Wandelbert
Wandelbert
Benedictine monk and theological writer, born in 813; died at Prüm after 850. Little is known of his personal history. He was apparently a native of France, and in 839 he was already a monk at Prum. About this date Abbot Markward commissioned him to rewrite the old life of St. Goar and to supplement it by an account of the miracles worked by the saint. The life Wandelbert wrote is not without historical value. He composed his second work, a martyrology in verse that was finished about 848, at the request of Otrich, a priest of Cologne, and with the aid of his friend Florus of Lyons. The martyrology is based on earlier ones, particularly that of the Venerable Bede. The arrangement follows the calendar, and a brief account is given for each day of the life and death of one or more saints. Together with the martyrology are poems on the months and their signs, on the various kinds of agricultural labour, the seasons for hunting, fishing, cultivation of fruit, of the fields, and of vineyards, and the church Hours. The poetry is, in general, uniform and monotonous, the most graceful passages are various descriptions of nature. Wandelbert also wrote a (lost) work on the Mass.
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P.L., CXXI, 575-674; Histoire Litteraire de la France, V (Paris, 1740), 377-83; MANITIUS, Gesch. der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, I (Munich, 1911), 557-60.
KLEMENS LOFFLER Transcribed by Michael T. Barrett
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XVCopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Wandelbert
a saint of German extraction, was born A.D. 813, and became a monk in the monastery of Prm. He was a learned theologian and Latin scholar, whose attainments not only won for him the position of master in the school of his convent, but also gave him literary celebrity and earned for him the notice of the emperor Louis the Pious. Wandelbert was a devoted educator and scholar, and also a busy writer. He left numerous works at his death, both in prose and verse, only two of which are still extant. The first, entitled Vita et Miracula S. Goaris Presbyteri, was published at Mayence in 1489, and afterwards incorporated by Surius and Mabillon in their respective Acta. It originated in the desire to perpetuate the fame of St; Goar, whose cell on the Rhine was given to the monastery of Prm by kings Pepin and Charlemagne, and is valuable for a correct apprehension of the conditions of Carlovingian times. The second work; a Martyrologium, is more important.
It was written in verse, and completed about A.D. 850. A preface in prose was prefixed, which describes the different meters employed by him, but otherwise not in general use in his age; and upon this follow six lyrics whose burden is the invocation of God, an address to the reader, a dedication to the emperor Lothlaire, a statement of the plan of the work, and a survey of the different parts of the year. The martyrology itself begins with Jan. 1, and describes in brief the life, character, and death of one or more saints for each day in the year. The conclusion of the work is made by Hymnus in Omnes Sanctos in Sapphic verse; and two other hymns on the seasons and pastoral occupations, etc., in heroic verse. These poems cannot be regarded as successful essays in poetry so much as- they must be considered noteworthy productions of the learned culture of that time. The martyrology, unaccompanied by the minor poems above described, was first published in 1536 by Bede, and afterwards by Molanus, in Usuard, and completely by D’Achery, in the Spicilegium, 5, 305 sq. Wandelbert died probably in the year 870. See Trithemius, De Scriptoribus Eccl. p. 281 sq.; Oudinus, Comment. de Scriptoribus, 2, 149 sq.; Fabricius, Bibl. Med. et Inf. Latin. 6:314 sq.; Hist. Lit. de la France, 5, 377 sq.; Bihr, Gesch. d. rom. Lit. in karol. Zeitalter, 114 sq., 229 sq.; Schrckh, Kirchengesch. 23:215 sq.; Rettberg, Kirchengesch. Deutschlands, 1, 465, 482. Herzog, Real-Encyclop. s.v.