⛪ Saint of the Day : February 4
⛪ Other Names :
• Hrabanus Maurus
• Maurus Magnentius Rabanus
• Reabanus Maurus
• Rhabanus Maurus
⛪ Born :
776 at Mainz, Germany
⛪ Died :
• 4 February 856 at Winkel, Germany of natural causes
• Buried in the monastery of Saint Alban at Mainz, Germany
• Relics were transferred to Halle, Germany by Archbishop Albrecht of Brandenburg
Abbot of Fulda, Archbishop of Mainz, celebrated theological and pedagogical writer of the ninth century, born at Mainz about 776 (784?); died at Winkel (Vinicellum) near Mainz on 4 February, 856. He took vows at an early age in the Benedictine monastery of Fulda, and was ordained deacon in 801. A year later he went to Tours to study theology and the liberal arts, under Alcuin. He endeared himself to his aged master, and received from him the surname of Maurus in memory of the favourite disciple of Saint Benedict. After a year of study he was recalled by his abbot, became teacher and, later, head-master of the monastic school of Fulda. His fame as teacher spread over Europe, and Fulda became the most celebrated seat of learning in the Frankish Empire. In 814 he was ordained priest. Unfortunately, Abbot Ratgar’s mania for building temporarily impeded the progress of the school, but under Abbot Eigil, Rabanus was once more able to devote himself entirely to his vocation of teaching and writing. In 822 Rabanus was elected abbot, and during his reign the monastery enjoyed its greatest prosperity. He completed the new buildings that had been begun by his predecessor; erected more than thirty churches and oratories; enriched the abbey church with artistic mosaics, tapestry, baldachina, reliquaries, and other costly ornaments; provided for the instruction of the laity by preaching and by increasing the number of priests in country towns; procured numerous books for the library, and in many other ways advanced the spiritual, intellectual and temporal welfare of Fulda and its dependencies. In the political disturbances of the times he sided with Louis the Pious against his rebellious sons, and after the emperor’s death he supported Lothair, the eldest son. When the latter was conquered by Louis the German, Rabanus fled from home in 840, probably to evade taking the oath of allegiance. In 841 he returned and resigned his abbacy early in 842, compelled, it is believed, by Louis. He retired to the neighbouring Petersberg, where he devoted himself entirely to prayer and literary labours. In 845 he was reconciled with the king and in 847 succeeded Otgar as Archbishop of Mainz. His consecration took place on 26 June. He held three provincial synods. The 31 canons enacted at the first, in the monastery of Saint Alban in October, 847, are chiefly on matters of ecclesiastical discipline. At the second synod, held in October, 848, in connection with a diet, the monk Gottschalk of Orbais and his doctrine on predestination were condemned. The third synod, held in 852 (851?), occupied itself with the rights and discipline of the Church. Rabanus was distinguished for his charity towards the poor. It is said in the “Annales Fuldenses” that, during the famine of 850, he daily fed more than 300 persons. Mabillon and the Bollandists style him “Blessed”, and his feast is celebrated in the dioceses of Fulda, Mainz, and Limburg on 4 February. He was buried in the monastery of Saint Alban at Mainz, but his relics were transferred to Halle by Archbishop Albrecht of Brandenburg. Rabanus was probably the most learned man of his age. In Scriptural and patristic knowledge he had no equal, and was thoroughly conversant with canon law and liturgy.
His literary activity extended over the entire field of sacred and profane learning as then understood. Still, he cannot be called a pioneer, either as an educator or a writer, for he followed in the beaten track of his learned predecessors. A complete edition of his numerous writings is still wanting. Most of them have been edited by Colvenerius (Cologne, 1627). This uncritical edition is reprinted with some additions in PL 107-112. His poems were edited by DΓΌmmler in “Mon. Germ. Poetae lat. aevi Carol.”, II, 154-244. He was a skillful versifier, but a mediocre poet. His epistles are printed in “Mon. Germ. Epist.”, V, 379 sq. Most of his works are exegetical. His commentaries, which include nearly all the books of the Old Testament, as well as the Gospel of Saint Matthew and the Pauline Epistles – a commentary on Saint John is probably spurious – are based chiefly on the exegetical writings of Saint Jerome, Saint Augustine, Saint Gregory the Great, Saint Isidore of Seville, Origen, Saint Ambrose, and Saint Bede. His chief pedagogical works are: “De universo”, a sort of encyclopedia in 22 books, based on the Etymologies of Isidore; “De computo”, a treatise on reckoning; “Excerptio de arte grammatica Prisciani”, a treatise on grammar, etc. Other important works are: “De ecclesiastics discipline”; sermons, treatises, a martyrology, and a penitential.
