The Book of Gomorrah and St. Peter Damian's Struggle Against Ecclesiastical Corruption Quotes

“There is particularly bitter irony for the modern reader in Damian’s citation of traditional laws that rigorously punish child sex abusers, sending them to monastic prisons for the rest of their lives for a single offense. In the Book of Gomorrah we hear the voice of a prophet speaking to us over the span of centuries, reminding us of vital truths we have abandoned, and calling us to repentance.”
― Peter Damian, The Book of Gomorrah and St. Peter Damian's Struggle Against Ecclesiastical Corruption

“If anyone dares to condemn or assail our decree of apostolic sanction, he should know that he is in danger of losing his own grade of order. For he who does not attack a vice, but rather coddles it, is justly judged guilty of the death together with those who die by that vice.”
― Peter Damian, The Book of Gomorrah and St. Peter Damian's Struggle Against Ecclesiastical Corruption

“Only he [Christ] founded the Roman Church, and established it on the rock of the faith that was just then being born, who committed the rights of both terrestrial and celestial governance to the blessed holder of the keys of eternal life. Not, therefore, any earthly declaration, but that Word, by which heaven and earth were constructed, by which all of the elements were established, founded the Roman Church. It is certain that it acts by his privilege, and it is supported by his authority. There is no doubt that whoever deprives a church of its rights commits an injustice, but he who seeks to take away the privilege bestowed on the Roman Church that makes it the supreme head of all of the churches without a doubt falls into heresy, and while the first will be known as unjust, the second will be called a heretic.63”
― Peter Damian, The Book of Gomorrah and St. Peter Damian's Struggle Against Ecclesiastical Corruption

“Far may it be from my lord, that while a tyrant is restrained by fear after cutting down only two or three men, the sword of him who is the master of all Christian mercy should run riot for the slaughter of so many souls.”
― Peter Damian, The Book of Gomorrah and St. Peter Damian's Struggle Against Ecclesiastical Corruption

“I have placed the keys of the whole universal Church in your hands, and over that which I have redeemed by the spilling of my own blood, I placed you as my vicar.…
I, however, who have given you such and so many things, do not find law or justice in your balance, and I depart from your tribunals despised and unavenged.41”
― Peter Damian, The Book of Gomorrah and St. Peter Damian's Struggle Against Ecclesiastical Corruption