Abbatiale
Saint-Pierre de Corbie intérieur, pierre tombale de Paschase Radbert https://pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/palissy/PM80000486
Saint Paschase Radbert
Abbé à Corbie,
bénédictin (+ 865)
Confesseur.
Enfant abandonné sous le
porche de la cathédrale de Soissons et recueilli par des religieuses, dont la
mère abbesse n'était autre qu'une cousine de l'empereur Charlemagne, il fugua
pour mener une vie dissolue, puis il revint pour entrer dans la célèbre abbaye
de Corbie où "il se nourrit de la philosophie, de la Sagesse chrétienne et
de l'Écriture Sainte" selon ses propres paroles. Il fut en effet un
personnage important pour son époque, cherchant à "éclaircir" le
mystère de la présence eucharistique de Jésus, ce qui le range parmi les grands
témoins de la foi de l'Église sur ce mystère. Professeur aux écoles
théologiques de Corbie, il leur donna un grand rayonnement et ses moines le
choisirent comme Abbé. Mais quelque temps après, ses collègues théologiens l'obligèrent
à partir et il se réfugia à l'abbaye de Saint-Riquier dans
la Somme. Ce qui ne le fâcha pas, car il put ainsi davantage se consacrer à ses
études. Les moines de Corbie finirent enfin par le rappeler. Il retourna dans
son monastère et y vécut le reste de ses jours dans la plus grande humilité.
Au monastère de Corbie,
au pays d’Amiens, en 865, saint Paschase Radbert, abbé, qui exposa de manière
lumineuse la réalité du Corps et du Sang du Seigneur dans le mystère
eucharistique.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1040/Saint-Paschase-Radbert.html
Saint Paschase Radbert
Français né dans le
Soissonais vers 790, Paschase entra au monastère de Corbie, sous Saint Adalard
et fut ordonné diacre. Il assuma longtemps les charges de maître des novices et
d'écolâtre, aussi bien à Corbie qu'à la Nouvelle Corbie (Corwey), où il avait
accompagné son abbé en 822. En 844, il fut élu abbé de Corbie mais, se trouvant
indigne, il abdiqua en 849. Auteur biblique prolifique, il est célèbre pour son
traité sur l'Eucharistie : Le corps et le sang du Seigneur.
Saint Paschase Radbert,
abbé de Corbie.
Paschase (prononcer
passe-kase) Radbert naquit dans la région de Soissons vers la fin du VIIIème siècle.
Orphelin d mère dès sa naissance, il fut receuilli par les religieuses de
l'abbaye de Soissons, et fit ses études à l'école des moines de Saint Pierre.
A l'âge de 22 ans, il
entra comme novice à l'abbaye de Corbie, près d'Amiens, et y fut rapidement
chargé de l'enseignement dans l'école de l'abbaye. En 844 il fut élu abbé de
cette abbaye. Il eut un grand rayonnement et fut mêlé aux questions politiques
du royaume de France, sous Louis le Débonnaire et Charles le Chauve.
Paschase se démit de ses
fonctions abbatiales au bout de 7 ans et se retira à l'abbaye de Saint Riquier.
Les dernières années de sa vie, il les consacra à rédiger des oeuvres
d'histoire et de théologie, qui l'ont placé au premier rang des écrivains de
son temps.
Il nous a laissé des
ouvrages aussi divers qu'un Traité sur l'Eucharistie, une Vie
d'Adalard, une Histoire des origines de Corbie, et un Commentaire de
l'Evangile de Saint Matthieu.
Paschase mourut à Corbie
le 26 avril 865.
SOURCE : http://www.abbayes.fr/histoire/saints/h_z/paschase.htm
Saint Paschase Radbert
Abbé et confesseur
Fête le 26 avril
Église de France
Soissons, Aisne, v. 786 –
† Corbie v. 865
Nommé abbé de Corbie près
d’Amiens, en 844, il démissionna et resta diacre. Il est l’auteur d’ouvrages
théologiques et historiques qui s’inscrivent dans la Renaissance carolingienne.
Des religieuses le
trouvèrent, nouveau-né, abandonné sur le parvis de Notre-Dame de Soissons. Les
moines de Saint-Pierre lui firent faire des études, puis le tonsurèrent, mais
trop tôt ou contre son gré. Après une première éclipse, il rentra au monastère
de Corbie, près d’Amiens, où il devint un éminent professeur. Nommé abbé, en
844, il resta diacre, voulant, par humilité, continuer de pouvoir balayer. A la
suite d’ennuis intérieurs au monastère, il arriva à Centule, près d’Abbeville,
devenu Saint-Riquier, où il continua d’écrire son traité de théologie sur
l’Eucharistie. Après une seconde interruption, il termina sa vie à Corbie. On
l’enterra selon son désir, au milieu des serviteurs de l’abbaye.
SOURCE : http://www.martyretsaint.com/paschase-radbert/
Saint Paschase Radbert
Une vie monastique
Paschase Radbert naquit
dans la région de Soissons vers 790. Il entra comme moine dans le monastère
bénédictin voisin de Corbie où il fut nommé abbé en 844 ; mais en 851, à cause
d'une polémique dans la communauté monastique, il démissionna et se retira
comme simple moine à S. Riquier. Plus tard il revint à Corbie, où il mourut en
865. Parmi ses oeuvres, celles qui offrent un contenu explicitement marial sont
: le Libellus de nativitate sanctae Mariae, le De partu Virginis ; la lettre
Cogitis me ; et trois homélies sur l'Assomption.
L'Incarnation, le Christ
épouse l'Église Le Christ est l'époux.
Il prend une chair
semblable à nous et désormais le Christ et l'Eglise ne font plus qu'une seule
chair, et ces noces s'accompliront parfaitement quand l'Eglise suivra le Christ
dans la résurrection et la vie éternelle. Cette pensée hérite de saint Augustin,
Sermon 192, pour le jour de Noël. Ce grand texte de Pasquase Radbert est donné
dans un article ci-dessous.
Le corps eucharistique de
Jésus, né de la Vierge
Marie Paschase Radbert
défend ouvertement l'identité entre le corps eucharistique de Jésus et son
corps physique, conçu dans le sein de la Vierge Mère, marquant ainsi une étape
importante dans l'histoire de la théologie eucharistique.
La vraie naissance de
Jésus, et l'enfantement virginal
Dans la première moitié
du IX° siècle, il semble qu'ait circulé dans certains milieux allemands une
forme de néo-docétisme qui, en rappelant précisément la vérité de
l'accouchement virginal de la Mère, niait au Fils une vraie nature humaine.
Paschase Radbert réagit et, dans le De partu Virginis il insiste sur la vraie
naissance de Jésus tandis que l'accouchement se produisit à ventre fermé de
manière miraculeuse et surnaturelle.
Les véritables vierges
pratiqueront l'humilité
Son sentiment de dévotion
mariale s'exprime avant tout dans l'admiration pour sa personne et dans le
besoin de louer Marie et l'auteur de sa grandeur et sainteté. Une preuve
tangible de dévotion est l'imitation de la Vierge sainte, surtout de son
humilité :
« Imitez la Mère du
Seigneur et obéissez aux pères ; humiliez-vous parmi les fleurs virginales,
parce que les dons et les engagements de la virginité viennent de la grâce de
Dieu.... » [1]
« Vous aussi o filles, si
vous voulez être de vraies vierges, pratiquez l'humilité et cherchez à imiter
avec un sentiment d'amour la Mère du Seigneur qui s'est définie comme servante.
» [2]
Parmi les autres vertus
de Marie que doivent être proposée à l'imitation des fidèles le Paschase
Radbert souligne l'esprit de prière et de méditation, les vertus théologales de
la foi, de l'amour et de l'espérance.
J'ai vu ma toute belle...
Paschase Radbert fait une
interprétation mariale du Cantique des Cantiques, par exemple :
« Celui qui est habitué à
contempler les secrets célestes, en observant avec un regard de grande
admiration la montée de la Vierge au ciel, s'exprime ainsi dans le Cantique des
Cantiques : "J'ai vu ma toute belle monter comme une colombe sur les flots
des eaux." (Ct 5, 12) » [3]
[1] Sermo I, PL 96, 245 C
[2] Cogitis me, 7, PL 30,
144 D
[3] Cogitis me 14, PL 30,
141 D - 142 B Marianum (Rome)
Bibliographie :
W. COLE, Theology in
Paschasius Radbertus' Liturgy-oriented Marian Works, in CongrZag III, 395-431;
L. GAMBERO, Maria
nel pensiero dei teologi latini medievali, ed San Paolo, 2000
L. GAMBERO, Testi
mariani del secondo milleno, vol III, Roma, 1996
H. PELTIER, Paschase
Radbert, abbé de Corbie : contribution à l'étude de la vie monastique et de la
pensée chrétienne aux temps carolingiens, Amiens 1938,190
A. RIVERA, La interpretación
mariana del Cantar de los Cantares en Pascasio Radberto, in EphMar 14
(1964), 113-117.
