PetrusCHRYSOLOGUS.10. CHRYSOLOGUS. This ecclesiastic (a saint in the Romish
Calendar) is thought to have been born at Forum Cornelii (now Imola) in the northern part of
Italy, and was educated by Cornelius, a bishop, and perhaps (though Tillemont doubts it) of
that city. He received ordination as presbyter, or, as some think, as deacon only, from the
same prelate; and became archbishop of Ravenna, as Tillemont thinks, before A. D. 431, but according to Cave in A. D. 433, and died in
or before A. D. 451, in which year Pope Leo the Great wrote a letter to a Leo bishop of
Ravenna, who must have been a successor of Peter Chrysologus. The statement in
the life prefixed to the first edition of his
Homiliae, that he
lived till near the close of the century, must be inaccurate. Peter acquired his surname from
his eloquence.
Works
Peter's published writings consist of,
1.
Homiliae s.
SermonesIn Latin. Among these Homiliae, which amount in number to a hundred and seventy-six, some
are improperly attributed to Peter. Five of these Sermones were printed in the
Spicilegium of D'Achéry (vol. vii. p. 12, &c.) under the name of
Peter Damiani, an Italian ecclesiastic of much later date, to whom in D'Achéry's MS.
they were ascribed; but the error was discovered, and they were assigned by D'Achéry
in his
Index Generalis, to Chrysologus, their true author.
Editions
They were first published in 12mo. Paris, 1544, with this title Divi Petri
Chrysologi archiepiscopi Ravennatis, uiri eruditissimi atque sanctissimi, insigne et
pervetustum opus Homiliarum nunc primum in lucem editum : and have been
frequently reprinted.They appear in the seventh volume of the Lyon edition of the Bibliotheca
Patrum, fol. 1677.
2.
Ἐπιστολὴ Πέτρου ἐπισκόπου Π̓αξέννης
ἀντιγραφεῖσα πρὸς Εὐτυχῆ τὸν ἀρχιμανδρίτην (
*)Epistola Petri Ravennatisnatis Episcopi ad Eutychem Abbatem.)
This letter is a reply to one addressed by the heresiarch Eutyches to Peter, complaining
of the condemnation passed on him by Flavianus of Constantinople [EUTYCHES ;
FLAVIANUS, Ecclesiastics, No. 3].
Editions
This letter was published by Gerard Vossius in the original Greek with a Latin
version, at the end of the works of Gregory Thaumaturgus, 4to. Mayence, 1604.It is reprinted in the Concilia (vol. iv. col. 36, ed. Labbe; vol. ii.
col. 21, ed. Hardouin).
Further Information
Tillemont, *Me/moires, vol. xv. p. 184, &c.; Cave, Hist. Litt.. ad ann. 433, vol. i. p. 422; Oudin, De Scriptor. et
Scriptis Eccles. vol. i. col. 1250.