July 30 is the feast of St. Peter Chrysologus (c. 380-450), bishop of Ravenna and Doctor of the Church. Born at Imola, in the Roman Emilia, he was ordained deacon by Bishop Cornelius of Imola and was elected bishop of Ravenna in 433, after a vision of St. Apollinaris appeared to Pope Sixtus III and indicated him as the choice. He ruled the see for twenty years, in the period when Ravenna was the capital of the Western Empire.
Peter's Homilies — 176 of which survive — earned him the title Chrysologus, "golden word." He preached short, dense sermons on the Scriptures, the liturgy, and the creed, addressed to the imperial court and the people of Ravenna. He was a strong defender of the divinity of Christ and of the title Theotokos against the Nestorians, and his letters to Eutyches urged submission to the Council of Chalcedon.
Peter died at Imola around 450 and was buried in the church of Santa Maria in Custodia. His relics were translated to Ravenna in 1009, to the basilica that now bears his name, near the tomb of St. Apollinaris. He was proclaimed Doctor of the Church in 1729 by Pope Benedict XIII. From Imola, where he was born, to Ravenna, where he was bishop, the July 30 feast is the feast of the golden-worded doctor.
