Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-pwrkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-19T10:57:35.954Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

“Beautiful on the Cross, Beautiful in His Torments”: The Place of the Body in the Thought of Paschasius Radbertus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

David Appleby*
Affiliation:
Thomas Aquinas College

Extract

In his literary portrait of Abbot Adalhard, written soon after the abbot's death in 826, Paschasius Radbertus of Corbie compared his subject's moral and spiritual progress to the method of the ancient painter Zeuxis as this had been described in Cicero's De inventione. According to Cicero, the people of Cortona commissioned Zeuxis to decorate a temple with the image of Helen, who was reputed to be the most beautiful of mortal women. Because nature withheld overall perfection from any individual, Zeuxis studied several handsome models and combined the best features of each in an image that was more perfect than the form of any actual maiden. Adalhard too was an artist who sought to realize a work that somehow went beyond nature, but in his case the objective was a reformation of the image of God in himself. To achieve this, Adalhard too used models, in his case the lives and deeds of the saints, whose examples of virtue he discerned with the mind's eye and assimilated in an effort to resemble the transcendent archetype.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Fordham University 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 On Adalhard see Kasten, Brigitte, Adalhard von Corbie: Die Biographie eines karolingischen Politikers und Klostervorstehers, Studia humaniora: Düsseldorfer Studien zu Mittelalter und Renaissance 3 (Düsseldorf, 1986); on the reign of Louis the Pious in general see Boshof, Egon, Ludwig der Fromme (Darmstadt, 1996).Google Scholar

2 The surviving sources inform us about Radbertus's life only in a general way. He was born toward the end of the eighth century, around 790, presumably somewhere in the vicinity of Soissons. His parentage is unknown. He was raised and educated by Abbess Theodrada and the nuns of St. Mary's at Soissons, where he took the tonsure. As a young man, he entered the monastery of Corbie, where Theodrada's brothers Adalhard and Wala held the abbacy during the years 780–815 and 826–35. At Corbie Radbertus served for a time as schoolmaster and then as abbot from 843 to about 851. His tenure as abbot ended because of some sort of disturbance or dissent among the monks at Corbie. As a consequence, Radbertus withdrew for a few years to the monastery of Saint-Riquier, but returned to Corbie before his death about 860. See Peltier, Henri, Pascase Radbert, Abbé de Corbie (Amiens, 1938); idem, “Radbert,” DThC 13:1628–39; Réginald Grégoire, “Paschase Radbert,” Dictionnaire de spiritualité ascétique et mystique, doctrine et histoire, 17 vols. in 21 parts (Paris, 1937–95), 12:295–301; Aris, M.-A., “P. Radbertus,” Lexikon des Mittelalters, 10 vols. (Munich, 1977–99), 6:1754–55.Google Scholar The following abbreviations for the works of Paschasius Radbertus are used throughout: De assumptione = Epistula beati Hieronymi ad Paulam et Eustochium de assumptione sanctae Mariae virginis , ed. Ripberger, A., CCM 56C (Turnhout, 1985); De benedictionibus = De benedictionibus patriarcharum Iacob et Moysi , ed. Paulus, B., CCM 96 (Turnhout, 1993); De corpore = De corpore et sanguine Domini , ed. Paulus, B., CCM 16 (Turnhout, 1969); Epistola = Epistola Radberti Pascasii ad Fredugardum , ed. Paulus, B., CCM 16 (Turnhout, 1969); Epitaphium = Epitaphium Arsenii , ed. Dümmler, E., Abh. Akad. Berlin 2 (Berlin, 1900), 1–98; De fide = De fide, spe et caritate , ed. Paulus, B., CCM 97 (Turnhout, 1990); In Lamentationes = Expositio in Lamentationes Hieremiae libri quinque , ed. Paulus, B., CCM 85 (Turnhout, 1989); In Matheo = Expositio in Matheo libri XII , ed. Paulus, B., CCM 56, 56A, and 56B (Turnhout, 1984); De partu = De partu uirginis , ed. Matter, E. A., CCM 56C (Turnhout, 1985); In Psalmum 44 = Expositio in Psalmum 44 , ed. Paulus, B., CCM 94 (Turnhout, 1991); De passione = De passione sanctorum Rufini et Valerii, PL 120:1489–1508; Sermones de assumptione = Sermones de assumptione beatissimae et gloriosae virginis Mariae, PL 96:239–59; VA = Vita sancti Adalhardi, PL 120:1507–56. I cite only these editions of Radbertus's works. Each reference will include the abbreviated title followed by arabic numerals standing for book, chapter, line, and, in parentheses, page. Because the commentary on the Gospel of Matthew is printed in three volumes, all references to it will include, in parentheses, the CCM volume number (56, 56A, or 56B) before the page number.Google Scholar

3 VA 19–21 (1518B–19D), with the key phrase “in se Christi reformavit imaginem” at 1519C. The Zeuxis story is found in Cicero, De inventione 2.1 (Loeb Classical Library 386 [Cambridge, MA, 1976], 166 and 168). On the borrowing see Ganz, David, Corbie in the Carolingian Renaissance, Beihefte der Francia 20 (Sigmaringen, 1990), 111–12, and von der Nahmer, Dieter, “Die Bibel im Adalhardsleben des Radbert von Corbie,” Studi Medievali, Serie terza 23 (1982): 15–83, at 28–29. Adalhard's emulation of the particular virtue of various saints parallels the traditional theme of the monastic disciple's emulation of the particular virtue of this or that elder within the community, which goes back at least to Athanasius, Vita Antonii 4 (PG 26:835–976, at 846B). See Hellmann, Siegmund, “Einhards literarische Stellung,” Historische Vierteljahrschrift 27 (1932): 40–110, at 103, n. 227, and Rudolf of Fulda, Vita Leobae 7 (ed. Waitz, G., MGH, Scriptores 15.1, 125.8–10). Radbertus also used the story about Zeuxis in the general prologue of his In Matheo, Prologus 158–68 (56, 6), and in the Epitaphium 1 (18–19).Google Scholar

4 The application of the term humanism in the Carolingian period manifests what Ferguson, Wallace K. (The Renaissance in Historical Thought: Five Centuries of Criticism [New York, 1948], 329–85) termed the “revolt of the medievalists”; that is, the effort of some scholars to establish that this or that century of the Middle Ages featured more robust symptoms of humanism than Jacob Burckhardt and other nineteenth-century historians of culture had realized.Google Scholar

5 Leclercq, Jean, “L'humanisme des moines au moyen âge,” Dictionnaire de spiritualité ascétique et mystique 7:959–71, at 960; idem, “L'humanisme bénédictin du VIIIe au XIIe siècle,” Analecta monastica 1 (1948): 1–20; idem, “Umanesimo Monastica,” Dizionario degli Istituti di Perfezione 9, ed. Pelliccia, G. and Rocca, G. (Rome, 1997): 1469–72.Google Scholar

6 Leclercq, Jean, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture, 2nd English ed., trans. Misrahi, Catharine (New York, 1977), 179.Google Scholar

7 Leclercq, , “L'humanisme des moins au moyen âge,” 968.Google Scholar

8 Ibid., 962.Google Scholar

9 Weitmann, Pascal, Sukzession und Gegenwart: Zu theoretischen Äußerungen über bildende Künste und Musik von Basileios bis Hrabanus Maurus (Wiesbaden, 1997); Tatarkiewicz, W., History of Aesthetics, 4 vols., ed. Barrett, C., trans. Czerniawski, Adam and Czerniawski, Ann (The Hague, 1970); idem, “Form in the History of Aesthetics,” Dictionary of the History of Ideas, 4 vols. (New York, 1973), 2:216–25; De Bruyne, Edgar, Etudes d'esthétique médiévale, 2 vols. (Bruges, 1946; repr. Paris, 1998).Google Scholar

10 VA 4 (1509C).Google Scholar

11 Ibid., 50 (1534C).Google Scholar

12 Ibid., 15 (1516D).Google Scholar

14 VA 9 (1513), 10 (1514A), 19 (1518B), 42 (1531A). See also In Lamentationes 2.666–79 (100), where Radbertus wrote that through moral corruption the virtuous soul turns from “hortus deliciarum Dei” into the “hortus concupiscentiarum” of Sargon the Assyrian (Isa. 20:1). For a related theme at Carolingian Reichenau and St. Gall, see Berschin, Walter, Eremus und Insula: St. Gallen und die Reichenau im Mittelalter; Modell einer lateinischen Literaturlandschaft (Wiesbaden, 1987).Google Scholar