R. ROSINI, Il culto della
B. Vergine nella lettera "De Assumptione sanctae Mariae Virginis (Cogitis
me) dello pseudo-Girolamo, ibid., 433-459.
Gambero (Père Luigi
Gambero) –
Prêtre marianiste
italien, il est né à Robbio (PV) le 7 janvier 1930;
Il a passé la maîtrise en
littérature chrétienne ancienne à l'université de Turin.
Il a étudié la
philosophie et la théologie à l'université de Fribourg en Suisse, et à la «
Pontificia Università Lateranense » à Rome, où il a obtenu la « Licenza » en
théologie.
Il s'est spécialisé en
mariologie à la « Pontificia Facoltà Marianum » de Rome, où il a obtenu le
Doctorat en théologie en 1980.
Professeur de théologie
patristique et de mariologie patristique et médiévale au Marianum et l'I.M.R.I.
de Dayton (USA).
Membre de la P.A.M.I,
Pontificia Academia Mariana Internationalis (Vatican),
Membre de l'Association
Mariologique Interdisciplinaire Italienne
Membre du « Mariological
Society of Amérique » (Dayton, Ohio).
Le 9 octobre 2009, il
reçoit le prix René Laurentin « Pro ancilla Domini ».
Il est décédé en 2013.
Il a publié:
L'omelia sulla
Generazione di Cristo di Basilio di Cesarea. Il posto della Vergine Maria,
Marian Library Studies, a new series 13-14, University of Dayton, Dayton (Ohio)
1981-82, pp, 220.
Maria nel pensiero dei
Padri della Chiesa, Edizioni Paoline, Cinisello Balsamo 1991, pp. 496.
Edizione inglese: Mary
and the Fathers of the Church. The Blessed Virgin Mary in Patristic Tradition,
Ignatius Press, San Francisco (California) 1999 pp. 439.
Maria nel pensiero dei
teologi latini medievali, Edizioni San Paolo, Cinisello Balsamo 2000, pp. 443.
Testi Mariani del Primo
Millennio, a cura di Georges Gharib, Ermanno Toniolo, Luigi Gambero, Gerardo Di
Nola, 4 volumi, Città Nuova Editrice, Roma 1988-1991.
Testi Mariani del Secondo
Millennio, a cura di Luigi Gambero, vol. 3°, autori dei secoli XI-XII; vol. 4°,
autori dei secoli XIII-XV, Città Nuova Editrice, Roma 1996.
See more at: http://www.mariedenazareth.com/qui-est-marie/st-paschase-radbert-vers-790-865#sthash.6Sjlfid0.dpuf
SOURCE : http://www.mariedenazareth.com/auteur/gambero-pere-luigi-gambero
Abbatiale (Eglise St-Pierre). Corbie (Somme, France)
PASCHASE RADBERT saint
(790 env.-env. 865)
Moine, puis écolâtre de
Corbie, Paschase Radbert fonde Corvey (Germanie) en 822 ; abbé de Corbie
en 844, il part pour Saint-Riquier en 851, puis revient à Corbie comme simple
moine et y meurt. Il a été mêlé à la lutte des grandes abbayes pour échapper
aux scandales des familles du palais. Il a participé aussi aux combats menés
contre Gottschalk et ses hérésies prédestinationnistes (concile de Quierzy,
849) et fut envoyé par Raban Maur à Hincmar. Outre quelques Vies, on lui
doit un commentaire de saint Matthieu en douze livres échelonnés tout au long
de sa vie, où il met du sien au milieu des citations des Pères, un traité
sur La Maternité de la Vierge (De partu Virginis), où il défend que
le seul aspect miraculeux de la naissance du Christ est qu'elle ne rompt pas la
virginité de sa mère, un commentaire du Psaume XLIV (Eructavit) fait de
considérations sur la vie des moniales, plusieurs autres œuvres mariales, et
surtout deux importants traités eucharistiques : le Livre du corps et
du sang du Seigneur (Liber de corpore et sanguine Domini), écrit en 831,
repris et présenté à Charles le Chauve en 844, connu et discuté âprement à
partir de cette date, et la lettre à Frudegard sur le corps et le sang du
Seigneur, qui est une réponse aux objections faites à son livre. La polémique
entre Radbert et son frère en religion Ratramne de Corbie est fondamentale dans
l'histoire du dogme eucharistique ; contre le mysticisme de Ratramne pour
qui l'eucharistie nous donne une substance et une puissance divines, Radbert est
réaliste : il n'y a dans le pain et le vin consacrés que le corps et le
sang de Jésus, fils de Marie, mort sur la croix et ressuscité. Il considère que
le Christ eucharistique est le Jésus personnel. Ce mystère est une réalité (res, veritas)
qui s'exprime dans un symbole efficace, la consécration (sacramentum) ; il
y a mutation substantielle du pain et du vin en vue d'une présence spirituelle
du corps historique. Cette théologie, étape importante vers le dogme de la
transsubstantiation (doctrine élaborée au XIIe siècle et développée
jusqu'à la Contre-Réforme), est liée à l'idée de l'Église, corps
mystique du Christ, unie à celui-ci comme à son époux pour ne faire qu'une
seule chair dans la communion.
Jean-Pierre BORDIER
SOURCE : http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/paschase-radbert/
Saint Paschase Radbert
Paschase Radbert. C’est
le nom d’un moine du IXe siècle, originaire de Soissons. Il fut un des
premiers théologiens à dire que dans la messe, le pain et le vin se
transformaient réellement en Corps et Sang du Christ. Ce que l’on appellera par
la suite du nom technique de transsubstantiation. Avant que les évêques et
les théologiens, dans l’Eglise, reconnaissent pleinement cette manière de
parler de l’eucharistie, cette position sera critiquée ou réinterrogée tant
elle semblait par trop réaliste et trop matérialiste ! C’est une réflexion
qui a toujours eu cours.
Ceux qui vont à la messe
mobilisent en eux intelligence, confiance et sens du mystère. Dans la foi, ils
reconnaissent le Christ, Fils de Dieu, qui se rend présent sur l’autel, qui se
donne en nourriture et qui s’offre à leur adoration. C’est le Christ
qui vit pour nous ; le Christ qui nous fait revivre ; le Christ qui
vit en nous !
Quand je porte plus loin
la question de la « présence réelle », d’autres réflexions me
viennent.
• Avouez que l’hostie
consacrée, le saint Sacrement du Corps du Christ, cela semble dérisoire.
Précaire. Vous direz forcément cela, si vous n’avez pas la foi. Mais même si
vous l’avez, ne resterez-vous pas au moins un peu étonné que le Christ soit
reconnu dans un signe aussi fragile qu’un petit morceau de
pain ? Et pourtant, le Christ est bien venu à nous dans la
fragilité : né comme tout petit enfant, mort dans la souffrance. Mais
cette fragilité est sa force pour nous sauver.
• Le Saint Sacrement,
l’hostie consacrée, est là, visible à nos yeux, reçue en notre corps, bel et
bien présente. Visible aux yeux de chair. Reconnaissable aux regards du cœur.
Or le Christ est venu parmi les hommes, se tenant au milieu d’eux,
prenant tel et tel à l’écart, mangeant avec tels autres, pour rencontrer et
pour parler.
• Le Saint Sacrement,
l’hostie consacrée, remplit de sa présence ceux qui croient au Christ. Lui-même
avait choisi douze apôtres « pour qu’ils soient avec lui et pour les
envoyer prêcher » (Mc 3, 13). Il y a ici un acte missionnaire. C’est
un acte de générosité qui entoure l’accueil et la présence au Christ.
La fête du Saint
Sacrement nous dit : Christ est présent à votre vie. Christ est réellement
présent ! Ne nous dit-elle pas en même temps : imitez-le ! Vous
qui le recevez, soyez aussi réellement présent. Ne passez pas à côté de
l’essentiel. « Recevez ce que vous êtes, et devenez ce que vous
recevez », disait Saint Augustin pour parler de l’eucharistie.
• Assumez votre pauvreté
et vos fragilités.
• Tenez-vous au
milieu du monde, prenez votre place, sans fuir et sans désespérer.
• Soyez missionnaires.
Osez voir toujours ailleurs ; vers les autres aussi, portant généreusement
ce que vous êtes, vous qui vous laissez remplir de la présence du Christ.
Vous trouvez que cela
semble compliqué de parler de la présence réelle du Christ dans le
Saint Sacrement ? C’est vrai ; moi aussi ! Mais je crois que
lorsque nous aurons enfin reçu cette grâce d’être réellement présents aux
autres, à nous-même et à Dieu, c’est que nous aurons compris Celui à qui nous
le devons.
