Ebbo (2)
Ebbo
(EBO)
Archbishop of Reims, b. towards the end of the eighth century; d. 20 March, 851. Though born of German serfs, he was educated at the court of Charlemagne who gave him his liberty. After his elevation to the priesthood he became librarian of Louis le Débonnaire and was his councillor in the government of Aquitaine. When Louis became emperor he appointed Ebbo archbishop of the vacant See of Reims in 816. Acting on the suggestion of the emperor, he went to Rome in 822, in order to obtain permission from Pope Paschal I to preach the Gospel to the Danes. The pope not only gave his sanction but also appointed Ebbo papal legate for the North. In company with a certain Halitgar, probably the one who was Bishop of Cambrai (817-831), and Willerich, Bishop of Bremen, he set out for Denmark in the spring of 823, and after preaching with some success during the following summer he returned to France in the autumn of the same year. Twice again he returned to Denmark, but each time his stay was of short duration and without any lasting effect on the pagan Danes whose Christianization was brought about a few years later by St. Ansgar. When, in 830, the sons of the emperor rose in rebellion against their father, Ebbo supported the emperor; but three years later he turned against him and on 13 November, 833, presided at the shameful scene enacted in the Church of St. Mary at Soissons, where the aged emperor was deposed and compelled to perform public penance for crimes which he had not committed. As a reward for this disgraceful act Ebbo received the rich Abbey of St. Vaast from Lothaire. He continued to support the rebellious Lothaire even after Louis had been solemnly reinstated in March, 834. Being prevented by a severe attack of the gout from following Lothaire to Italy he took refuge in the cell of a hermit near Paris, but was found out and sent as prisoner to the Abbey of Fulda. On 2 February, 835, he appeared at the Synod of Thionville, where in the presence of the emperor and forty-three bishops he solemnly declared the monarch innocent of the crimes of which he had accused him at Soissons, and on 28 February, 835, made a public recantation from the pulpit of the cathedral of Metz.
Returning to the synod at Thionville, Ebbo was deposed by the emperor and the assembled bishops and brought back as prisoner to the Abbey of Fulda. Somewhat later he was given in custody to Bishop Fréculf of Lisieux and afterwards to Abbot Boso of Fleury. When Lothair became emperor, Ebbo was restored to the See of Reims, in December, 840, but a year later, when Charles the Bald invaded the north-eastern part of France, he was again driven from his see. Many had considered Ebbo’s reinstatement by Lothair unlawful, and Hincmar, who became Archbishop of Reims in 845, refused to recognize the ordinations administered by him after his reinstatement. The Council of Soissons (853) declared the ordinations invalid. There seems to be little doubt that the pseudo-Isidorian Decretals have as their author one of the ecclesiastics ordained by Ebbo after his reinstatement. Ebbo found shelter at the court of Lothair, who gave him the incomes of several abbeys and used him for various legations. In 844 Ebbo requested Pope Sergius II to restore him to the See of Reims but was admitted only to lay communion. A few other attempts to regain his former see were likewise unsuccessful. When Lothair could make no further use of Ebbo he discarded him, but Ebbo found a supporter in Louis the German, who appointed him Bishop of Hildesheim some time between April, 845, and October, 847. Ebbo is the author of the “Apologeticul Ebbonis”, a short apologetic narrative of his deposition and reinstatement. It is published in Mansi, “Amplissima Collectio Conciliorum”, XIV, 775-9, and in Migne, P.L., CXVI, 11-16.
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MICHAEL OTT. Transcribed by Gerald M. Knight
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VCopyright © 1909 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, May 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Ebbo
archbishop of Rheims, was the son of a Saxon serf, and was born about 775, or, according to other accounts, about 786. While a boy he became known to the young king Louis, the son of Charlemagne, who sent him to a convent school, and had him educated for the ministry. As he belonged to a serf family, and could not receive orders, Louis set him free, after which he was ordained. After the accession of Louis to the throne, Ebbo’s influence rapidly rose, and in 817 the king secured his election as archbishop of Rheims. Soon after, in 822, he placed himself at the head of a mission to the Danes. His plan highly pleased both the king and the Pope. The Danish king Harald allowed him to preach Christianity, but refused to become a Christian himself. Many Danes were baptized; but, owing to some threatening movements against Harald, Ebbo in 823 returned to the emperor, and at the Diet of Compiegne made a full report on his mission. Soon after he undertook a second missionary visit to Denmark, at which he disposed the king favorably towards Christianity. In 826, the king, with his wife, his oldest son, his nephew, and a suite of 400 men, came to the emperor’s court at Mayence and was baptized. The mission in Denmark was now placed under Ansgar, and Ebbo returned to his archbishopric. He took an active part in the affairs of the state, and in the war of the sons of Louis against their father, he, with most of the bishops, took side with the sons. He presided at the assembly of bishops which in 833 compelled Louis to do public penance, as such an act, according to the laws of the Church, made him unfit to bear arms. But when, in 834, Louis regained his power, Ebbo was arrested and kept a prisoner in the convent of Fulda. He was brought before the Diet of Diedenhofen in 835, and confessed himself guilty of offenses which, in the opinion of the judges, made him unfit for any further administration of his office. He was again confined in the convent of Fulda, where he remained until the death of Louis in 840. He then prevailed upon Lothaire, who made an attempt to possess himself of the whole empire of his father, to reinstate him as archbishop of Rheims (December 6, 840). In May, 841, king Charles, the brother of Lothaire, again expelled him; and as, at the conclusion of peace, Lothaire did not take a special interest in Ebbo, he lost his archbishopric forever. In the last years of his life, king Louis of Germany appointed him, with permission of the Pope, administrator of the diocese of Hildesheim. He died March 20th, 851. Ebbo compiled an Indiculum Ebbonis de ministris Remensis ecclesiae, an instruction for the clergy of his diocese as to their mode of life, and an Apologia Archiepiscopi Remensis cum ejusdem ad gentes septentrionales legatione. They are of small size and no value. Herzog, Real-Encyklop. 19:447; Wetzer u.Welte, Kirchen-Lex. 3:349. (A.J.S.)
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Ebbo (2)
(Lat. Ebulus), twenty-ninth bishop of Limoges, cir. A.D. 752.