15 VA 21 (1519B–C), 54 (1536B), 58 (1538B), 62 (1539D). For similar themes in a different work of Radbertus, see Härdelin, Alf, “An Epithalamium for Nuns: Imagery and Spirituality in Paschasius Radbertus' Exposition of Psalm 44(45),” in idem, ed., In Quest of the Kingdom: Ten Papers on Medieval Monastic Spirituality (Stockholm, 1991), 79107.Google Scholar

16 VA 26 (1521D) and 28 (1522D). See also In Lamentationes 1.1064–83 (41–42), for an inventory of the moral virtues that adorn the soul/temple of the Holy Spirit.Google Scholar

17 VA 10 (1514B), 14 (1516B), 27 (1522C), 88 (1552C). See also In Lamentationes 2.779–80 (103), for the harmony of the virtues resonating in the soul/temple of the Holy Spirit. For a consideration of Christian attunement or consonance with God, see von Balthasar, Hans Urs, Seeing the Form , trans. Leiva-Merikakis, E., vol. 1 of The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics (San Francisco, 1982; repr. 1989), 241–57.Google Scholar

18 For an example of this point about unified discourse involving a particular rhetorical figure, see Cizek, Alexandru, “Der ‘Charakterismos’ in der Vita Adalhardi des Radbert von Corbie,” Rhetorica 7 (1989): 185204, and my “Present Absence: From Rhetorical Figure to Eucharistic Veritas in the Thought of Paschasius Radbertus,” Fides Quaerens Intellectum 3 (2005): 139–68. For general remarks on the patristic and medieval “freedom of allowing validity to the partial within a surpassing whole,” see von Balthasar, Hans Urs, The Realm of Metaphysics in Antiquity , trans. McNeil, B. et al., vol. 4 of The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics (San Francisco, 1989), 342.Google Scholar

19 VA 42 (1530D–31A), where Georgics 2.467–68 appears.Google Scholar

20 VA 16 (1517A), where, in his account of the abbot's prudence, Radbertus wrote that “fons consilii ex ejus animo manare videretur.” In the same passage, the author repeated the commonplace, which had Stoic antecedents, that prudence consists in the discernment of past, present, and future, but then concluded with the biblical observation that “sequendum Dei consilio” was fundamental to the abbot's prudence. On this see Mähl, Sibylle, Quadriga virtutum: Die Kardinaltugenden in der Geistesgeschichte der Karolingerzeit (Cologne, 1969), 105, n. 170. On the relationship between prudence and the boy of Matthew 18:2, see In Matheo 8.2221–46 (56A, 866–67).Google Scholar

21 First, VA 34 (1527), where Adalhard and his two brothers and two sisters form a diapente, the Greek term for the harmonic interval of the fifth; and their proportion is one and a half, for three stands in relation to two as one and a half stands to one. This harmony of the siblings on earth seems to anticipate the celestial harmony of the elect in heaven as described in the Egloga 172–74 (ed. Traube, L., MGH, Poetae Aevi Karolini 3 [Berlin, 1896; repr. 1964], 51): “Omnia concelebrant inibi pia gaudia passim / Et resonant omnes uno de corde canentes / Mellifluas voces in talia carmine quisque,” which Radbertus appended to the VA. For another reference to the diapson, see In Matheo 9.1583–87 (56B, 979). Second, VA 66–67 (1541B–42A), where, noting that the topography of the new monastery at Corvey had the shape of the Greek character delta (Δ), Radbertus related the perfection of the triangle to that of the Trinity, and then to the Benedictine concept of the broadened heart (dilatatum cor). For “dilatato corde,” see Regula sancti Benedicti, Prologue 49 (ed. de Vogüé, A. and Neufville, J., SC 181 [Paris, 1972], 424). On this debt to Boethius, De arithmetica 1.1 (ed. Oosthout, Henry and Schilling, J., CCL 94A [Turnhout, 1999], 13, 107–9), and for the phrase “spiritual geometry,” see Ganz, , Corbie in the Carolingian Renaissance (n. 3 above), 109 and 114.Google Scholar

22 Even the outstanding study of Raffaele Savigni, “‘Sapientia Divina’ e ‘Sapientia Humana’ in Rabano Mauro e Pascasio Radberto,” in Gli umanesimi medievali, Atti del II Congresso dell'Internationales Mittellateinerkomitee, ed. Leonardi, Claudio (Florence, 1998), 591615, which is in part a response to Gérard Mathon, “Pascase Radbert et l'évolution de l'humanisme carolingien: Recherches sur la signification des Préfaces des libres I et III de l'Expositio in Matthaeum,” Corbie abbaye royale: Volume du XIIIe centenaire (Lille, 1963), 135–55, remains within the horizon of literary humanism.Google Scholar

23 Savigni, , “‘Sapientia Divina’ e ‘Sapientia Humana,”’ 610, appreciates this, as do Morrison, Karl F., The Mimetic Tradition of Reform in the West (Princeton, 1982), 126–27, and von der Nahmer, “Die Bibel im Adalhardsleben des Radbert von Corbie” (n. 3 above), 28 and 82.Google Scholar

24 Carrying Christ's cross, VA 7 (1512A) and 82 (1549A). See also ibid., 64 (1540D): “qui ore ac manibus, cum omni circumstantia facultatum, pro libertate Christi erat omnium servus.” For participating in the poverty of Christ, see ibid., 23 (1520B), 56 (1537B), and 68 (1543A).Google Scholar

25 For instance VA 47 (1533C–D) and 71 (1544A). For general orientation, though with no specific reference to Radbertus, see McGuire, Brian Patrick, Friendship and Community: The Monastic Experience 350–1250 (Kalamazoo, 1988).Google Scholar

26 VA 85 (1550C).Google Scholar

27 Ibid., 5 (1510B), quoting Venantius Fortunatus, Appendix I (PL 88: 593C). See also VA 6 (1510D). See also VA 68 (1542B), 72 (1544C), 79 (1547B), 82 (1549B), and 71 (1543D), the last of which is cited by Bynum, Caroline Walker, “Jesus as Mother and Abbot as Mother: Some Themes in Twelfth-Century Cistercian Writing,” chapter 4 of her Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (Berkeley, 1982), 110–69, at 127, n. 59. See also Dutton, M. L., “Christ our Mother: Aelred's Iconography for Contemplative Union,” Goad and Nail, Studies in Medieval Cistercian History 10 (Kalamazoo, 1985): 21–45. On men's use of female symbols in the later Middle Ages, see Bynum, Caroline Walker, Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women (Berkeley, 1987), 282–88.Google Scholar

28 See VA 4 (1509D): “qui dum video Dominum Jesum Christum, Lazarum quern diligebat flevisse mortuum, et non solum flevisse, verum turbatum fuisse spiritu, nimium flere cogor.” See also ibid., 3 (1509C) and 73 (1544D). On Christ's tears for Lazarus, see also In Lamentationes 3.2159 (218).Google Scholar

29 von Moos, Peter, Consolatio: Studien zur mittellateinischen Trostliteratur über den Tod und zum Problem der christlichen Trauer , 4 vols., Münstersche Mittelalter-Schriften 3 (Munich, 1971–72), 1:137–46, especially 143. On the importance of VA 25–26 (1521–22B) in the longer history of the gift of tears, see Nagy, Piroska, Le don des larmes au moyen âge: Un instrument spirituel en quête d'institution (Ve–XIIIe siècle) (Paris, 2000), 163–65, who considers this passage of VA to be the richest discussion of the gift of tears written in the Carolingian period.Google Scholar

30 He did, however, emphasize (Leclercq, , Love of Learning [n. 6 above], 3637 and idem, “L'humanisme des moines au moyen âge” [n. 5 above], 961) some of the ways in which Gregory the Great's vivid awareness of the contrast between Man's created dignity and his actual corrupt state influenced western monastic authors for centuries. He also noted, for instance (“L'humanisme des moins au moyen âge,” 964), that some authors of the Carolingian period expressed more overt interest than Pope Gregory the Great had in human nobility, though they were not inclined to quarrel with Gregory or Augustine.Google Scholar