SOURCE : http://www.lejourduseigneur.com/Web-TV/Blog/Point-de-vue/Soyez-reellement-presents
« Seigneur, si tu le
veux, tu peux me purifier »
Le Seigneur guérit chaque
jour l’âme de tout homme qui l’implore, l’adore pieusement et proclame avec foi
ces paroles : « Seigneur, si tu le veux, tu peux me purifier »,
et cela quel que soit le nombre de ses fautes. « Car celui qui croit du
fond du cœur devient juste » (Rm 10,10). Il nous faut donc adresser à Dieu
nos demandes en toute confiance, sans mettre nullement en doute sa puissance…
C’est la raison pour laquelle le Seigneur répond aussitôt au lépreux qui le
supplie : « Je le veux ». Car, à peine le pécheur commence-t-il
à prier avec foi, que la main du Seigneur se met à soigner la lèpre de son âme…
Ce lépreux nous donne un
très bon conseil sur la façon de prier. Il ne met pas en doute la volonté du
Seigneur, comme s’il refusait de croire en sa bonté. Mais, conscient de la
gravité de ses fautes, il ne veut pas présumer de cette volonté. En disant que
le Seigneur, s’il le veut, peut le purifier, il affirme que ce pouvoir
appartient au Seigneur, en même temps qu’il affirme sa foi… Si la foi est
faible, elle doit d’abord être fortifiée. C’est alors seulement qu’elle
révélera toute sa puissance pour obtenir la guérison de l’âme et du corps.
L’apôtre Pierre parle
sans aucun doute de cette foi quand il dit : « Il a purifié leurs
cœurs par la foi » (Ac 15,9)… La foi pure, vécue dans l’amour, maintenue
par la persévérance, patiente dans l’attente, humble dans son affirmation,
ferme dans sa confiance, pleine de respect dans sa prière et de sagesse dans ce
qu’elle demande, est certaine d’entendre en toute circonstance cette parole du
Seigneur : « Je le veux ».
SAINT PASCHASE RADBERT (v. 849), moine bénédictin. Commentaire sur l’évangile de Matthieu, 5, 8; CCM 56 A, 475-476 (trad. Delhougne, Les Pères commentent, p. 243)
SOURCE : http://www.associationdemarie.org/blog/?tag=st-paschase-radbert
Apprendre avant
d’enseigner
« Qui s’élèvera sera
abaissé, qui s’abaissera sera élevé » (Mt 23, 12). En vérité, ceux
qui sollicitent les honneurs et les réclament pour eux-mêmes sont ceux qui
s’élèvent. Et ceux qui se réjouissent d’apporter leur aide et de servir sont
ceux qui s’abaissent pour que le Seigneur les élève. Il faut remarquer que le
Christ n’a pas parlé de celui que le Seigneur élève, mais qu’il a
dit : « Qui s’élèvera sera abaissé », de toute évidence par
le Seigneur. Il n’a pas parlé non plus de celui que le Seigneur abaisse, mais
il a dit : « Qui s’abaissera volontairement sera élevé », en
retour, par le Seigneur.
Ainsi, à peine le Christ
s’est-il réservé tout particulièrement le titre de maître qu’il invoque la
règle de sagesse en vertu de laquelle « celui qui veut devenir grand
doit être le serviteur » de tous. Cette règle, il l’avait exprimée en
termes différents : « Apprenez de moi que je suis doux et humble
de cœur » (Mt 11, 29).
Dès lors, quiconque veut
être son disciple ne doit pas tarder à apprendre la sagesse dont le Christ
affirme qu’il fait lui-même profession, car « [tout] disciple
accompli sera comme son maître » (Lc 6, 40). Au contraire, celui qui
aura refusé d’apprendre la sagesse enseignée par le Maître, loin de devenir un
maître, ne sera même pas un disciple.
St Paschase Radbert
Paschase Radbert († 865),
abbé de Corbie, en Picardie, démissionna de sa charge au bout de sept ans et
refusa toujours de devenir prêtre. / Commentaire sur l’Évangile de
Matthieu, 10, 23, trad. dir. par H. Delhougne, Les Pères de l’Église
commentent l’Évangile, Brepols, Turnhout, 1991, n° 71.
SOURCE : https://fr.aleteia.org/daily-prayer/mercredi-16-mars/meditation-de-ce-jour-1/
« Plus blanche que neige
pure », par Paschase Radbert
05.12.2007
Par Yves
« Le mérite et la
grandeur de la Bienheureuse et Glorieuse Marie toujours vierge, l’ange les proclame de la part de
Dieu quand il dit : « Salut, pleine de grâce, le
Seigneur est avec toi, tu es bénie entre les femmes ». Il convient
que la Vierge soit assurée de pareils dons : elle doit être pleine de
grâce, elle qui donne la gloire au ciel, le Seigneur à la terre, et qui apporte
la paix, la foi aux nations, un terme aux vices, une règle à la vie, une
discipline pour les mœurs. Pleine de grâce en effet, car aux autres la grâce
n’est donnée qu’avec mesure tandis qu’en Marie la plénitude de la grâce se
répand d’emblée tout entière. Vraiment pleine, car si l’on croit qu’il y eut
grâce chez les saints patriarches et les prophètes, elle n’est pourtant pas
pleine à ce point. Mais en Marie survient, quoique d’une manière différente, la
plénitude de toute la grâce qui est dans le Christ. C’est pourquoi l’ange
dit : « Tu es bénie entre les femmes », c’est-à-dire
bénie plus que toutes les femmes. Ainsi toute la malédiction répandue par Ève,
la bénédiction de Marie l’enlève entièrement. C’est d’elle que Salomon parle
comme à sa louange dans le Cantique : « Viens, ma colombe,
dit-il, ma toute belle, viens. Voici que l’hiver est passé. Les pluies sont
finies, elles s’en sont allées » (Cantique des cantiques 2, 10). Et
ensuite il ajoute : « Viens du Liban, viens, tu seras couronnée ». Ce n’est donc pas sans
raison que Marie est invitée à venir du Liban; car « Liban » signifie
blancheur éclatante. Elle est en effet éclatante de mérites et de vertus sans
nombre, plus blanche que neige pure, grâce aux dons du Saint-Esprit montrant toujours la
simplicité de la colombe; car ce qui s’accomplit en elle est toute pureté et
simplicité, toute vérité et grâce, toute miséricorde et justice, cette justice
qui des cieux se penche. Marie est donc immaculée puisque rien ne la
souille. Car elle a entouré un homme dans son sein, comme le saint
prophète Jérémie l’atteste, ce n’est pas d’ailleurs qu’elle l’a reçu. « Le
Seigneur, dit-il crée du nouveau sur la terre. La femme entoure un homme »
(Jérémie 31, 22). Du nouveau, c’est bien vrai; nouveauté des vertus qui
surpasse toute nouveauté : Dieu (que le monde ne peut porter et que personne
ne peut voir sans mourir) a fait son entrée comme en sa demeure dans un sein
dont il ignore les limitations corporelles, il y a été porté et toute Sa
Divinité s’y trouvait il en est sorti « la porte complètement
close », selon la prophétie d’Ézéchiel (cf. 44, 2). Aussi est-ce de
Marie que le Cantique chante encore : « Jardin bien clos, source
scellée. Tes effluves, un paradis ! » (4, 12). C’est un vrai
jardin de délices dans lequel sont plantées toutes les espèces de fleurs et où
s’exhalent tous les parfums des vertus. Il est si bien fermé qu’on ne peut le violer ou s’y introduire par ruse.
C’est donc la source scellée du sceau de toute la Trinité ».
Sermon de Paschase
Radbert, Lettres, 9, 5 et 9: PL 30, 127
SOURCE : https://notredamedesneiges.over-blog.com/article-14390195.html
Abbatiale
Saint-Pierre de Corbie, intérieur, statue de Paschase Radbert
Statue
of Paschase Radbert, Abbey of Saint Peter, Corbie
Abbatiale
Saint-Pierre de Corbie, intérieur, statue de Paschase Radbert
Statue
of Paschase Radbert, Abbey of Saint Peter, Corbie
Also
known as
Radbertus
Paschasius Radbert
Profile
A foundling whose
background is completely unknown. Raised by monks after
being found by nuns on
the steps of Notre Dame of Soissons. Unruly in his youth, even with the brothers. Benedictine monk under Saint Adalard
of Corbie. Deacon. Teacher.
Moved to Corbie
Abbey in 822,
and helped make its school at
one of the most famous places of learning in its day. Spiritual teacher
of Saint Ansgar.
Paschasius travelled Europe,
speaking at councils, negotiating political and religious conflicts.
Against his will he was
elected abbot of
the Corbie in 844.
During undescribed trouble in the monastery in 851,
he resigned his position to settle the dispute. He retired as a hermit to
the Saint Riquiet monastery in
Cenula where he spent the rest of his life writing on
history, philosophy,
and theology.
His The Body and Blood of Christ started
the first controversy on the Eucharist, and cleared the way for a precise
understanding of Transubstantiation.
