Peter Chrysologus
400 CE–450 CE · Imola
Peter Chrysologus (c. 400–450) was Bishop of Ravenna and one of the most influential Latin preachers of the fifth century, renowned for homilies that were brief, vivid, and theologically precise. Born in Imola, he was baptized, educated, and ordained a deacon by the local bishop Cornelius; around 433 Pope Sixtus III appointed him to the see of Ravenna — passing over the locally-elected candidate, according to tradition guided by a vision — where he preached prolifically under the patronage of the empress-regent Galla Placidia. His surviving corpus of roughly 176 sermons expounds the mystery of the Incarnation, the Apostles' Creed, and Christian moral life in language accessible to ordinary congregants. He also wrote to Eutyches urging submission to the Bishop of Rome, positioning Ravenna within Western orthodoxy against Monophysitism. Declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XIII in 1729, he is styled "Chrysologus" (Golden-Worded), traditionally understood as a Western counterpart to John Chrysostom of Constantinople.
Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the map →
ImolaItaly
What they did here
Born in ancient Forum Cornelii (modern Imola); baptized, educated, and ordained deacon by the local bishop Cornelius.
About Imola
Imola, a city in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. Peter Chrysologus is traditionally associated with the area (Forum Cornelii) before becoming bishop of nearby Ravenna; the future Pius IX served as bishop of Imola before his election.
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Peter Chrysologus’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
In the same tradition
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Peter Chrysologus’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.