31 Bultot, Robert, Christianisme et valeurs humaines. A. La doctrine du mépris du monde, en Occident, de S. Ambroise à Innocent III, vol. 4 in 2 parts, Le XIe siècle (Louvain and Paris, 1963–64); idem, “La ‘dignité de l'homme’ selon S. Pierre Damien,” Studi Medievali, Serie terza 13 (1972): 27–53; idem, “Le mépris du monde chez S. Colomban,” Revue des sciences religieuses 4 (1961): 356–68; Courcelle, Pierre, Connais-toi toi-même: De Socrate à Saint Bernard, 3 vols. (Paris, 1975); Javelet, Robert, Image et ressemblance au douzième siècle: De Saint Anselme à Alain de Lille, 2 vols. (Strasbourg, 1967); Moos, von, Consolatio; see also Gérard Mathon's dissertation, “L'anthropologie chretienne en Occident de saint Augustin à Jean Scot Erigène” (Lille, 1964).Google Scholar

32 Olsen, Glenn W., “John of Salisbury's Humanism,” in Gli umanesimi medievali (n. 22 above), 447–68; idem, “Twelfth-Century Humanism Reconsidered: The Case of St. Bernard,” Studi Medievali Serie terza 31 (1990): 27–53; idem, “From Bede to the Anglo-Saxon Presence in the Carolingian Empire,” in Angli e Sassoni al di qua e al di là del mare nell'alto medioevo, 2 vols., Settimane de studi del Centro Italiano di Studi sull'alto Medioevo 32 (Spoleto, 1986), 1.305–32, at 320–30.Google Scholar

33 See Olsen, , “Twelfth-Century Humanism Reconsidered,” 28–29, who cites Joseph Ratzinger [Benedict XVI], Behold the Pierced One: An Approach to a Spiritual Christology , trans. Harrison, Graham (San Francisco, 1986), 5253. That this observation continues to have a relevance even in the modern period is clear, for example, in the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes) 22, which Pope Paul VI promulgated in 1965, which states that “only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light.” Google Scholar

34 Milano, Andrea, Persona in Teologia: Alle origini del significato di Persona nel Christianesimo antico , 2nd ed. (Rome, 1996), 17, 261, 280–89, considers these issues and, at 289, uses the phrase “svolta antropologica.” For a study of one Carolingian era thinker's understanding of person, see Serralda, Vincent, La philosophic de la personne chez Alcuin (Paris, 1978).Google Scholar

35 Olsen, , “John of Salisbury's Humanism,” 447 n. 1, and idem, “Twelfth-Century Humanism Reconsidered,” 43–45. For an older but still valuable survey of these developments, see Endre von Ivánka, Plato Christianus: Übernahme und Umgestaltung des Platonismus durch die Väter (Einsiedeln, 1964; repr., 1990), 309–85; for guidance to recent work on the history of the heart see Il Cuore/The Heart, Micrologus Library 11 (Florence, 2003) and Eric Jager, The Book of the Heart (Chicago, 2000).Google Scholar

36 See for example Origen, , Commentary on the Gospel according to John, Books 1–10 , 2.215 and 6.189 (trans. Heine, R. E., Fathers of the Church 80 [Washington, 1989], 153 and 221); for further references see Ivánka, , Plato Christianus, 325–28; on Augustine's role in this development see Anton Maxsein, Philosophia Cordis: Das Wesen der Personalität bei Augustinus (Salzburg, 1966).Google Scholar

37 See Knuuttila, Simo, Emotions in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy (Oxford, 2004) and Sorabji, Richard, Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation (Oxford, 2000). For a recent overview of the historiography of emotions in the West, see Rosenwein, Barbara, “Worrying about Emotions in History,” American Historical Review 107 (2002): 821–45; see also eadem, ed., Angers Past: The Social Use of an Emotion in the Middle Ages (Ithaca, 1998); on the problem of the history of emotions in the modern period, see the review essay of James Smith Allen, “Navigating the Social Sciences: A Theory for the Meta-History of Emotions,” History and Theory 42 (2003): 82–93, with special reference to Reddy, William M., The Navigation of Feeling: A Framework for the History of Emotions (Cambridge, 2001).Google Scholar

38 The bibliography is vast. In addition to the works cited by Olsen, , “John of Salisbury's Humanism,” 448–50, and idem, “Twelfth-Century Humanism Reconsidered,” 36–38, orientation in the field is available in Casagrande, Carla and Vecchio, Silvana, eds., Anima e corpo nella cultura medievale, Atti del V Convegno di studi della Società Italiana per lo Studio del Pensiero Medievale, Millenio Medievale 15 (Florence, 1999); I discorsi dei corpi/The Discourses of the Body, Micrologus Library 1 (Florence, 1993); Le cadavre: Anthropologic, archéologie, imaginaire social (Moyen Age, Renaissance), Micrologus Library 7 (Florence, 1999). Also valuable are Amy Hollywood, “Inside Out: Beatrice of Nazareth and Her Hagiographer,” in Gendered Voices: Medieval Saints and Their Interpreters , ed. Mooney, C. (Philadelphia, 1999), 78–89; Shaw, Teresa M., The Burden of the Flesh: Fasting and Sexuality in Early Christianity (Minneapolis, 1998); Bynum, Caroline Walker, The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200–1336 (New York, 1995); Valantasis, Richard, “Daemons and the Perfecting of the Monk's Body: Monastic Anthropology, Daemonology, and Asceticism,” Semia 58 (1992): 47–79.Google Scholar

39 For example see the essays collected in Olsen, Glenn W., ed., Christian Marriage: A Historical Study (New York, 2001); Bullough, Vern L. and Brundage, James A., eds., Handbook of Medieval Sexuality (New York, 1999); and my “The Priority of Sight according to Peter the Venerable,” Mediaeval Studies 60 (1998): 123–57.Google Scholar

40 Recently in “‘Sapientia Divina’ e ‘Sapientia Humana”’ (n. 22 above), 595–96, and earlier in, “Esegesi medievale ed antropologia biblica: L'interpretazione di Genesi 1–3 nei commentari carolingi ed i suoi fondamenti patristici,” Annali di storia dell'esegesi 10 (1993): 571614.Google Scholar

41 Savigni, , “Esegesi medievale ed antropologia biblica,” 573.Google Scholar

42 Ibid., 581–85; on Origen's views see Crouzel, Henri, Théologie de l'image de Dieu chez Origène (Paris, 1956), and Hamman, A.-G., L'homme image de Dieu: Essai d'une anthropologic chrétienne dans l'Eglise des cinq premiers siècles (Paris, 1987), 127–52.Google Scholar

43 For Augustine see Heidi, G., Origen's Influence on the Young Augustine: A Chapter in the History of Origenism (South Bend, 2003). Some of the key Carolingian texts associated with the pseudo-Ambrosian De dignitate conditionis humanae are gathered by Marenbon, John, From the Circle of Alcuin to the School of Auxerre: Logic, Theology and Philosophy in the Early Middle Ages (Cambridge, 1979), 144–70; for Alcuin's approach to the soul's created dignity, see Peretó Rivas, R. A., “Alcuino de York: Sobre el Alma y sus Dignidades,” Mirabilia: Revista Eletrônica de História Antiga e Medieval 4 (2004), http://www.revistamirabilia.com/num3/num4/artigos/art8.htm.Google Scholar

44 Arduini, Maria Lodovica, “Alla ricerca di un Ireneo medievale,” Studi medievali, Serie terza 21 (1980): 269–99, at 281–82; on the anthropology of Irenaeus, with references to the literature, see Hamman, , L'homme image de Dieu, 49–76 and 307–10; see also von Balthasar, Hans Urs, Studies in Theological Style: Clerical Styles , trans. Louth, A. et al. , vol. 2 of The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics (San Francisco, 1984), 62–70; Orbe, Antonio, Antropología de San Ireneo (Madrid, 1969), in particular 32–107.Google Scholar