Born
c.860 of
natural causes
buried in
the church of Saint John at Corbie
Abbey
relics re-interred
at Saint Peter’s church at Corbie on 12 July 1073
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Catholic
Encyclopedia, by J Pohle
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
Saints
and Their Attributes, by Helen Roeder
other
sites in english
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Paschasius
Radbertus“. CatholicSaints.Info. 26 April 2024. Web. 1 April 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-paschasius-radbertus/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-paschasius-radbertus/
Book of Saints –
Paschasius Radbert
Article
(Saint)
(April
26) (9th
century) A learned French monk, Abbot of
the great monastery of
New Corbie in Saxony. He was conspicuous for his zeal and piety; but he is best
known by the works he has left establishing the Catholic Doctrine
of the Holy Eucharist. We have also a Commentary on the Gospels and other
useful Treatises from his pen. He died about
A.D. 865,
his last wish being that no one should write his
life. This humble desire was unfortunately attended to by his contemporaries.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Paschasius Radbert”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
7 August 2016. Web. 1 April 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-paschasius-radbert/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-paschasius-radbert/
New
Catholic Dictionary – Saint Paschasius Radbertus
Article
Confessor, Benedictine theologian;
born Soissons, France, 786; died Corbie, France, c.860. He was a monk at Corbie
under Saint Adalard, whom he assisted in founding the monastery at Corbie, 822.
He was elected abbot, 844, but resigned, 851, to devote himself to study. His
most important work, “The Body and Blood of Christ”
started the first controversy on the Eucharist; it was vindicated by Gerbert,
and afterwards by Pope Sylvester II, and cleared the way for a precise
understanding of Transubstantiation. Relics in Saint Peter’s, at Corbie. Feast, 26
April.
MLA
Citation
“Saint Paschasius
Radbertus”. New Catholic Dictionary. CatholicSaints.Info.
7 August 2016. Web. 1 April 2026. <https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-paschasius-radbertus/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-paschasius-radbertus/
St. Paschasius Radbertus
Feastday: April 26
Birth: 785
Death: 865
Benedictine theologian
and abbot. Paschasius was left as an infant upon the door of Notre Dame convent in
Soissons, France, and was raised by the nuns there
before receiving an education from
the monks of St. Peter’s, Soissons. After entering the Benedictine monastery of
Corbie under St. Adalard, he was ordained a deacon. In 822, he was sent with
other monks under Adalard to establish the monastery of New Corbie in
Westphalia, Germany. He served for a number of years as master of novices and
headmaster at both Corbie and New Corbie and in 844 was made abbot of
Corbie. Never ordained a priest and
finding the office against his nature, Paschasius resigned about 849. He went
to the abbey of
Saint Riquier, but returned to Corbie where he eventually died. A prolific
writer, he was the author of several biblical commentaries, a Life of Abbot Adalhard,
and the well known De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, the first ever treatise on
the Eucharist. He was also probably the author of epistle IX of Pseudo Jerome,
which is an important document in the development of the doctrine of the
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5235
Paschasius Radbertus, OSB
Abbot (AC)
Died April 26, 860. Radbertus was a monk who thought about the future, about
eternity, to be sure, and equally about the time that would follow his death.
He dictated a last will and testament that is considered precious. He had no
possessions to bequeath. Instead, he requested only that no one write the story
of his life. He asked to be forgotten, which makes him an original in a Church
that forgets nothing. Radbertus simply asks for prayers to God.
Radbertus, who allowed himself to be called Paschasius, was probably born in
Soissons, France, without a known father or mother. He was found one day on the
doorstep of Notre Dame Convent in Soissons. He was a little baby who was
waiting for someone to take him in. Thus, he was raised by the good sisters,
educated by the monks at nearby Saint Peter's, received the Benedictine habit
at an early age, and was ordained a deacon.
But he, thinking that the community was exaggerating the nature of the world,
left the monastery to live his own life. He tried an easy lifestyle and was
very uncomfortable with it, so, when he was about 22, he returned to the
monastery of Corbie and began to pray, read, and write.
The abbot of the monastery was named Adebard (Adalard), the brother of
Theodrade, the abbess who had given a home to the abandoned infant. Both of
them were first cousins to Charlemagne and belonged to the fashionable world.
Being educated--Radbertus knew Greek and Hebrew--he was involved in the
Carolingian Renaissance. He was sent to Saxony on his first assignment, where
Charlemagne spent 30 years trying to subdue the people. Charlemagne had
organized 18 expeditions and beheaded 4,500 hostages in order to baptize the
rest by force and in order to issue edicts, for example, mandating observance
of fasts under pain of death. During this period, Radbertus and Adalard founded
monasteries in Saxony.
After Charlemagne it was the turn of Louis the Pious to have recourse to
Radbertus: it wasn't easy to get along with a man like Louis. He was big,
strong, and trembled like a leaf; he was lost in pater nosters, and on the
lookout for cosmic events. Louis had hesitated to become a monk and to the
detriment of his country, he did not follow his vocation. It was a difficult
assignment to engage in missionary and political activities with a man of this
kind, in perpetual conflict with his children who several times amused
themselves by degrading him in public. It required an uncommon dose of common
sense to attempt to calm down all these people.
Radbertus did not grow vain over his successes; although a simple deacon, in
822, he was sent to help found New Corbie in Westphalia. Radbertus considered
himself as dishwater, scrapings, or as the scum of monastic life: it is the
translation of the word "Peripsema" which he used, the same word used
by Paul in his splendid tirade addressed to the pride of the Corinthians.
Radbertus preached to the monks on Sundays and holidays, and gave public
lectures daily on the sacred sciences. Under his direction the schools of
Corbie became famous. Among his scholars were Blessed Adalard the Younger, and
Saints Anscharius, Hildemar, and Odo, who were successively bishop of Beauvais.
His busy schedule never prevented him from assisting at the public office in
the choir, and all other general observances of the rule.
Humble though he was, Radbertus helped make the Corbie schools famous while he
served there as master of novices. He then accepted the uncomfortable position
as abbot in 844. The distractions of this station made him earnestly endeavor
to resign, but he could not do so until seven years later, in 851. Being freed
from administrative tasks, he retired to the abbey of Saint- Riquier to finish
some of his works; but after some time he returned to Corbie to die.
When Radbertus was not busy pacifying the kings of France, he was engaged in
writing. He had finished a treatise on the real presence of Christ in the
Eucharist (De Corpore et Sanguine Christe), which raised some questions about
15 years after its initial publication. Some took offense at certain
expressions, chiefly taken from the writings of Saint Ambrose, in which the
author so strongly affirmed the body of Christ present in the Eucharist to be
the same flesh which was born of the Virgin Mary and nailed to the cross that
they imagined Radbertus taught a heresy. They thought he meant that Christ in
the Eucharist is in the same mortal state in which he suffered, and that he
understood this sacred mystery in the carnal sense of the Capharnaits. In a
letter the Brother Frudegard at New Corbie, Radbert defended the manner in
which he had expressed himself and showed his orthodoxy. Radbertus left other
works dealing with the body and blood of Christ.
His principal work is a commentary on Saint Matthew's Gospel (12 volumes),
which was preached before it was read. In it he refutes the errors assumed by
Felix of Urgel, Claudius of Turin, Gotteschalk, and, especially, John Scotus
Erigena against mystery of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. He
also composed a treatise on the Virgin to defend her perpetual virginity, a
long exposition on Psalm 44, and another on the Lamentations of Jeremiah, in
order to practice crying over his own miseries. In general this last is a long,
rather overly detailed and boring work, but very well documented. He also wrote
biographies of two abbots of Corbie: Adalard and his brother Wala, who had been
Radbertus's friend and confidant.
In subscribing to the council of Paris, in 846, he took only his own name,
Radbert; but in the works which he composed after that time, he always prefixed
to it that of Paschasius. This he took according to the custom which then
prevailed among men of letters in France, for every one to adopt some Roman or
scriptural name. Thus, in his epitaph or panegyric on his second abbot, Wala,
he styles him Arsenius.
Radbertus was buried in Saint John's Chapel. His body was translated into the
great church, in 1073, by authority of the Pope Saint Gregory VII. From that
time he has been honored as a saint at Corbie, and in the Gallican and
Benedictine Martyrologies (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
In art, angels bring a monstrance to Paschasius Radbertus. There will be books
on a table (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0426.shtml
St. Paschasius Radbertus
Theologian,
b. at Soissons,
786; d. in the Monastery of Corbie, c. 860 (the date 865 is improbable). As a
child he was exposed, but was taken in and brought up by Benedictine Nuns
at Soissons.
He entered the Benedictine
Order at Corbie under
Abbot Adalard, and was for many years instructor of the young monks.
In 822 he accompanied abbot Adalard
into Saxony for
the purpose of founding the monastery of
New Corvey (Westphalia). He saw four abbots,
namely Adalard, Wala, Heddo, and Isaac pass to their reward and on the death
of abbot Isaac,
Paschasius was made Abbot of
Corbie, though only a deacon;
through humility he
refused to allow himself to be ordained priest.
