St. Peter Chrysologus

Peter Chrysologus — the Golden-Worded, a title given him by the tradition for the quality of his preaching — was Archbishop of Ravenna from around 433 to his death around 450, and his significance rests almost entirely on the corpus of sermons that survive from his episcopate. His importance is primarily that of a preacher and theologian whose work illuminates both the pastoral concerns of a major western diocese in the mid-fifth century and the theological controversies that were then reshaping the Church's self-understanding.

Ravenna in the 430s and 440s was the effective capital of the Western Empire under Valentinian III, and the court of the Empress Galla Placidia was a centre of patronage and theological concern. Peter had the resources and the audience of an imperial capital, and his preaching addressed both the theological issues of the day — the Eutychian controversy over the natures of Christ was at its height during his episcopate — and the practical problems of a congregation still imperfectly Christianized. A letter from Eutyches himself appealing to Peter for support in the controversy received a response that is one of the most important documents in the Nestorian-Eutychian controversy: Peter referred Eutyches to the judgement of the pope, declining to adjudicate independently and affirming the Roman see's authority on questions of faith.

More than one hundred and seventy of his sermons survive, mostly on the liturgical texts of the Roman year and on the catechetical themes of Lent and Easter. Their characteristic concision — Peter preached briefly and to the point, evidently aware of the limits of a congregation's attention — their clarity of theological statement, and their warmth of pastoral application gave him the title Golden-Worded. He was declared Doctor of the Church by Benedict XIII in 1729.