45 Savigni, , “Esegesi medievale ed antropologia biblica,” 600, and idem, “‘Sapientia Divina’ e ‘Sapientia Humana,”’ 596, notes references to the key Irenaean idea at De corpore 19.9–16 (101–2): “Denique non, sicut quidam uolunt, anima sola hoc mysterio pascitur, quia non sola redimitur morte Christi et saluatur, uerum etiam et caro nostra per hoc ad inmortalitatem et incorruptionem reparatur. Carne [carni] quidem [+ nostrae] caro [+ Christi] spiritaliter conuiscerata transformatur, ut et Christi substantia in nostra carne inueniatur, sicut et ipse nostram in suam constat adsumpsisse deitatem.” This recalls Irenaeus, Adversus haereses 4.18.5 (ed. Rousseau, A. et al. , SC 100, 2 vols. [Paris, 1965], 2: 610–12), and ibid., 5.2.3 (ed. Rousseau, A. et al. , SC 153 [Paris, 1969], 34–40). Also In Matheo 10.697 (56B, 1086). Savigni also notes that the expression “totus homo” recurs several times, as In Matheo 2.3716 (56, 230); ibid., 7, prologue, 8 (56A, 690); ibid., 7.837–38 (56A, 716). To these we can add In Matheo 10.2070 (56B, 1127): “corpus et anima integer homo accipitur,” and In Lamentationes 4.1059–60 (276): “integer homo ex duabus constat substantiis anima uidelicet atque carne.” Google Scholar

46 On the life-giving anima as the vital principle that extends throughout the body and is everywhere wholly present, see In Matheo 4.195–201 (56, 367). On tripartite anthropology see ibid., 10.1048–59 (56B, 1097). The source of the three-substances view that Radbertus rejected may have been Didymus the Blind as reported by Gennadius of Marseille, Liber ecclesiasticorum dogmatum 19 (ed. Turner, C. H., Journal of Theological Studies 7 [1906]: 93); idem, De viris inlustribus 12 (ed. Richardson, E. C., TU 14 [Leipzig, 1896], 65–66). On the importance of this passage for Carolingian thought, and with further references to the secondary literature, see Savigni, “Esegesi medievale ed antropologia biblica,” 588–90. See also In Matheo 10.1032–59 (56B, 1096–97), where Radbertus also reduced the triad cor–anima–mens (Matt. 22:37) to that of spiritus–anima–corpus (1 Thess. 5:23) by equating cor with corpus and mens with spiritus. As Henri de Lubac, “Tripartite Anthropology,” in his Theology in History , trans. Nash, A. E. (San Francisco, 1996), 147–48, shows, while the latter equation is well founded in the Latin patristic tradition, the former is not. In several other places, referring to the same passage of 1 Thessalonians, Radbertus added that spirit and soul are one substance, and that spirit is also called mens, “quae preminet in homine ex qua totus regitur homo.” For this see In Matheo 11.1976–82 (56B, 1209–10). See also De corpore 11.79–81 (75): “Sed quia spiritus noster atque anima una substantia est, licet spiritus aut mens dicatur, ea pars quae praeminet in homine ex qua spiritalis interdum appellatur.” Google Scholar

47 In Matheo 8.3568–74 (56A, 908). Radbertus apparently accepted some form of the theory of the senses as extramissive, according to which the five senses allow the soul to extend itself temporarily beyond the limits of the body. Through them the anima of the body is able to perceive other bodies. See ibid., 9.1612–14 (56B, 980).Google Scholar

48 Epitaphium 1.5 (27), body as prison and fetters; ibid., 2.23 (96), putting on the image of death.Google Scholar

49 Ibid., 2.23 (95).Google Scholar

50 For background see Courcelle, , Connais-toi toi-même vol. 2, part 2 (n. 31 above), 325414, with some examples from the eighth through the twelfth centuries at 374–76; more recently see Tolomio, Ilario, Corpus carcer nell'alto Medioevo: Metamorfosi di un concetto,” Patristica et mediaevalia 18 (1997): 3–19, which is reprinted in Casagrande, and Vecchio, , eds., Anima e corpo nella cultura medievale (n. 38 above), 3–19; see also In Matheo 9.1146–48 (56B, 965), where the apostles are said to have despised not only all vices but also themselves. Although in the wake of the condemnation of Origen's teaching about the embodiment of souls as a form of punishment the corpus–career lost much of its currency, it still appeared often enough, for instance in the writings of Columbanus, Cassiodorus, John of Fécamp, and Abelard. On Columbanus see Bultot, Robert, “Le mépris du monde chez saint Colomban,” Revue des sciences religieuses 4 (1961): 356–68, at 365; on Cassiodorus and John of Fécamp see Tolomio, , Corpus Carcer nell'Alto Medioevo,” 8 and 10; see also Abelard, Peter, Dialogus inter philosophum, Iudaeum et Christianum 1653–56 (ed. Thomas, Rudolf [Stuttgart, 1970], 103).Google Scholar

51 Epitaphium 1:5 (27), with reliance on Ambrose, De excessu fratris 1.72 (ed. Faller, O., CSEL 73 [Vienna, 1955], 247); on Ambrose see Courcelle, , Connais-toi toi-même, vol. 2, part 2, 362; on Radbertus's debt to Ambrose here see Ganz, , Corbie in the Carolingian Renaissance (n. 3 above), 115–16; von Moos, , Consolatio 1 (n. 29 above), paragraph 140 and Anmerkungsband, 100–101.Google Scholar

52 In Matheo 12. 651–52 (56B, 1287).Google Scholar

53 Ibid., 4.891–913 (56, 389–90), with reliance upon Sedulius, , Paschale Carmen 2.17 (ed. Huemer, J., CSEL 10 [Vienna, 1885], 223, 16–18); on this see Savigni, , “‘Sapientia Divina’ e ‘Sapientia Humana”’ (n. 22 above), 596, who recognizes the importance in this context of Radbertus's borrowing from Sedulius. A similar convergence of caro and corpus occurs in Radbertus's Sermones de assumptione 1 (249C): “Idcirco egredimini ex iis angustiis carnalibus; exuite vos veterem hominem, et induite novum qui secundum Deum creatus est. Egredimini ex hac dilectione carnali, ne sollicitudo praesentis vitae ac voluptatis suffocet in vobis verbum vitae, quo seminatum est in corde. Peregrinamini magis a corpore, ut cum Deo adesse possitis, quoniam ‘qui in carne sunt Deo placere non possunt’ [Rom. 8:8]. Vos autem, charissimae, jam in carne non estis, quae carnis opera in vobis mortificatis, sed in spiritu. ‘Quicunque ergo spiritu Dei aguntur, ii filii sunt Dei’ [Rom. 8:14].” Google Scholar

54 De passione (1490B).Google Scholar

55 In Matheo 12.1465 and 1392–94 (56B, 1312 and 1309), respectively, the quoted words appearing in the former.Google Scholar

56 De corpore 1.47–48 (14–15). On Radbertus's terminology and doctrine see Cristiani, Marta, “La controversia eucaristica nella cultura del secolo IX,” Studi medievali Serie terza 9 (1968): 167233, reprinted in eadem, Tempo rituale et tempo storico: Comunione cristiana e sacrificio; Le controversie eucaristiche nell'alto medioevo (Spoleto, 1997), 77–164; see also Béraudy, Roger, “Les catégories de pensée de Ratramne dans son enseignement eucharistique,” in Corbie Abbaye Royale: Volume du XIIIe Centenaire (Lille, 1963), 157–80; Pelikan, Jaroslav, The Growth of Medieval Theology (600–1300), vol. 3 of The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (Chicago, 1978), 74–80. The terminology of “figura” and “veritas” appears not only in De corpore and Epistola but In Matheo 12.681–90, 710–13, 801–4 (56B, 1288–91).Google Scholar

57 Chazelle, Celia, The Crucified God in the Carolingian Era: Theology and the Art of Christ's Passion (Cambridge, 2001), 210–15, argues that both editions of De corpore (the first composed 831–33, the second in 843 or 844) predate the wider eucharistic controversy by at least seven years. For the controversy itself, which involved among others Ratramnus of Corbie, Gottschalk of Orbais, John Scottus Eriugena, Hincmar of Rheims, and Hrabanus Maurus, Chazelle favors a date of ca. 853–56. At about the same time (early to mid 850s), Radbertus wrote the Epistola about the Eucharist to his friend Fredugard.Google Scholar

58 De corpore 4.67–69 (29–30).Google Scholar

59 Ibid., 4.43–57 (29); see also In Matheo 12.4147–49 (56B, 1394): “in Christo et per Christum nobis reserata sunt universa,” which is another way of saying that the Lord is both sign and signified. See also In Lamentationes 3.1853–58 (206): just as the pillar of cloud was blindness to the pursuing Egyptians and light to the fleeing Hebrews, so too “nubes corporis Christi lux credentibus non credentibus autem caecitas et petra scandali nec non et lapis offensionis.” Google Scholar