On the occasion of a disagreement he resigned his office after about seven
years and was thus enabled to devote himself to study and literature.
He wrote a learned
commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew, "Commentarii in Matt. libri
XII"; an exposition of the 44th Psalm, "Expos in Ps. 44 libri
III" and a similar work on Lamentations, "Expos. In Lament. Libri
V"; and a life of Abbot Adalard (cf. Bolland., 2 Jan.). His biography of
the Abbot Wala is a work of greater usefulness as an historical source (cf.
Rodenburg, "Die Vita Walae als historische Quelle", Marburg, 1877).
He revised the "Passio Rufini et Valerii". His earliest work in dogmatic
theology was a treatise, "De fide, spe et caritate" (first
published in Pez, "Thesaur. Anecdot.", I, 2, Augsburg, 1721); he next
wrote two books "De Partu Virginis", in which he defended the
perpetual virginity of Mary,
the Mother of God.
The most important of his
works is: "De corpore et sanguine Domini", in Martene, "Vet.
scriptor. et monum. amplissima Collectio", t. IX, written in 831 for his
pupil Placidus Varinus, Abbot of
New Corvey, and for the monks of
that monastery,
revised by the author and sent in 844 to Emperor Charles the Bald. The emperor
commissioned the Benedictine Ratramnus
of Corbie to refute certain questionable assertions of Paschasius, and
when Rabanus
Maurus joined in the discussion (cf. Ep. Iii ad Egilem, P.L., CXIII,
1513) there occurred the first controversy on the Eucharist, which continued up
to the tenth century and even later, for both the followers of Berengarius
of Tours in the eleventh century and the Calvinists in
the sixteenth century vigorously assailed the work, because they thought that
they had found the real source of doctrinal innovations,
especially in regard to the Catholic dogma of Transubstantiation.
His primary object herein was to give in accordance with the doctrine of
the Fathers
of the Church (e.g. Ambrose,
Augustine, and Chrysostom),
the clearest and most comprehensible explanation of the Real
Presence. In carrying out his plan he made the mistake of emphasizing the
identity of the Eucharistic Body of Christ with His natural (historical) Body
in such exaggerated terms that the difference between the two modes of
existence was not sufficiently brought out.
In opposition to his
assertion that the Eucharistic Body of Christ is "non alia plane caro,
quam quae nata est de Maria et passa in cruce et resurrexit de sepulchro"
(loc. cit.), Ratramnus thought it necessary to
insist that the Body of Christ in the sacred Host — notwithstanding its
essential identity with the historical Body — is present by a spiritual mode of
existence and consequently as an "invisible substance", and hence
that our eyes cannot immediately perceive the Body of Christ in the form of
bread. It is difficult to admit that Paschasius really believed what is here
inferred: his narration, however, of certain Eucharistic miracles may
have given some foundation, for the suspicion that he inclined towards a
grossly carnal, Capharnaite-like apprehension of the nature of the Eucharist.
His opponents also reproached him with having, in direct contradiction to his
fundamental viewpoint, simultaneously introduced the notions of a figura and
a veritas, thus placing side by side without any reconciliation the
symbolic and the realistic conceptions of the Eucharist. The accusation seems
altogether unwarranted; for by figure he understood merely that which
appears outwardly to the senses, and by veritas, that which Faith teaches
us. At bottom his doctrine was
as orthodox as
that of his opponents. He defended himself with some skill against the attacks
of his critics, especially in his "Epistola ad Frudegardum". But a
more thorough vindication of St.
Paschasius was made by Gerbert, afterwards Pope Sylvester II (d.
1003), who, in a work bearing the same title "De corpore et sanguine
Domini", contended that the doctrine of St.
Paschasius was correct in every particular. The scientific advantage
which accrued to theology from
this first controversy on the Eucharist is by no means unimportant. For,
through the accurate distinction made between the Eucharistic Body of Christ
and its exterior sensible appearances, the way was cleared for a deeper
understanding of the Eucharistic species or accidents in distinction from, and
in opposition to, the invisible body of Christ hidden under them. Hence also
the difficult notion of Transubstantiation gained
much in clearness, distinctness, and precision.
St. Paschasius was first
buried in the Church of St. John at Corbie.
When numerous miracles took
place at his grave under Abbot Fulco, his remains were solemnly removed by
order of the pope,
12 July, 1073, and interred in
the Church of St. Peter, Corbie. His feast is
on 26 April.
Sources
The collected Opera
Paschasii were first published by SIRMOND (Paris, 1618); these were
republished with numerous additions in P.L., CXX. His letters are in
PERTZ, Mon. Ger. Hist.: Epist., VI, 132 sq.; his poems in
PERTZ, Poet. Lat., III, 38 sqq., 746 sq.; Das Epitaphium Arsenii (pseudonym
for WALA), ed. DUMMLER in Abhandlungen der Berliner Akademie (1900); Vita
Paschasii is given in MABILLON, Acta SS. O.S.B., IV (Lucca, 1735), 2,
122 sq.; and in PERTZ, Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script, XV, 452 sq.;
HAUSHERR, Der hl. Paschasius Radbertus (Mainz, 1862); SADEMANN, Der
theol. Lehrgehalt der Schriften des Paschasius (Marburg, 1877);
ERNST, Die Lehre des Paschasius Radbertus von der Eucharistic mit
besonderer Rucksicht der Stellung des Rabanus Maurus und des Ratramnus (Frieburg,
1896); CHOISY, Paschase Radbert (Geneva, 1889); NAGLE, Ratramnus
und die hl. Eucharistie, zugleich eine dogmatisch-historische Wurdigung des
ersten Abendmahlstreites (Vienna, 1903); SCHNITZER, Berengar von
Tours (Stuttgart, 1892), 127 sq.; BACH, Dogmengeschichte des
Mittelalters, I (Vienna, 1873); EBERT, Allgemeine Geschichte der Literatur
des Mittelalters, II (Leipzig, 1880), 230 sq.: GOTZ, Die heutige
Abendmahlsfrage in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwickelung (2nd ed., Leipzig,
1908).
Pohle, Joseph. "St.
Paschasius Radbertus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York:
Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 25 Apr. 2015
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11518a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Marcia L. Bellafiore.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin
Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11518a.htm
April 26
St. Paschasius Radbert,
Abbot and Confessor
RADBERT, pronounced
Rabert, was born in the territory of Soissons. The death of his mother having
left him an orphan in his infancy, the nuns of our Lady’s at Soissons, took
care of his education, which they committed to the monks of St. Peter’s, in the
same town. Having made some progress in his studies and in piety, he received
the clerical tonsure; but soon after returned into the world, and led some years
a secular life, till, powerfully touched by divine grace, he retired to the
monastery of Corbie, and made his monastic profession under St. Adalhard, the
founder and first abbot of that house. This state he looked upon as the school
of perfect virtue, and all its exercises as the means by which he was to attain
to it: he therefore dreaded the least sloth or remissness in any of the regular
observances of his vocation. By the fervour and exactitude with which he
acquitted himself of them, he made his whole life in every action and every
moment a continued holocaust to the divine glory and love. Having in his youth
made a considerable progress in his studies, particularly by reading Terence
and Cicero, in the monastery he applied himself, with wonderful success, to
sacred studies. St. Adalhard and Wala, his brother and successor in the abbacy,
made him their companion in their journeys, and their counsellor in all affairs
of importance. In 822, they took him with them into Saxony, when they finished
the establishment of Corwei, or New Corbie, there. The Emperor, Lewis
Debonnaire, employed him in several public affairs; and he discharged all these
commissions with honour. In his own monastery he preached to the monks on
Sundays and holidays, and gave every day public lectures on the sacred
sciences. Under his direction the schools of Corbie became very famous. Amongst
his scholars were Adalhard the Younger, (who governed the abbey in quality of
vicar during the absence of St. Adalhard the Elder,) St. Anscharius, Hildeman,
and Odo, successively bishops of Beauvais, and Warn, abbot of New Corbie, in
Saxony. These occupations and studies never seemed to him a sufficient reason
to exempt him from assisting at the public office in the choir, and all other
general observances of the rule. In subscribing the council of Paris, in 846,
he took only his own name, Radbert; but in the works which he composed after
that time, he always prefixed to it that of Paschasius. This he took according
to the custom which then prevailed among men of letters in France, for every
one to adopt some Roman or scriptural name. Thus in his epitaph or panegyric on
his abbot, Wala, he styles him Arsenius.
