St. Peter Damian: His Teaching on the Spiritual Life

by Owen J. Blum

The reprint you hold is, to our knowledge, one of only two book-length studies in the English language on St. Peter Damian. The other is The Theology of Peter Damian, by Prof. Emer. Patricia Ranft (Catholic University of America Press, 2012). Rev. Owen J. Blum, O.F.M. (1912-1998), a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, was orphaned at age 7 by an influenza epidemic. Under the sponsorship of a Franciscan priest, he completed seminary studies, was ordained, and then joined the Quincy, Illinois Franciscans. Father Blum’s career as a historical scholar began at C.U.A. in 1941. It was thanks to Father Aloysius Ziegler that he became interested in St. Peter Damian and published the present work, his doctoral dissertation, in 1947. Apart from several years as a coeditor of the New Catholic Encyclopedia, Father Blum kept St. Peter Damian the object of his endeavors. He collaborated with Prof. Kurt Reindel on the latter’s German critical edition of Damian’s Letters. His own English edition of the Letters, published volume by volume by the C.U.A. Press and completed after his death, stands as a monument to his scholarship.

236 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2012

Reviews

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a time when the Church finds itself besieged by similar problems as in this saints day, it behooves the contemporary Catholic to rediscover an aspect of what authentic restoration will look like. This book does a good job outlining his life and his teachings rooted in his own life of deep prayer and active engagement in the world of his time. The research in this book is dense, with many footnotes to spare yet the reading is pretty well organized.