60 Sermones de assumptione 1 (248B and 250A). The same principle is expressed at In Matheo 7.2789–91 (56A, 777), where Radbertus wrote that in the Canaanite woman who asked Jesus to expel the demon from her daughter (Matt. 15:22) the faith of the Church was foreshadowed, and that Christ coming into the land of Tyre and Sidon foreshadowed his earthly mission, “ut in specie genus presagaret cuius figuram et formam ista tenebat. Et ideo fides ecclesiae iam in illa prefulgebat.” See also ibid., 7.3304–10 (56A, 793), where truth is said to fulfill and represent what is foreshadowed and prefigured in a sign or figure. See also ibid., 6.3778–82 (56A, 678–79), on the prophet Jonah as the sign prefiguring Christ.Google Scholar

61 In Matheo 8.2728–49 (56A, 882), where the quoted words are in the final line.Google Scholar

62 Ibid., 6.979–88 (56A, 586), with reliance upon Gaudentius, Tractatus 5.8–10 (ed. Glück, A., CSEL 68 [Vienna, 1936], 4546).Google Scholar

63 In Matheo 7.2873–78 (56A, 779).Google Scholar

64 Ibid., 7.1913–25 and 1956–79 (56A, 750–52). The image of the needle, acus, which Radbertus applied to Christ's dual form, requires both a piercing point, which Radbertus represented as the divine nature, and a pierced base, which Radbertus represented as the human nature. Like a needle used to stitch together scattered bits of fabric, the Lord's divinity pierces all and his suffering human body draws all behind it. For this image see In Matheo 9.1066–81 (56B, 963). For other expressions of the dual operation of the two natures unified in Christ, see In Lamentationes 3.2435–36 (228); ibid., 4.1684–88 (298); ibid., 5.800–810 (338); In Matheo 7.1914 and 1918 (56A, 750–51); ibid., 12.1529–33 and 12.5369–79 (56B, 1314 and 1432, respectively); De benedictionibus 2.1315–16 (107); De corpore 3.24–28 (24); ibid., 9.119–25 (56–57), with an embedded quotation from Hilary, De Trinitate 8.13 (ed. Smulders, P., CCL 62A [Turnhout, 1980], 325–26); Epistola 766–90 (169–70), with the same embedded quotation from Hilary; De fide 1.10.1165–68 (39), quoting Augustine, De Trinitate 13.12 (ed. Mountain, W. J., CCL 50A [Turnhout, 1968], 398–99).Google Scholar

65 In Lamentationes 3.68–100 (141–42), with the quoted phrase at 3.85 (141). For background see Devisse, Jean, “‘Pauperes’ et ‘Paupertas’ dans le monde carolingien: ce qu'en dit Hincmar de Reims,” Revue du Nord 48 (1966): 273–87; Légasse, Simon, Solignac, Aimé, and Mollat, Michel, “Pauvreté Chrétienne,” Dictionnaire de spiritualité ascétique et mystique, 12: 613–58.Google Scholar

66 In Lamentationes 3.1038–39 (175), which parallels 2 Cor. 8:9. Similarly De benedictionibus 2.472–76 (81).Google Scholar

67 In Matheo 3.1555–66, 2074–77 and 2084–89 (56, 282, and 299).Google Scholar

68 De corpore 4.69–72 (30).Google Scholar

69 Ibid., 4.58–66 (29); see also De passione (1502C): “Sed Deus hoc veterno mortales volens liberare, Filium suum incarnari constituit, ut homo inter homines positus, ad veritatis eos viam revocaret, quatenus falsitate relicta, verum Deum nossent, venerarentur, adorarent.” See also In Matheo 2.3648–3719 (56, 228–31), where Radbertus drew upon Augustine's Letter 147 (ed. Goldbacher, A., CSEL 44 [Vienna, 1904], 274–331, especially 300, 303, 310, and 322–23), to explain both the Incarnation and the Father's utterance at Matt. 3:17 (“This is my beloved Son”) as accommodations to the human need to approach spiritual truth through physical and sensible reality.Google Scholar

70 De corpore 4.73–81 (30).Google Scholar

71 The important passages are In Matheo 6.2626 and 2647 (56A, 641); ibid., 9.771–839, 1261–71, and 2099–2146 (56B, 954–56, 969, and 995–96, respectively); ibid., 10.2558–68 (56B, 1143); ibid., 11.1474–90 and 2501–16 (56B, 1194–95 and 1226, respectively). On the matter in general, see Cavadini, John C., The Last Christology of the West: Adoptionism in Spain and Gaul, 785–820 (Philadelphia, 1993), who refers (206, n. 8) to the traces of Radbertus's anti-adoptionist Christology discernible in In Psalmum 44, 2.167–71 (35), as noted by Härdelin, , “An Epithalamium for Nuns” (n. 15 above), 102–3. To this we can add In Psalmum 44 3.305–29 (83).Google Scholar

72 In Matheo 7.2873–78 (56A, 779); ibid., 11.2750–62 (56B, 1234); ibid., 12.366–83, 4985–97, and 5322–26 (56B, 1278, 1420, and 1430, respectively). Again, citing Matt. 26:12 to explain why “Dominus in sacramento uere passus dicitur et mortuus,” see In Psalmum 44 3.332–34 (83). See also De benedictionibus 2.1044–45 (99): “est ualde indissolubilis, est persona Christi qui ‘Deus et homo’ est.” See Milano, , Persona in teologia (n. 34 above), 286, for remarks on the background of this sense of “persona” in the thought of Boethius, Augustine, and Tertullian.Google Scholar

73 In Matheo 9.1256–71 (56B, 969) and ibid., 11.1486–87 (56B, 1195).Google Scholar

74 In Matheo 7.1971, 2096–2103 and 2167–71 (56A, 752, 756, and 758, respectively). That nursing mother implies “ueritas carnis et non phantasma” see De partu 1.312–13 (57), on which see also Bonano, S., “The Divine Maternity and the Eucharistic Body in the Doctrine of Paschasius Radbertus,” Ephemerides Mariologicae 1 (1951): 379–94, at 384.Google Scholar

75 In Matheo 10.235–41 (56B, 1072); see also Sermones de assumptione 1 (249A); ibid., 2 (251C); De benedictionibus 2.1307–11 (307): “tota diuinitas in humanitate Christi plenissime est sicut et humanitas in diuinitate Verbi tota ut sit plena humanitas in diuinitate Verbi quia homo in Deum assumptus est sicut tota diuinitas in humanitate carnis quia ‘Verbum caro factum est.”’ Google Scholar

76 In Psalmum 44 2.153–66 (34–35).Google Scholar

77 Ibid., 2.177–79 and 223–55 (35 and 37), with the lines quoted in the latter place. Here I have followed the analysis of Härdelin, “An Epithalamium for Nuns,” 102–3.Google Scholar

78 In Matheo 9.3023–36 (56B, 1023–24).Google Scholar

79 Ibid., 8.1160–73 (56A, 833).Google Scholar

80 Ibid., 8.1179–97 and 1226–39 (56A, 833–34 and 835, respectively). That Radbertus was aware that Christ's visible aspect in the Transfiguration may be different from his appearance at the Last Judgment, see In Matheo 11.3120–23 (56B, 1245).Google Scholar

81 Ibid., 8.1943–52 (56A, 857).Google Scholar

82 Ibid., 11.1190–1215 (56B, 1186); In Matheo 8.912–21 (56A, 825), where there is no difference between the “claritas” of the Transfiguration and the “gloria Patris.” On the risen Lord's appearance before the eleven disciples, see In Matheo 12.5284–92 (56B, 1429).Google Scholar

83 In Lamentationes 3.101–4 and 120–27 (142 and 143, respectively).Google Scholar

84 Ibid., 3.1021–22 (174).Google Scholar

85 In Matheo 3.1650–54 (56, 285); see also De fide 1.12.1504–6 (49), on desiring “presentis uite paupertatem” for the sake of eternal things and on delighting only in Christ in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; see also Epitaphium 1.16 (46) and 1.18 (47), on the “sanctissima” or “beata paupertas” on earth that guarantees wealth and plenty in heaven.Google Scholar