St. Adalhard died in 826,
and Wala, the second abbot, in 836. Isaac succeeded him, and upon his demise,
in 844, Radbert was chosen the fourth abbot. The distractions of this station
made him earnestly endeavour to resign his dignity: which however he could not
effect till seven years after, in 851. Being restored to his liberty, he
retired to the abbey of St. Riquier to finish some of his works; but after some
time he returned to Corbie. In all his writings he takes those of the fathers,
in which he was extremely well versed, for his guide. 1 His
long commentary on St. Matthew’s gospel, a learned and useful work, he began
before he was chosen abbot, as appears from his dedication of the four first
books to Gontland, a monk of St. Riquier’s; but in the latter he speaks of
himself as very old, so that Mabillon thinks he only finished his twelfth or
last book about the year 858. The errors of Felix of Urgel and Claudius of
Turin, those of Gothescalc, 2 whom
he had condemned with the prelates assembled at Quiercy, in 849, and especially
those of John Scotus Erigena, against the mystery of the real presence of the
body of Christ in the eucharist, 3 are
solidly confuted in this commentary. Radbert dedicated to Emma, abbess of our
Lady’s at Soissons, about the year 856, his prolix commentary on the
forty-fourth psalm. 4 To
stir himself up to compunction, he wrote an exposition of the Lamentations of
Jeremy, which he applies both to the two destructions of Jerusalem, by
Nabuchodonosor and Titus, and to the fall of a soul into sin. The mention he
here makes of the sacking of Paris, shows that he wrote this book after the
plunder of that city by the Normans, in 857. The most famous work of Radbert
was his book, On the Sacrament of the Altar, or On the Body and Blood of
Christ, which he dedicated to Warin, abbot of New Corbie; to which dignity he
was only raised in 826. He mentions in it the banishment of Arsenius, that is,
of the abbot Wala, which happened in 831, not of St. Adalhard, as some mistake,
who thence imagine that he first published this book in 818. Fifteen or twenty
years after this first edition, the author, when he was abbot, consequently
after the year 844, gave a second more ample than the former, and dedicated it
to King Charles the Bald, who had desired to see it. During this interval, no
one had raised any clamours about it. But some afterwards took offence at
certain expressions, chiefly taken from St. Ambrose, in which the author
affirmed the body of Christ present in the eucharist to be the same flesh which
was born of the Virgin Mary, and nailed to the cross, in terms so strong, that
these writers imagined he taught it to be in the eucharist in the same mortal
state in which he suffered, and that he understood this sacred mystery in the
carnal sense of the Capharnaits. 5 Radbert
defends the manner in which he had expressed himself, in a letter to Frudegard,
a monk of New Corbie. He wrote the life of St. Adalhard soon after his death:
also that of the abbot Wala, under the title of his epitaph, 6 and
the acts of the martyrs Rufinus and Valerius, who suffered in the territory of
Soissons. The foregoing works of St. Radbert were published in one volume by F.
Sirmond, in 1618, and in the Library of the Fathers. His treatise to defend the
perpetual virginity of Mary, in bringing forth the Son of God, was printed by
the care of D’Achery. 7 His
book On Faith, Hope, and Charity, was first published by Dom. Bernard Pez, 8 and
soon after much more correctly by Dom. Martenne, 9 who
in the same place has favoured us with a much more correct and complete edition
of Radbert’s book, On the Body and Blood of the Lord, than that of F. Sirmond,
with a collection of various readings compiled by Dom. Sabbatier.
St. Paschasius Radbert
has given us several remarkable instances of his modesty and humility, styling
himself frequently in his writings, The Outcast of the Monastic Order. 10 He
died at Corbie on the 26th of April, about the year 865. He was buried in St.
John’s chapel, but his body was translated into the great church, in 1073, by
the authority of the holy see, under the pontificate of Gregory VII., the
ceremony being performed by Wido, bishop of Amiens; 11 from
which time he is honoured at Corbie, and in the Gallican and Benedictin
Martyrologies among the saints. In his last sickness, he laid so strict an
injunction on all his disciples and brethren, forbidding any one to write his
life, that his humility has robbed us of the edification which such a history
would have afforded us. See his short life compiled by F. Sirmond, and prefixed
to his edition of this holy man’s works: also another collected from the
archives of Corbie, by Hugh Menard, in his notes on the Benedictin Martyrology:
also Ceillier, t. 19, p. 87, and Legipont, Hist. Liter. Bened. t. 3, p.
77.
Note 1. Radb. Comm.
in Matt. l. 1, præf. [back]
Note 2. Ib. l. 8, p.
746. [back]
Note 3. Ib. l. 11,
c. 26, p. 1093. [back]
Note 4. Ps. xliv.
Eructavit cor meum. [back]
Note 5. On the works
of Ratramnus, a monk of Corbie, on this subject, see Ceillier, t. 19, p. 137,
and on that which F. Cellot published anonymous, and is proved by Dom. Bern.
Pez, (t. 1, Anecd.) Ceillier, &c. to be the production of Gerbert,
archbishop of Rheims, afterward pope Sylvester II., see Ceillier. ib. p. 727,
also on Ratramnus, see Hist. Litér. de la France, t. 5, p. 334, 335, and on
that work of Gerbert, ib. t. 6, p. 587. [back]
Note 6. Published by
Mabillon, Act. Ben. t. 6, p. 139. [back]
Note 7. De Partu
Virginis, apud D’Achery, t. 12, Spicilegii, p. 1. [back]
Note 8. Anecdot. t.
1. [back]
Note 9. Ampl.
Collect. t. ult. seu 9. [back]
Note 10. Monachorum
Peripsema. [back]
Note 11. Hugo
Menard, ex Veteribus Monumentis Corbeiens, and Bened. XIV. Do Canoniz. l. 1, c.
8, n. 11, p. 65. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume IV: April. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/4/263.html
Saint Paschasius
Radbertus
Jun 10, 2021 /
Written by: Tonia
Long
FEAST APRIL 26
Theologian and abbot
(785-865)
Nothing is known of St.
Paschasius’ lineage, as he was an orphan found on the steps of the convent of
Notre-Dame de Soissons.
His childhood was quite
unique, being raised by the nuns there. The child became especially attached to
one nun in particular, the abbess, Theodrara. Theodrara’s brother, Adalard, was
a monk at Corbie; Paschasius admired him greatly as well. At a fairly young
age, he left the convent to serve as a monk under Abbot Adalard, at Corbie.
Paschasius focused on the
monastic life, spending his time studying, writing and teaching. After a brief
span of time (843-853) as abbot of the monastery, he resigned his title to
return to his studies. He left Corbie for the nearby monastery of
Saint-Riquier, where he lived for some years. No one knows why he initiated
this change of residence, but it is probable that it occurred over factional
disputes and misunderstandings between himself and the younger monks. He
returned to Corbie late in life, and resided in his old monastery until his
death in 865.
Paschasius' body was
first buried at the Church of St. John in Corbie. After numerous reported
miracles, the Pope ordered his remains to be removed, and interred in the
Church of St. Peter, Corbie.
Paschasius, Theologian
and Author
De Corpore et Sanguine
Domini; the first lengthy treatise on the sacrament of the Eucharist in
the Western world
The most well-known and
influential work of St. Paschasius, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini was written
between 831 and 833 and is an exposition on the nature of the Eucharist.
Originally written as an instructional manual for the monks under his care at
Corbie, Paschasius agrees with Ambrose in affirming that the Eucharist contains
the true, historical body of Jesus Christ. Paschasius based his writings in the
belief that God is truth itself, and therefore, His words and actions must be
true. Christ's proclamation at the Last Supper that the bread and wine were His
body and blood must be taken literally, since God is truth. This reasoning
alone proves that the transubstantiation of the bread and wine offered in the
Eucharist really occurs. Additionally, Paschasius wrote that only if the
Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Christ can a Christian know it is
salvific.
Paschasius believed that
the presence of the historical blood and body of Christ allows the partaker a
real union with Jesus in a direct, personal, and physical union by joining a
person's flesh with Christ's and Christ's flesh with his. To Paschasius, the
Eucharist's transformation into the flesh and blood of Christ is possible
because of the principle that God is truth; God is able to manipulate nature,
as he created it.
The book was given to
Charles the Bald, the Frankish king, as a present in 844, with the inclusion of
a special introduction. This simple gift became the impetus for a theological
argument now referred to as the Carolingian Eucharist Controversy. (Chazelle,
Celia. "Figure, Character, and the Glorified Body in the Carolingian Eucharistic
Controversy," Traditio; studies in ancient and medieval history, thought,
and religion 47 (1992): 1-36.)
Ultimately, however, the
king accepted Paschasius' assertion, and the substantial presence of Christ in
the Eucharist became the authoritative belief in the Roman Catholic faith.
Understanding of the
human body: Echoing Irenaeus
In opposition to other
Carolingian authors, Paschasius locates the Imago Dei (the "Image of
God") in the whole human being – body as well as soul. This view is in
alignment with that of the second-century Church Father Irenaeus. Irenaeus
believed that Jesus was the physical embodiment of God; the son is the image of
the father. As such, humans represent the image of God not only in soul, but in
flesh as well.
Unlike other theologians
of the time, Paschasius does not teach that in order to become holy one must
achieve a metaphysical detachment of the body and the soul. Instead, he
believes that the human condition can actually contribute positively to
achieving sanctification.
