The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church

Biographical Dictionary
Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085)
Consistory celebrated between February 11 and March 23, 1076 (IV)


(22) 1. DAMIANO, iuniore, O.S.B.Cam., Pietro (?-1091)

Birth. (No date or place found). Nephew of Cardinal Pietro Damiano, O.S.B.Cam. (1058), future saint. He is also listed as Damiano; as Damianus; and as Damianum only.

Education. Entered the Order of Saint Benedict (Benedictines), Congregation Camaldolese.

Priesthood. Ordained (no further information found). By August 1075, he was rector of the monastery of Fonte Avellana. He is mentioned as pater eremitarum in a document issued in Fano on February 11, 1076.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal deacon in a consistory celebrated between February 11 and March 23, 1076 (1); his deaconry is not known; it was certainly one of the seven palatine deaconries. On August 28, 1077, he was in S. Michele in Marturi. Between May 5, 1078 and April 4, 1080, he is attested as abbot (or provisor) of Fonte Avellana; on the latter date, he received a privilege from Pope Gregory VII for his monastery; he seems to have resigned that post in 1080 or 1081. In 1082, he asked Cardinal Bruno, bishop of Segni, for the formulation of a commentary on Isaiah; Cardinal Bruno, in the prologue to the commentary, described Cardinal Pietro as venerabilis abbas, et unus ex septem sacri palacii diaconibus. He was present at the deathbed of Bishop Anselmo of Lucca in March 1086; at that time he was also abbot of Nonantola. In the pontificate of Pope Urban II, he was a cardinal priest of an unknown title, and is attested as such until March 20, 1091.

Death. After March 20, 1091, (no place found). Buried (no information found).

Bibliography. Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1792, I, pt. 1, 198; Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 2 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1677, I, col. 895, no. XXXI; Cristofori, Francesco. Cronotasi dei cardinali di Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Tipografia de Propaganda Fide, 1888, p. 284; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIè siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1927. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1928, p. 145, no. 45; Hüls, Rudolf. Kardinäle, Klerus und Kirchen Roms: 1049-1130. 1 aufl. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1977. (Bibliothek des Deutschen Historischen Instituts in Rom: Bd. 48) A revision of the author's thesis, Gvttingen, 1975, p. 247 no 10; Klewitz, Hans-Walter. Reformpapsttum und Kardinalkolleg. Die Entstehung des Kardinalkollegiums. Studien über die Wiederherstellung der römischen Kirche in Süditalien durch das Reformpapsttum. Das Ende des Reformpapsttums. Darmstadt : H. Gentner, 1957, p. 76.

(1) This is according to Hüls, Kardinäle, Klerus und Kirchen Roms: 1049-1130, p. 247 no 10; the latter date is the first time in which he is mentioned as a cardinal in Fonte Avellana. Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIè siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1927, p. 145, no. 45, says that he was created cardinal by Pope Alexander II in a consistory celebrated ca. 1073. Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa, I, pt. 1, 198; and Chacón, Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm, I, col. 895, no. XXXI mention him among the cardinals created by Pope Urban II, without indicating the year of the promotion. Cristofori, Cronotasi dei cardinali di Santa Romana Chiesa, p. 284, says that he was created cardinal in 1088.

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