86 VA 59 (1538D–39B).Google Scholar

87 In Matheo 3.1624–27 (56, 284); cf. Regula sancti Benedicti 7.51 (n. 21 above), 484–86. The poor of spirit are blessed because they do not desire to have what they should not; they despise possessing what they have, or hold it in such low esteem they give away their possessions to others. On this see In Matheo 3.1640–43 (56, 285). The idea that poverty has more to do with inner disposition and intention than with actually lacking possessions was prominent in the thought of Gregory the Great. For this see Catry, Patrick, “Amour du monde et amour de Dieu chez saint Grégoire le Grand,” Studia Monastica 15 (1973): 253–75, reprinted in idem, Parole de Dieu, Amour et Esprit-Saint chez Saint Grégoire le Grand (Bégrolles-en-Mauges, 1984), 61–83, at 78–79.Google Scholar

88 VA 23 (1520A) and 68 (1543A).Google Scholar

89 In Lamentationes 1.993–95 (38).Google Scholar

90 Ibid., 3.1392 (188), echoing Rom. 8:17 and 2 Tim. 2:12.Google Scholar

91 In Matheo 4.1629–30 (56, 412).Google Scholar

92 Ibid., 3.3495–3537 (56, 344–45), with the quoted words at 3496–97.Google Scholar

93 Ibid., 3.2269–82 (56, 305); De fide 2.5.511–16 (82) and 2.6.741–42 (89).Google Scholar

94 De passione (1497A and 1503B).Google Scholar

95 Ibid. (1505D–7B). The important elements of this passage Radbertus found in his source and so reflect an understanding of the glorified human body that was not new with Radbertus. See Acta martyrii 46 (ed. Henschen, G., AS, 3rd edition, June 14, Junii Tomus Tertius [Rome and Paris, 1867], 285–86).Google Scholar

96 De passione (1507A–B): “Non enim nunc ministeriorum formas cœlestium per figuras atque umbras inspicimus, sed revelata facie gloriam Domini speculamur, in eamdem imaginem per sancti Spiritus gratiam transformati…. Videns itaque prœfectus admirabili sanctorum vultus majestate coruscare.” This passage has no counterpart in the earlier Acta martyrii, which is to say that Radbertus elected to apply the terms transformare and coruscare. For the occurrence of those terms in his account of the Transfiguration, see In Matheo 8.1117, 1150, 1173, and 1196 (56A, 831–34). See also ibid., 12.4886–93 (56B, 1417), where the shining face and gleaming white robe of the angel who greeted the women at the Lord's tomb (Matt. 28:3) are equated with the transformed appearance of the elect in heaven: “Sed sub tali tantoque splendore preferebat coram oculis humanis speciem nostre resurrectionis et formam atque habitum in quo qui resurrecturi sunt per Christum transformandi sunt in gloriam.” Google Scholar

97 De assumptione 3.16–17 (116–17), for fecund virginity; ibid., 9.55.440–41 (133), for theotocon/christotocon. In his Sermones de assumptione 1 (240D), Radbertus called her queen of this world and the next. Ann Matter, E. ( The Voice of My Beloved: The Song of Songs in Western Medieval Christianity [Philadelphia, 1990], 152–55) discusses references to Song of Solomon in Radbertus's Marian works. On the place of his thought within Carolingian Mariology, see Scaravelli, I., “Per una mariologia carolingia: Autori, opere e linee di ricerca,” Gli studi di mariologia medievale: Bilancio storiografico , ed. Piastra, C. M., Atti del I Convegno mariologico delta Fondazione Ezio Franceschini con la collaborazione delta Biblioteca palatina e del Dipartimento di storia dell' Università di Parma, 1997 (Florence, 2001), 65–85; Scheffczyk, Leo, Das Mariengeheimnis in Frömmigkeit und Lehre der Karolingerzeit, Erfurter theologische Studien 5 (Leipzig, 1959).Google Scholar

98 That Mary's assumption indicates the way to heaven, see De assumptione 17.110.933–34 (159); see also Sermones de assumptione 3 (257B): “Ecce via, qua pergere debetis.” The theme of Christ the way appears fairly often in Radbertus's work, for instance In Matheo 12.3925 (56B, 1387); for Christ the lamb as the form of all paths and as the path of the city of God, see In Psalmum 44 1.290–92 and 2.48–50 (10 and 31, respectively); see also Sermones de assumptione 1 (244D): “Ex cujus nimirum carne Dominus Jesus Verbum caro efficitur, qui cunctis in se credentibus januas paradisi aperire dignatus est.” Echoing this idea in recent time is the 1987 encyclical letter of Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater 4, which states that, like her Son, Mary reveals what it is to be human: “If it is true, as the [Second Vatican] Council itself proclaims, that ‘only in the mystery of the Incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light,’ then this principle must be applied in a very particular way to that exceptional ‘daughter of the human race,’ that extraordinary ‘woman’ who became the Mother of Christ. Only in the mystery of Christ is her mystery fully made clear.” (Italics in the original.) Google Scholar

99 De partu 1.211–14 (54), 1.263–64 (55), 2.392–96 (83–84), and 2.481–95 (85–86); De assumptione 9.54 (132) and 11.66 (139); De benedictionibus 2.980–82 (97), 2.1193–1200 (103), and 2.1253–55 (105).Google Scholar

100 De assumptione 10.61 (136–37); see also In Psalmum 44 2.247–48 (37): “Natus in fine temporum qu est sine initio genitus ante omne tempus.” Google Scholar

101 De partu 2.163–72 (75–76); De assumptione 5.29–30.237–45 (122); see also Sermones de assumptione 1 (241C), where her womb is said to be the temple, sanctuary, or domicile of the fullness of divinity, and so also the repository of “all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). See also Sermones de assumptione 2 (251C).Google Scholar

102 De partu 2.237–42 (78), quoting Leo the Great, Tractatus 30, 146–49 (ed. Chavasse, A., CCL 138 [Turnhout, 1973], 158); see also De assumptione 9.58.471–76 (135); In Matheo 6.3139–44 (56A, 657–58).Google Scholar

103 De partu 2.335–50 (81).Google Scholar

104 For an outline of the two positions and references to Ratramnus's work, see Matter's Introduction to De partu , 1214.Google Scholar

105 De partu 1.168–74 (52), 1.203–14 (53–54), 1.240–46 (55), 1.364–67 (59), and 1.634–37 (67); see also De assumptione 15.94–95 (152–53).Google Scholar

106 De partu 1.159–60 (52), 1.227–30 (54), 1.240–41 (55), 1.286–88 (56), 1.307–9 (57), 1.333–36 (58), 1.389–97 (60), 1.520–23 (64), 1.603 (66), 1.680–82 (68), 1.740–43 (70), 2.50–54 (72), 2.133–37 (74–75), 2.195–202 (76–77), 2.259–68 (78–79), 2.289–301 (79–80), 2.415–16 (83), 2.442–44 (84), 2.522–29 (87), and 2.559–64 (88).Google Scholar

107 Ibid., 1.50–72 (48–49), with the quoted words on 49; see also ibid., 1.177 (52), where Radbertus used the phrase “lex naturae uitiatae” to describe the postlapsarian normal mode of parturition; see also ibid., 1.265–68 (55–56): “quoniam haec lex nascendi quae nunc lex naturae uocatur ex uitio primae damnationis est.” Radbertus was less precise when he wrote, In Lamentationes 1.1627 (61): “quos una conditio ligat naturae una fiat uastitatis eius conpassio.” The general point about second or compromised nature Radbertus would have encountered in Augustine's De libero arbitrio, a work with which he was familiar. On this aspect of Augustine's thought see O'Connell, Robert, The Origin of the Soul in St. Augustine's Later Works (New York, 1987), 3031.Google Scholar

108 De partu 1.30–44 (48).Google Scholar

109 Ibid., 1.516–19 (63) and 2.329–34 (81).Google Scholar

110 Ibid., 1.55–56 (49). On Radbertus's treatment of Eve see Flanagan, Donal, “Eve in the Writings of Paschasius Radbertus,” Irish Theological Quarterly 34 (1967): 126–42, where the evidence of the Marian writings is considered at 135–36.Google Scholar

111 Be assumptione 5.33.260–62 (123); see also Sermones de assumptione 4 (258B), where Mary is called “reparatio Evae.” Google Scholar

112 For the quotations see De partu 1.640–41 and 648 (67); see also ibid., 1.71–77 (49) and 1.175–79 (52). Also, the “supereminens nouitas” of the “fecunditas … tota deifica est et uirginitas” that were in Mary, De assumptione 3.16–17.133–40 (116–17), might be taken to imply that her parturition was far different from anything Eve could have experienced, even had she and Adam not disobeyed God.Google Scholar