However, he did believe
in a form of mitigated dualism, in which the soul plays a larger part in the
process than the body. (Appleby, pg.15). Paschasius believes that life is an
opportunity to practice for death; however, the concept that the body is a
prison for the soul is practically non-existent in his work, and probably only
occurs due to pressure from his peers.
“The
Word became flesh” in Latin, inscribed at the base of the altar of the Basilica
of the Annunciation, in Nazareth, Israel.
Understanding of Christ's
body: Word made Flesh
Paschasius taught that there is a distinction between veritas (truth) and figura (appearance). Christ's descent from heaven to earth was a movement from truth to appearance, from the realm of perfection to the realm of imperfection. He explained that though this would imply that Jesus in flesh is therefore imperfect, Paschasius asserted that not every figure is false. At one and the same time Christ is simultaneously both truth and figure: His external, physical self is the figure of the truth, the physical manifestation of the truth that exists in the soul.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was subject to human needs: to eat, to sleep, and to be
in company with others. In addition to this, however, He also performed
miracles. These actions of Christ imply a duality in the concept of "Word
made flesh."
Miracles, until then only
performed by God, unburdened by physical form, were suddenly performed by a
physical human being. The relationship between Jesus' humanity and His divinity
is a mystery we term “incarnation,” explained by Paschasius as being analogous
to the relation of the written letters of words to their spoken counterparts.
Therefore, Jesus in
physical form is the visual representation, T-R-U-T-H, while His divinity is
the spoken sound of those written letters together as a word. (Appleby, David.
"Beautiful on the Cross, Beautiful in his Torments: The Place of the Body
in the Thought of Paschasius Radbertus," Traditio; studies in ancient and
medieval history, thought, and religion 60 (2005): 1-46.)
To this day we owe St.
Paschasius a deep debt of gratitude. Out of one orphaned child God produced an
instrument through which He could communicate to His Church the teachings on
the Eucharist, the human body and the mystery of incarnation –the Word made flesh.
Header Image: Modern-day
remnants of the convent of Notre-Dame de Soissons where St. Paschasius was left
as an infant. It was founded between 658 and 666, but the community was
dissolved and the building partially demolished during the French Revolution.
SOURCE : https://americaneedsfatima.org/articles/saint-paschasius-radbertus
§ 126. The Theory of Paschasius Radbertus.
Paschasius Radbertus
(from 800 to about 865), a learned, devout and superstitious monk, and
afterwards abbot of Corbie or Corvey in France704 is
the first who clearly taught the doctrine of transubstantiation as then
believed by many, and afterwards adopted by the Roman Catholic church. He wrote
a book “on the Body and Blood of the Lord,” composed for his disciple Placidus
of New Corbie in the year 831, and afterwards reedited it in a more popular
form, and dedicated it to the Emperor Charles the Bald, as a Christmas gift
(844). He did not employ the term transubstantiation, which came not into use
till two centuries later; but he taught the thing, namely, that “the substance
of bread and wine is effectually changed (efficaciter interius commutatur) into
the flesh and blood of Christ,” so that after the priestly consecration there
is “nothing else in the eucharist but the flesh and blood of Christ,” although
“the figure of bread and wine remain” to the senses of sight, touch, and taste.
The change is brought about by a miracle of the Holy Spirit, who created the
body of Christ in the womb of the Virgin without cohabitation, and who by the
same almighty power creates from day to day, wherever the mass is celebrated,
the same body and blood out of the substance of bread and wine. He emphasizes
the identity of the eucharistic body with the body which was born of the
Virgin, suffered on the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven; yet
on the other hand he represents the sacramental eating and drinking as a
spiritual process by faith.705 He
therefore combines the sensuous and spiritual conceptions.706 He
assumes that the soul of the believer communes with Christ, and that his body
receives an imperishable principle of life which culminates at last in the
resurrection. He thus understood, like several of the ancient fathers, the
words of our Saviour: “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath
eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54).
He supports his doctrine
by the words of institution in their literal sense, and by the sixth chapter of
John. He appealed also to marvellous stories of the visible appearances of the
body and blood of Christ for the removal of doubts or the satisfaction of the
pious desire of saints. The bread on the altar, he reports, was often seen in
the shape of a lamb or a little child, and when the priest stretched out his
hand to break the bread, an angel descended from heaven with a knife,
slaughtered the lamb or the child, and let his blood run into a cup!707
Such stories were readily
believed by the people, and helped to strengthen the doctrine of
transubstantiation; as the stories of the appearances of departed souls from
purgatory confirmed the belief in purgatory.
The book of Radbert
created a great sensation in the West, which was not yet prepared to accept the
doctrine of transubstantiation without a vigorous struggle. Radbert himself
admits that some of his contemporaries believed only in a spiritual communion
of the soul with Christ, and substituted the mere virtue of his body and blood
for the real body and blood, i.e., as he thinks, the figure for the verity, the
shadow for the substance.708
His opponents appealed
chiefly to St. Augustin, who made a distinction between the historical and the
eucharistic body of Christ, and between a false material and a true spiritual
fruition of his body and blood. In a letter to the monk Frudegard, who quoted
several passages of Augustin, Radbert tried to explain them in his sense. For no
divine of the Latin church dared openly to contradict the authority of the
great African teacher.
704
Corbie, Corvey, Corbeia (also called Corbeia aurea or vetus),
was a famous Benedictine Convent in the diocese of Amiens, founded by King
Clotar and his mother Rathilde in 664, in honor of Peter and Paul and the
Protomartyr Stephen. It boasted of many distinguished men, as St. Ansgarius
(the Apostle of the Danes), Radbert, Ratramnus, Druthmar. New Corbie (Nova
Corbeia) was a colony of the former, founded in 822, near Höxter on the Weser
in Germany, and became the centre for the christianization of the Saxons. Gallia
Christiana, X., Wiegand, Gesch. v. Corvey, Höxter, 1819; Klippel, Corvey,
in Herzog2III. 365-370.
705
He denies the grossly Capernaitic conception (”Christum vorari fas dentibus non
est“) and the conversion of the body and blood of Christ into our flesh and
blood. He confines the spiritual fruition to believers (”iste eucharistiae
cibus non nisi filiorum Dei est“). The unworthy communicants, whom he compares
to Judas, receive the sacramental “mystery” to their judgment, but not the
“virtue of the mystery” to their benefit. He seems not to have clearly seen
that his premises lead to the inevitable conclusion that all communicants alike
receive the same substance of the body and blood of Christ, though with
opposite effects. But Dr. Ebrard is certainly wrong when he claims Radbert
rather for the Augustinian view, and denies that he was the author of the
theory of transubstantiation. See his Dogma v. heil. Abendmahl I.
406, and his Christl. Kirchen- und Dogmengesch. II. 27 and 33.
706
See Steitz on Radbert, and also Reuter (I. 43), who says: ”Die
Radbertische Doctrin war das synkretistische Gebilde, in welchem die
spiritualistische Lehre Augustin’s mit der uralten Anschauung von der realen
Gegenwart des Leibes und dei Blutes Christi, aber in Analogie mit dem
religiösen Materialismus der Periode combinirt wurde; die gegnerische Theorie
der Protest gegen das Becht dieser Combination.“
707
See several such examples in ch. 14 (Opera, ed. Migne, col. 1316 sqq. ).
708
He clearly contrasts the two theories, probably with reference to Ratramnus, in
his comments on the words of institution, Matt. 26:26 (Expos. in Matt., ed. Migne,
col. 890 sq.): “Neque itaque dixit cum fregit et dedit eis panem, ’hoc est, vel
in hoc mysterio est virtus vel figura corporis mei,’ sed ait non ficte, ’Hoc est
corpus meum.’ Ubi Lucas addidit, ’Quod pro vobis tradetur,’ vel sicut alii
codices habent, ’datur.’ Sed et Joannes ex persona Domini, ’Panis,’ inquit,
’quem ego dabo caro mea est, non alia quam, pro mundi vita’ (Joan. VI.
52). Ac deinde, ’Qui manducat meam carnem, et bibit sanguinem meum, in me
manet et ego in illo’ (ver. 57). Unde miror quid velint uno quidam
dicere, non in re esse veritatem carnis Christi vel sanguinis; sed in
sacramento virtutem carnis et non carnem, virtutem sanguinis et non sanquinem;
figuram et non veritatem, umbram et non corpus, cum hic species accipit
veritatem et figuram, veterum hostiarum corpus. Unde veritas cum porrigeret
discipulis panem, ’Hoc est corpus meum,’ et non aliud quam, ’quod pro vobis
tradetur;’ et cum calicem, ’Hic est calix Novi Testamenti, qui pro multis
effundetur in remissionem peccatorum.’ Necdum itaque erat fusus, et tamen ipse
porrigetur in calice sanguis, qui fundendus erat. Erat quidem jam in calice,
qui adhuc tamen fundendus erat in pretium; et ideo ipse idemque sanguis jam
erat in calice. qui et in corpore sicut et corpus vel caro in pane. Erat autem
integer Christus et corpus Christi coram oculis omnium positum; necnon et
sanguis in corpore, sicut et adhuc hodie integerrimum est et manet, qui vere
dabatur eis ad comedendum, et ad bidendum, in remissionem peccatorum, quam in
Christo.”
