Peter Chrysologus

Born around 380 at Imola in Emilia, he was ordained deacon there and became bishop of Ravenna around 433, then capital of the Western Empire and seat of the court of Galla Placidia, whose support he secured. His byname comes from his sermons: one hundred and seventy-six survive, gathered in the eighth century by Archbishop Felix, nearly all very short, and he explains the choice himself — he would rather stop before attention slackened than lose it along the way. That brevity, rare in an age when sacred eloquence was measured in hours, is what kept his texts being copied for thirteen centuries. He comments on Scripture without display of learning, addresses craftsmen and soldiers, and defends the incarnation against currents that dilute it: it was to him that Eutyches wrote seeking support, and he who answered that the matter belonged to the see of Rome. He died at Imola around 450. Benedict XIII proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church in 1729.