113 De assumptione 7.41.322–25 (127).Google Scholar

114 De partu 1.632 and 650 (67).Google Scholar

115 Sermones de assumptione 1 (246B–48 and 250A) for the Ark; see also 1 (248G–49A), where Radbertus wrote that in the burning bush Moses foresaw Mary's total consumption by the flame of the Holy Spirit.Google Scholar

116 De partu 1.657–74 (68), quoting Pseudo-Ambrose, , Hymn 88, 14 (ed. Walpole, A. S., Early Latin Hymns [Cambridge, 1922], 308–9); see also Sermones de assumptione 1 (241C): “uterus Virginis ac si hospitium fuit, ex quo Christus Deus ad nos, quasi sponsus de thalamo suo, potentia fortis ut gigas, exiit.” Google Scholar

117 Sermones de assumptione 2 (252A): “Haec est Virgo, in cujus utero omnis Ecclesia subarratur, conjuncta Deo foedere sempiterno creditur.” In this Radbertus may have followed Gregory the Great, 40 homiliarum in Evangelia libri duo 38.3 (PL 76:1283). The idea also appears in Augustine, Enarrationes in psalmos 18.6.25–27 (CCL 38 [Turnhout, 1956] 109), and Sermo 190 (PL 38:1007–8). See also De partu 2.530–39 (87), where Radbertus sided with Augustine, In Iohannis Euangelium 8.4 (ed. Willems, R., CCL 36 [Turnhout, 1954], 84), against Cyril of Alexandria, Scholia de incarnatione Unigeniti 1.5.17 (ed. Schwartz, E., Acta conciliorum oecumenicorum 1, 5 [Berlin, 1924/26], 198), who had maintained that the body of Christ should be understood as wedding chamber or temple. Radbertus either changed his view on this subject or was of two minds about it, because in De benedictionibus 1.715–20 (28), he referred to Christ's body as the wedding chamber of groom and Church. For Mary as the house of wisdom (Prov. 9:1) in which heavenly things marry earthly things, see De assumptione 15.97 (153–54); on this passage see Bonano, , “The Divine Maternity” (n. 74 above), 386; see also Sermones de assumptione 2 (251C and 253B); see also In Matheo 10.235–41 (56B, 1072).Google Scholar

118 De partu 2.73–86 (73), elaborating a brief comment of Cassiodorus, Expositio psalmorum 71.6 (ed. Adriaen, M., CCL 98 [Turnhout, 1958], 651–52).Google Scholar

119 De partu 2.88–137 (73–75).Google Scholar

120 Ibid., 1.320–27 (57).Google Scholar

121 De assumptione 9.59–60 (135–36); on this passage see Bonano, , “The Divine Maternity,” 391; for a similar passage see In Matheo 2.206–15 (56, 120); see also Sermones de assumptione 1 (242).Google Scholar

122 De assumptione 14.88–89 (149–50).Google Scholar

123 See Sermones de assumptione 3 (257A). Present emulation is distinct from fruitive vision in Sermones de assumptione 1 (245A and 246A), where “filiae” are enjoined to imitate Mary, but where the broader category of citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, who behold Mary in loving admiration, includes men, maidens, widows, and youths of both sexes. It is well to remember, as Catherine M. Mooney points out in the case of Clare of Assisi, that medieval nuns themselves may or may not have identified in particular with the Blessed Virgin Mary (“‘Imitatio Christi’ or ‘Imitatio Mariae’? Clare of Assisi and Her Interpreters,” in Gendered Voices: Medieval Saints and Their Interpreters , ed. eadem [Philadelphia, 1999], 5277). In the present context, since we possess only Radbertus's works dedicated to the nuns of Soissons, we are not in a position to determine the relative weight of the descriptive and the normative in them. By extension, caution is also in order when we evaluate Radbertus's view that Mary's body is especially relevant for nuns. As Amy Hollywood (“Inside Out: Beatrice of Nazareth and Her Hagiographer” [n. 38 above], 78–98) shows in the case of Beatrice of Nazareth, it is hazardous to assume that medieval women invariably accepted the commonplace equation of woman and body. For a similar reservation see Clark, Elizabeth A., “Women, Gender, and the Study of Christian History,” Church History 70 (2001): 395–426, at 407–11, whose discussion is based in part upon Amy Hollywood, The Soul as Virgin Wife: Mechthild of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete, and Meister Eckhart (South Bend, 1995).Google Scholar

124 De partu 1.1–5 (47) and 2.566–73 (88), where comparticipes appears at 2.568 (88); see also De assumptione 7.43 (127) and 9.56 (134).Google Scholar

125 De assumptione 16.101 (155); see also Sermones de assumptione 3 (257B) and In Psalmum 44 3.778–84 (98–99); all three passages rely upon Ambrose, , De virginibus 3.6–7 (ed. Cazzaniga, I. [Turin, 1948], 36).Google Scholar

126 De assumption 3.16–18 (116–17).Google Scholar

127 Ibid., 4.19–21 (118).Google Scholar

128 Ibid., 16.106 (157–58).Google Scholar

129 Ibid., 16.106.901–5 (157–58).Google Scholar

130 Ibid., 16.99.848 (155); 16.105.897 (157); 19.116.981 (161); see also Sermones de assumptione 1 (245B).Google Scholar

131 De assumptione 7.40 (126).Google Scholar

132 Ibid., 16.107 (158): “una est et forma uirginitatis in Maria, cui uos omnes, ut imaginem reformetis integritatis, faciem imprimere debetis in sculptura Spiritus Sancti, quoniam haec est ‘hortus conclusus, fons signatus, puteus aquarum uiuentium.’ Ad quam nulli potuerunt doli irrumpere, neque praeualuit fraus inimici, sed permansit sancta mente ac corpore, multis donorum priuilegiis sublimata. Idcirco hanc imitamini moribus, sequimini castitate, huius implorate auxilium.” Google Scholar

133 Ibid., 4.22 (118–19). Whether or not his references to the school of virtues and the school of Christ were intended to evoke the Regula sancti Benedicti, Prologue 45 (n. 21 above), 424: “Constituenda est ergo nobis dominici schola servitii,” it seems clear that Radbertus had in mind the widely accepted idea of the apostolic origin of the monastic life. But Radbertus's statement is insufficiently developed to qualify as either what de Vogüé has called the Alexandrian or the Jerusalem version of the origin of monasticism; see de Vogüé, Adalbert, “Monasticism and the Church in the Writings of Cassian,” Monastic Studies 3 (1965): 1951.Google Scholar

134 De assumptione 6.35 (124).Google Scholar

135 Ibid., 19.114–15 (161); see also Sermones de assumptione 1 (245A).Google Scholar

136 De assumptione 19.116 (161).Google Scholar

137 In Psalmum 44 1.167–204 (6–7).Google Scholar

138 Ibid., 1.544–66 (19).Google Scholar

139 Ibid., 3.525–55 (90–91). Like the Church as a whole, the nuns are “intus forisque gloriosa.” See ibid., 3.155–56 (78).Google Scholar