SOURCE : https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc4.i.xi.xxi.html
St. Paschasius Radbertus
April 26
Radbertus began life as
an abandoned baby left on the doorsteps of a convent in Soissons, France, about
the year 785. When he was old enough, he was sent to the monks of St. Peter at
Soissons to be educated. He became engrossed in the Latin classics and apparently
spent some time perhaps teaching or traveling, before entering the Benedictine
monastery at Corbie.
After entering the
monastery he turned his attention to sacred studies. He became the confidant
and traveling companion of the abbot, Adalhard, whose biography he later wrote.
In 822 he was sent to aid in the foundation of a monastery at New Corbie, in
Westphalia. Here he was the instructor of the novices and his administrative
abilities and scholarly acumen made the Corbie Schools famous.
Radbertus took the name
of Paschasius because of the French tradition of adopting a Scriptural or
classical name. He had been ordained a deacon, but always refused ordination to
the priesthood because he felt himself unworthy of such an honor. In spite of
this he was elected abbot about the year 843. He found this a very difficult
position because of so much opposition to the necessary reforms he tried to
encourage. After about seven years he was able to resign and he retired to the
abbey of Saint-Riguier for a time.
Paschasius was a prolific
writer. He is best known for his treatise on the Eucharist entitled, "De
Corpore et Sanguine Christi." He also wrote Scripture commentaries on
Psalm 44, the Gospel of Matthew and the Book of Jeremias, as well as several
letters and poems. The exact date of his death is unknown, but he returned to
Corbie and it is believed he died about the year 860.
Paschasius is an obscure
and rather unexpected saint. He started life with absolutely nothing, abandoned
on a doorstep. He was an intelligent man and fortunately was given the
opportunity to become well educated. We don't know how he came to choose to
enter the Benedictine Abbey at Corbie, but he did choose to follow Christ. He
then went on to use his God given abilities to make God known through his
writings. He didn't do anything spectacular, but remained a humble man doing
the best he could with the talents God gave him to bring goodness to his world.
A task we are all called to.
© 1998 The Monastery of
Christ in the Desert
SOURCE : http://www.christdesert.org/cgi-bin/martyrology.dynamic.5.cgi?name=paschasius_radbertus
Saint Paschasius
Radbertus
Saint Paschasius
Radbertus was born in the region of Soissons and was raised in a women's
monastery there by Theodrada, sister of Adalard and Wala of Corbie and cousin
of Charlemagne. He entered as a monk in the nearby Benedictine monastery of
Corbie, assisted the founding of Corvey in Saxony in 822, and was ordained
deacon. He was elected abbot of Corbie in 844. An active church leader, St
Radbertus attended the councils of Paris (847) and Quierzy (849), where he
signed the condemnation of Gottschalk. Following a dispute in the abbey of
Corbie, he resigned the abbacy and moved to Saint Riguier (Centula) in 851, but
returned to Corbie before his death. Among his works, those that provide
explicitly Marian content are: Sanctae Mariae Libellus de Nativitate, De partu
Virginis; and three homilies on the Assumption. He is most famous today for De
corpore et sanguine Domini, the first Latin treatise on eucharistic theology.
The work was written (831) for the Saxon novices of Corvey and revised (844)
for Charles the Bald. The second edition is in direct response to his fellow
monk, Ratramnus, as is the defense of Mary's perpetual virginity in De partu
Virginis. The most popular work of Paschasius Radbertus in medieval France was
Cogitis me, a letter on the Assumption of the Virgin Mary written under the
name of Jerome. In other sermons on the Assumption and in his life of the
Virgin Mary, Radbertus shows the importance of the influence of apocryphal
literature, such as the Protevangelium of James, on the development of medical
Christian thought.
Taken from Paschasius
Radbertus, E. Ann Matter Editions, Turnhout, Brepols, 1969. - See more
at:
http://en.mariedenazareth.com/qui-est-marie/st-paschasius-radbertus-c-790-865#sthash.lDCT5U6q.dpuf
SOURCE : http://en.mariedenazareth.com/qui-est-marie/st-paschasius-radbertus-c-790-865
THE MARIAN PRAYER
OF SAINT PASCHASIUS RADBERTUS (A.D. 865)
Deign, O Immaculate
Virgin,
Mother most pure,
to accept the loving cry
of praise
which we send up to you
from the depths of our
hearts.
Though they can but add
little to your glory,
O Queen of Angels,
you do not despise, in
your love,
the praises of the humble
and the poor.
Cast down upon us a
glance of mercy,
O most glorious Queen;
graciously receive our
petitions.
Through your immaculate
purity of body and mind,
which rendered you so
pleasing to God,
inspire us with a love of
innocense and purity.
Teach us to guard
carefully the gifts of grace,
striving ever after
sanctity, so that,
being made like the image
of your beauty,
we may be worthy to
become the sharers
of your eternal happiness.
Amen.
SOURCE : http://www.catholicdoors.com/prayers/english/p00098.htm
Gravure
tirée du Calendarium annale benedictinum de Gilles Ranbeck
(Augsbourg, 1675)
San Pascasio Radberto Abate
di Corbie
Soissons (Francia), ca.
790 - Corbie (Francia), 26 aprile 860
«Figlio di nessuno»,
viene raccolto e cresciuto dalle monache di Soissons. Divenuto religioso e
abate di Corbie, ha lasciato numerose opere ascetiche e teologiche.
Martirologio Romano: Nel
monastero di Corbie sempre in Neustria, san Pascasio Radberto, abate, che
espose con lucidità e chiarezza la dottrina del vero Corpo e Sangue del Signore
nel mistero dell’Eucaristia.
E' un “figlio di nessuno”, abbandonato fin dalla nascita. Raccolto e allevato dalle monache benedettine di Soissons, studia poi nel monastero maschile della stessa città. Radberto è il suo nome tedesco di battesimo; più tardi egli prende anche quello romano di Pascasio, come è consuetudine fare al tempo suo tra i letterati. Riceve anche la tonsura, entrando così nel ceto ecclesiastico (senza gli Ordini, al momento), anche se per qualche tempo è famoso a Soissons piuttosto come viveur, tra brigate di gaudenti.
Ma a 22 anni, eccolo nel severo monastero benedettino di Corbie, presso Amiens, che ha per abate un futuro santo, Adalardo. Guidato da lui, Radberto riprende gli studi: il brillante letterato diviene anche maestro di teologia, commentatore della Scrittura e dei Padri della Chiesa. Accompagna Adalardo in Sassonia dove egli fonda un monastero “gemello” di Corbie. Poi, sempre a Corbie, diventa prima direttore degli studi e infine abate. I monaci lo eleggono sebbene non sia sacerdote; e per modestia non lo diventerà mai, fermandosi al diaconato. Ma è duro far l’abate a Corbie. Le contese dottrinali dividono i monaci. E questo è grave, ma anche naturale, fisiologico; e c’è vera passione tra le parti in contesa. Più gravi sono invece le inframmettenze del potere regio, che fa regali ai monasteri ma poi esige il tornaconto. Il re di Francia, Carlo il Calvo, vuole obbligare Radberto a riaccogliere nel monastero un suo cugino, già buttato fuori per indegnità. Radberto rifiuta e se ne va: via dalla carica, via da Corbie. È l’anno 851.
I monaci poi lo richiamano e lui torna. Ma a patto di non avere più cariche e gradi. Ha partecipato a concili, trattato con sovrani, predicato in missione, ma ora vuole essere monaco e basta. Preghiera e studio, fino all’ultimo giorno. Scrive trattati di teologia eucaristica, studi su Maria Madre di Gesù, vite di santi, commenti a testi biblici. E tra questi ultimi, il più ampio, quello dedicato al vangelo di Matteo, verrà citato ancora nel XX secolo dal Concilio Vaticano II, nella Costituzione sulla Chiesa, Lumen gentium. Ormai vicino alla morte, chiede ai monaci di non pensare a commemorazioni, a racconti della sua vita: "Non merito di essere ricordato, dimenticatemi". E si fa seppellire nel reparto dei poveri e dei servitori del monastero. Nel 1058, però, il corpo viene accolto dalla chiesa abbaziale con gli onori riservati ai santi, e si stabilisce al 26 aprile la sua festa annuale. Sfuggiti nel XVIII secolo alle devastazioni della Rivoluzione francese, i resti saranno deposti nella chiesa parrocchiale di Corbie, dove si trovano tuttora.
Autore: Domenico Agasso
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/91521
Saint Paschase Radbert,
abbé de Corbie (865) : http://orthodoxievco.net/ecrits/vies/synaxair/avril/paschase.pdf