Hymns :
Rabanus composed a number of hymns, the most famous of which is the Veni Creator Spiritus. This is a hymn to the Holy Spirit often sung at Pentecost and at ordinations. It is known in English through many translations, including Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire; Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest; and Creator Spirit, by whose aid. Veni Creator Spiritus was used by Gustav Mahler as the first chorale of his eighth symphony.
Another of Rabanus' hymns, Christ, the fair glory of the holy angels (Christe, sanctorum decus Angelorum), sung for the commemoration of Saint Michael and All Angels, and to include the archangels Gabriel and Raphael, is found in English translation in The Hymnal 1982 (of the Episcopal Church), and was harmonized by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Works :
In Honorem Sanctae Crucis, 13th century, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence Rabanus' works, many of which remain unpublished, comprise commentaries on scripture (Genesis to Judges, Ruth, Kings, Chronicles, Judith, Esther, Canticles, Proverbs, Wisdom, Sirach, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Maccabees, Matthew, the Epistles of St Paul, including Hebrews); and various treatises relating to doctrinal and practical subjects, including more than one series of homilies. In De institutione clericorum he brought into prominence the views of Augustine and Gregory the Great as to the training which was requisite for a right discharge of the clerical function. One of his most popular and enduring works is a spectacular collection of poems centered on the cross, called De laudibus sanctae crucis, a set of highly sophisticated poems that present the cross (and, in the last poem, Rabanus himself kneeling before it) in word and image, even in numbers.
Among the others may be mentioned the De universo libri xxii., sive etymologiarum opus, a kind of dictionary or encyclopedia, heavily dependent upon Isidore of Seville's Etymologies, designed as a help towards the typological, historical and mystical interpretation of Scripture, the De sacris ordinibus, the De disciplina ecclesiastica and the Martyrologium. All of them are characterized by erudition (he knew even some Greek and Hebrew).
In the annals of German philology a special interest attaches to the Glossaria Latino-Theodisca. A commentary, Super Porphyrium, printed by Cousin in 1836 among the Ouvrages inΓ©dits d'AbΓ©lard, and assigned both by that editor and by Haurau to Hrabantis Maurus, is now generally believed to have been the work of a disciple.
In 2006 Germans marked the 1150th anniversary of his death, especially in Mainz and in Fulda. Highlights of the celebrations included the display of Codex Vaticanus Reginensis latinus 124, an extremely rare loan by the Vatican to Mainz of a spectacular manuscript containing De laudibus sanctae crucis. The anniversary also saw the publication of no fewer than three book-length studies of Maurus and his work.
Bibliography :
The first nominally complete edition of the works of Hrabanus Maurus was that of Georges Colvener (Cologne, 6 vols. fol., 1627). The Opera omnia form vols. cvii–cxii of Migne's Patrologiae cursus completus. The De universo is the subject of Compendium der Naturwissenschaften an der Schule zu Fulda im IX. Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1880).
Recent critical editions are available of some of his works:
De sermonum proprietate sive Opus de universo, edited by Priscilla Throop, 2. Vols. Charlotte, Ve : Medievals MS, cop. 2009.
Priscilla Throop, trans., Hrabanus Maurus: De Universo: the peculiar properties of words and their mystical significance, 2 vols. Charlotte, VT: MedievalMS, 2009.
Expositio in Matthaeum, edited by B. LΓΆfstedt, 2 vols. Corpus Christianorum, continuatio medievalis 174-174A. Turnhout: Brepols, 2000.
In honorem sanctae crucis, edited by M. Perrin, 2 vols. Corpus Christianorum, continuatio medievalis 100-100A. Turnhout: Brepols, 1997.
Martyrologium. Liber de computo, edited by J. McCulloh and W. Stevens, Corpus Christianorum, continuatio mediaevalis 44. Turnhout: Brepols, 1997.
Hrabanus Maurus: De institutione clericorum; Studien und Edition, Freiburger Beitraege zur mittelalterlichen Geschichte 7. Frankfurt am Main: 1996. (An edition (with German translation?) of the 'De Institutione Clericorum' is listed as 'in preparation' by Brepols.)
Publications on the occasion of the 1150th anniversary of his death:
Source : Revolvy, Catholic Encyclopedia
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