Pope Benedict XVI in English - Weekly General Audience
Dear Brothers and Sisters, In our catechesis on the Christian culture of the Middle
Ages, we now turn to Peter Lombard, an outstanding theologian of the twelfth century.
Peter taught at the celebrated school of Notre Dame, and died as Bishop of Paris.
His best-known work, the Sentences, is a collection in four books of patristic texts,
carefully selected and ordered for use in the teaching of theology. The Sentences
became the standard introduction to theology for centuries, influencing the thought
of scholars such as Saints Albert the Great, Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas. The
Church requires such organic presentations of the Catholic faith, in which each individual
article of faith reflects the unity of God’s revealed truth and the majesty of his
saving plan. Peter Lombard’s work thus served a need which, in our day, is also met
by the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Among the most enduring contributions of
the Sentences is Peter’s definition of a sacrament as an outward sign and cause of
grace, and his teaching on the sevenfold number of the sacraments. During this Year
for Priests, I encourage priests, as ministers of the sacraments, and all the faithful,
to grow in appreciation of the beauty and harmony of our faith, to cultivate the sacramental
life, and thus to grow in union with Christ and his Church. * * * I am pleased
to greet the pilgrimage groups from Ireland, Switzerland and the United States of
America, and I thank the choirs for their praise of God in song. Upon all the English-speaking
visitors present at today’s Audience, I invoke the joy and peace of Jesus Christ,
our Newborn Saviour!