Well, we are due to get pounded with snow today. I'm restless and not able to sleep tonight, so rather than knitting a pair of socks I'm blogging on Catholicism. The world can be strange at times.
Anyways, I wanted to write about doctors of the church. I share a birthday with the death day of a saint. <Hey, I wonder if that's where JK Rowling got her idea for the ghosts to celebrate death days instead of birth days .... hmmm> The reason this guy is a saint is because he is a doctor of the church. Not being a cradle Catholic, someone born and raised within the Catholic religion, I wasn't too sure of what a doctor of the church is.
I went over to New Advent's Catholic Encyclopedia to find out. A doctor of the church is a writer who has made a profound impact on the church through his or her writings. Though I'm not sure there is a female doctor of the church, I don't think being female negates the possibility of being a doctor of the church. Anyways, I digress. St. Augustine is a well known doctor of the church. And, just because you get named a doctor of the church doesn't mean your writings are error free, just that they have made a difference to the church.
The saint who's death day is my birthday, with about 900 years separating us, called for reform and renewal in the religious of the church. St. Peter Damian was against simony, the granting of spiritual for temporal gains. He wrote extensively calling for the end of simony and for legitimate popes when schisms occurred. This is a very short summary of his work, and doesn't really do him justice, but you can do a search for him in the encyclopedia if you want more information. You can also find his entry here.
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