February 21 St. Peter Damian

Patron Saint of Ravenna, Italy

St. Peter Damian was born into a large, but poor noble family in the 11th century. Orphaned at a young age, he was passed amongst his older siblings as free child labor until he landed on the doorstep of his brother Damian, a priest in Ravenna, Italy.     After joining the Dominicans, began a life of austere self deprivation. Taking to beating himself with a whip, he called for his fellow members of his monastery to do the same. Although when he became prior, he did institute the mid morning nap to give their wounds time to heal. A prolific writer, St. Peter Damian took on everything from masturbation to homosexuality to the evils of playing chess.  When not whipping himself, sleeping or writing scathing letters, he made wooden spoons.  As the daughter of a mother raised attending Dominican schools and parishes, I now understand (and appreciate) her beating us with wooden spoons and not leather whips.