140 Ibid., 3.232–53 (80–81).Google Scholar

141 Ibid., 2.768–71 (54).Google Scholar

142 Ibid., 3.934–53 (104).Google Scholar

143 Ibid., 1.578–81 and 598–625 (20–21); 2.339–45 (44). Pliny, Naturalis historia 2.109 (Loeb Classical Library 330 [Cambridge, 1944], 250) and 22.57 (Loeb Classical Library 392 [Cambridge, 1961], 332). The heliotrope metaphor is one instance of Radbertus's idea that the divine object of love affects with itself the loving agent. Although he employed the heliotrope image instead of those of the chameleon or the fetus that Augustine had favored, Radbertus was aware of Augustine's reference to the lover's being assimilated to the object of his or her love. See De fide 2.7.855–93 (92), where Radbertus relied on Augustine, De diversis quaestionibus 83 35.2 (ed. Mutzenbecher, A., CCL 44A [Turnhout, 1975], 52–53). On the Augustinian background of the problem, and with reference to the images of chameleon and fetus, see Bell, David N., The Augustinian Spirituality of William of Saint Thierry (Kalamazoo, 1984), 61.Google Scholar Closely related to the heliotrope metaphor as image of the progressive assimilation of human lover and divine object of love are Radbertus's references to spiritual intoxication and to the wound of love. For the former, see In Lamentationes 2.1216–21 (119); 2.1570–74 (131); 3.879–85 (170); 4.535–47 (258–59); De corpore 10.48, 59, and 60 (67); 10.137–47 (71); 16.12–18 (97); De benedictionibus 2.953–58 (96). Radbertus's understanding of spiritual intoxication seems to depend directly or indirectly upon Origen's. See Lewky, Hans, Sobria Ebrietas: Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der antiken Mystik (Giessen, 1929).Google Scholar For the wound of love, see VA 24–26 (1520D–21C), where the Vetus Latina phrase “vulneratus charitate ego sum” appears at 1521A. For the Vulgate “amore langueo” see VA 78 (1547A); ibid., 26 (1522A), where the phrase “amore langueo” (Song of Sol. 5:8) is applied to Adalhard; In Psalmum 44 2.930–67 (60–61); In Lamentationes 3.747–62 (165); 4.1043–49 (275). Once again, the thought of Origen lies directly or indirectly behind this trope. See Crouzel, Henri, “Origines patristiques d'un thème mystique: le trait et la blessure d'amour chez Origène,” Kyriakon: Festschrift J. Quasten , 2 vols., ed. Granfield, P. and Jungmann, J. A. (Münster, 1970), 1:309–19.Google Scholar

144 In Matheo 3.1895 (56, 293).Google Scholar

145 De corpore 11.76–100 (75), a discussion that follows references to ordinate caritas (Song of Sol. 2:4), ibid., 11.48 (74), the Pauline concept of reform or change for the better (“in melius transmutatum”), ibid., 11.55 (74), and 1 Thess. 5:23, ibid., 11.70–71 (74).Google Scholar

146 In Matheo 1.2280–87 (56, 76–77), where Ps. 83:3 (“My heart and my flesh exult in the living Lord”) appears; see also ibid., 4.2834–47 (56, 450), for the contrast between hearing in the heart and speaking; see also ibid., 10.1054 (56A, 1097): “cor pro parte carnis accipitur.” Google Scholar

147 De Lubac, , “Tripartite Anthropology” (n. 46 above), 117.Google Scholar

148 De fide 3.5.467–99 (114–15).Google Scholar

149 For crying, repentance, and striving see In Lamentationes 4, Prologus 24–28 (240–41). For expelling the devil from the whole subject see In Matheo 8.1925–32 (56A, 856).Google Scholar

150 Epitaphium 1.20 (50).Google Scholar

151 Radbertus's main discussion of “ordinata caritas” is De fide 3.8 (120) and refers to Song of Sol. 2:4.Google Scholar

152 In Matheo 10.1060–94 (56B, 1097–98).Google Scholar

153 De fide 3.11.965–67 (129); In Matheo 1.2677–81 (56, 90).Google Scholar

154 De fide 3.8.681–91 (121).Google Scholar

155 Ibid., 3.9.798–800 (124).Google Scholar

156 Rahner, Karl, “Le début d'une doctrine des cinq sens spirituels chez Origène,” Revue d'ascétique et de mystique 13 (1931): 113–45; English trans, in idem, Theological Investigations 16 (London, 1979), 81–103. A good example of Radbertus's debt to this tradition occurs In Matheo 11.2622–30 (56B, 1230).Google Scholar

157 In Matheo 1.2673–2709 (56, 90–91).Google Scholar

158 Ibid., 1.2704–9 (56, 91); see also De corpore 10.131–54 (70–71), where the heavenly nourishment of the Eucharist is compared to Elijah's miraculous nourishment and to the intoxicating cup (Ps. 22:5) of the Holy Spirit. In all three cases, “nostra accipientium praeparanda sunt corda, ut tali epulo refecti ad altiora in fortitudine transeamus.” Google Scholar

159 Epistola 105–9 (148). See also De corpore 2.38–39 (21), for “spiritalia sacramenta palato mentis et gustu fidei digne percipere.” See also VA 63 (1540B), and In Matheo 6 Prefatio 13 (56A, 554), for other references to “palatum cordis.” For background see Posset, Franz, “Sensing God with the ‘Palate of the Heart’ according to Augustine and Other Spiritual Authors,” American Benedictine Review 49 (1998): 356–86; see also Penco, Gregorio, “La dottrina dei sensi spirituali in S. Gregorio,” Benedictina 17 (1970): 161–201, at 168–69 and 173 n. 93; for some references in the works of Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Jean of Fécamp, see Leclercq, Jean and Bonnes, Jean-Paul, Un mâitre de la vie spirituelle au XI e siècle: Jean de Fécamp, Études de théologie et d'histoire de la spiritualité 9 (Paris, 1946), 99 n. 3.Google Scholar

160 On this general topic, see Leclercq, Jean, Otia Monastica: Études sur le vocabulaire de la contemplation au moyen âge , Studia Anselmiana 51 (Rome, 1963). Catry, “Amour du monde et amour de Dieu” (n. 87 above), 75, notes that Gregory the Great admitted that it was possible to “vacare soli Deo” in an interior way while at the same time being involved in an external way with earthly responsibilities. Indeed, Catry (ibid., 62) points out that for Gregory the Great, just as the carnal human being is never truly at rest even when at rest, the spiritual human being is at rest even when attending to earthly affairs.Google Scholar

161 Cicero, , De officiis 3.1 (Loeb Classical Library 30 [Cambridge, 1913], 271), which Radbertus quoted twice, Expositio in Psalmum 44 1.28–39, 1–2, and In Matheo 11 Prologue 5–14 (56B, 1149). See also Epitaphium 1.4 (26), where Radbertus explained that for Abbot Wala being at leisure to regard God attentively was compatible with activity undertaken for the sake of neighbor; he was intent upon God even while involved in administrative affairs. See Leclercq, , Otia Monastica, 72 and 78.Google Scholar

162 In Matheo 11 Prologue 1 (56B, 1149), for Aeneid 10.63; VA 42 (1531B), where Radbertus quoted Georgics 2.467–68, as noted by Leclerq, Otia Monastica, 75.Google Scholar

163 VA 40 (1530C).Google Scholar

164 Ibid., 30 and 38 (1523D–24A and 1529C, respectively). On the hard commandment to suffer for righteousness' sake, see In Mattheo 3.2183–88 and 2231–82 (56, 302 and 304–5, respectively).Google Scholar

165 VA 39 (1529D–30A).Google Scholar

166 VA 4042 (1530B-31B). This was a deeper version of Adalhard's earlier inward withdrawal into the presence of God. See ibid., 27–28 (1522C–D), where the key phrases are “secum totus ingrediebatur, ut totus Deo ac sibi adesset” and “ille soli Deo vacaret.” Google Scholar

167 VA 44 (1532): “‘Nostra autem conversatio in coelis esse creditur: idcirco quae sursum sunt sapimus, et non quae super terram. Mortui enim sumus cum Christo, et vita nostra cum eo in coelis est abscondita; ut cum Christus apparuerit vita nostra, tunc et nos simul cum eo appareamus in gloria.’ His et hujuscemodi verbis ad petram quae Christus est fratrum animos solidabat, ut quia inter fluctus marinos extra mundum positi uidebantur, spe quam velut anchorum habemus, coelo profundius firmarentur.” Google Scholar

168 Ibid., 40 (1530C).Google Scholar

169 Ibid., 43 (1531), where his immoderate concern for the salvation of his tormentors, “dolore suffusus nimio lamento,” seems to echo the “nimietas” of Christ's sorrow over the death of Lazarus (ibid., 4 [1509D]), as well as the “prae amore nimio,” with which Adalhard longed for heaven (ibid., 26 [1521D]). Earlier (ibid., 24 [1520D–21A]), Radbertus had remarked Adalhard's compassionate tendency to treat the misfortune of others as if it were his own. His immoderate concern for others reflects the fifth beatitude (In Mattheo 3.1829–47 [56, 291]).Google Scholar

170 De fide 3.7.621–24 (119). This reflects Christ's treatment of the Apostle Peter (In Matheo 8.2237–50 [56A, 804]); Peter's oscillating faith appears again in De fide 1.13.1749–61 (57).Google Scholar

171 VA 4041 (1530).Google Scholar

172 Ibid., 47 (1533): “contraque prae nimio amore ingenti animo lacrymabant, lacrymando quoque vix eum dimittere cogebantur.” Google Scholar