum, Steenbrugge 1951, p. 227 f.

Giovanni Lucchesi