Today is the feast day of Saint Peter Damien who died in 1072. He was a Doctor of the Church, a cardinal, and a great reformer of the clergy and monastic life. Moral corruption was rampant among the clergy in the eleventh century, many priests and bishops were living in concubinage, and simony was a common practice. Peter Damien joined a newly established order, the Camaldolese, founded by Saint Romuald. The founder’s intent was to reestablish the spirit of the desert fathers, a mixture of solitary hermitage and, on Sundays, a day of community prayer with a brotherly collation. Several popes supported the work of the strict monks, one even calling Peter Damien out from his solitude from time to time to labor in Rome as a cardinal. The pope himself, immersed in his own vices, was not exempted from the medicinal rebukes of this great reformer. In addition to his numerous writings on theology, church law, and morals, the Camaldolese doctor also wrote a biography of the founder of his order.
This sparked my interest. Here is a list of five other saints who wrote biographies of saints:
Saint Bonaventure wrote the Life of Saint Francis
Blessed Raymond of Capua wrote the Life of Saint Catherine of Siena
Saint John Bosco wrote the Life of Saint Dominic Savio
Saint Jerome wrote the Lives of Saint Paul the Hermit and Saint Paula
Saint Athanasius wrote the Life of Saint Anthony the Abbot
