MORE FUN QUOTES FROM ST. PETER DAMIAN: "THEY WILL WHRIL IN A TORRENT OF TAR AND SULFUR."

Damian to Pope Nicholas II in 1059:

“What worse thing can one do than to spare lustful bishops when he has the power to correct them?” 

He denounces the practice of covering up scandals among the clergy and warns the pontiff of divine punishment should he fail to carry out his duty in such matters: 

"Clearly, just as those who punish faults are worthy of blessing, so those who coddle sinners are subject to a curse, as the prophet says: 'Cursed be he that withholdeth his sword from blood.' (Jer. 49:10) Indeed, he who withholds his sword from blood is he who restrains himself from imposing the punishment of a proper sentence against evildoers. 'Those who fail to correct are themselves guilty of the act.'  If, therefore, Eli, only because of two sons whom he did not correct with a proper punishment, perished together with them and with such a great multitude of men, of what sentence do we think them to be worthy who preside in the palaces of the Church and in the seats of judgment, and who are silent in the face of the known offenses of depraved men?"

*Read about of Eli and his wicked sons: 1 Samuel 2:12-36

Damian to Cunibert, bishop of Turin (1064):

“Read, O father, the letter on the incontinence of the clergy that I sent to Pope Nicholas of pious memory, and whatever you might find written there on this topic, understand to be no less directed to you. Given that all of the holy Fathers, who established the canons by the Holy Spirit, without any dissent unanimously agree among themselves regarding the preservation of priestly chastity, what hope is there for those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit by fulfilling carnal enticements in their own flesh? Indeed, through the transience of momentary lust, they purchase the inextinguishable fire of eternal combustion. Now they soil themselves with the foulness of pleasure, later, turned over to vengeful flames, they will whirl in a torrent of tar and sulfur."

THE UNEXPLAINED DEATH OF POPE CLEMENT II

In his desperate attempt to get Pope Clement II to do something about the evil bishop of Pesaro, St. Peter Damian wrote:

"Therefore, most blessed lord, endeavor to raise up the justice that has been trampled and cast aside, thus apply the discipline of ecclesiastical vigor, so that the party of iniquity will be cast down from its place of arrogance, and the soul of the humble faithfully recover in anticipation of the good to come."

So what did Pope Clement II do? 

The Introduction to the Book of Gomorrah tells us that while trying to eliminate the practice of simony (one of the practices of the bishop of Pesaro), his pontificate was "cut short by his unexplained death while traveling through (you guessed it) the diocese of Pesaro."

(My note: Do not think that things are any less vicious today amongst the hierarchy. They may be far worse. And there is no St. Peter Damian in sight. BTW, for a brief history of that mad period in the Church known as "The Iron Papacy, a 94 year period in which there were 24 popes, seven of whom were assassinated or died under suspicious circumstances, a period which provided for the evils St. Peter Damian would later attempt to correct, read THE STRANGE TRIAL OF THE GOOD LOOKING POPE .

MORE THAN 1000 YEARS AGO....

Posted by Tim

More than 1000 years ago, St. Peter Damian wrote a letter to the then pope, Gregory VI, which is eerily like the letter we would, ourselves, write to Pope Francis at this very moment as he considers Apuron's fate:

"However, whether it might be reasonable for the world to expect these things of which we write, the Church of Pesaro will first give a clear indication of good hope. For unless the aforesaid church is taken away from the hand of that incestuous adulterer, perjurer and robber, all the hope of the restoration of the world that has been raised among the peoples will be completely drained. Indeed, all turn their eyes to this purpose, all raise their ears to this one voice. And if that bishop, implicated in so many crimes, is restored to the height of the episcopacy, the Apostolic See will be utterly unable to do any further good." (Book of Gomorrah - from the Introduction). 

That last sentence says it all.