Abbo of Fleury

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La Reole in Gascony
Venerated inCatholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast13 November

Abbo or Abbon of Fleury (

Latin: Abbo Floriacensis; c. 945 – 13 November 1004), also known as Saint Abbo or Abbon, was a monk and abbot of Fleury Abbey in present-day Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire near Orléans, France.[1]

Life

Abbo was born near

Archbishop Oswald of York in restoring the monastic system. He was also abbot and director of the school of this newly founded monastery from 986 to 987.[3]

Abbo returned to Fleury in 988, where he was selected as its abbot after Abbot Oilbold's death.

Arnulf, Archbishop of Reims was tried for treason and deposed, to make way for Gerbert. Arnulf of Orléans
, with whom Abbo feuded over monastic reform from 988 until 994, also attended the conference.

In 996 King

see of Reims. He was influential in calming the excitement and fear about the end of the world which was widespread in Europe in 1000.[4]

In 1004 he attempted to restore discipline in the monastery of La Réole, in Gascony, by transferring some of the monks of Fleury into that community. But the trouble increased; fighting began between the two parties and when Abbo endeavoured to separate them he was pierced in the side by a lance. He concealed the wound and reached his cell, where he died in the arms of his faithful disciple Aimoin, who has left an account of his labours and virtues. The miracles wrought at his tomb soon caused the Church of Gaul to regard him as a saint and martyr, although he does not seem to have been canonized by Rome officially. His feast is kept on 13 November.

Works

During his time in England, Abbo learned of the martyrdom of

computus, the computation of the date of Easter; an Epitome de XCI Romanorum Pontificum Vitis (book on the lives of Roman popes, which is an abridgement of the earlier Liber Pontificalis), a Collectio Canonum, with clarifications about topics of Canon Law, and other treatises on controversial topics and letters. Around 980 to 985, he wrote a commentary on the "Calculus" of Victorius of Aquitaine, before the introduction of Arabic numerals, when calculations were often quite complex. The wide range of Abbo's thought is reflected in the commentary, covering the nature of wisdom, the philosophy of numbers, the relationship of unity and plurality, and the arithmetic of the Calculus. Abbo drew on his knowledge of grammar, logic and cosmology to illustrate his arguments, and set it all in the broader context of his theology of Creation. Most of Abbo's works can be found in the Patrologia Latina
(CXXXIX, 375–582).

There is one contemporary biography, written by his disciple Aimoin, in which much of Abbo's correspondence was reproduced. It is of great importance, including as a historical source of information about the reign of

Papacy
.

Richard W. Pfaff sums up Abbo's achievements as follows: "One of the most versatile thinkers and writers of his time, Abbo put his mark on several areas of medieval life and thought, but none more so than in transmitting much that was valuable from the tradition of reformed French monasticism to the nascent monastic culture of late tenth-century England."[5]

References

Citations

  1. .
  2. ^ a b Schaff, Philip. "Abbo of Fleury", The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. I, Funk & Wagnalls, 1949
  3. ^ “Saint Abbo of Fleury”. Saints.SQPN.com. 13 November 2009. Web. {2012-9-29}. <http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-abbo-of-fleury
  4. ^ Campbell, Thomas. "St. Abbon." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 19 Sept. 2012 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01015b.htm>.
  5. ^ Richard W. Pfaff, ‘Abbo of Fleury (St Abbo of Fleury) (945x50–1004)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 13 April 2012.

Bibliography