applied himself to study, and spent his days in acquiring a knowledge of such literature as was accessible to a student of that age and country. He was well acquainted with Latin and Greek, and partially with Hebrew, medicine, astronomy, and prosody. After having gone through his ordinary exercises of piety, said Mass, recited his divine office, and devoted some time to the study of Holy Scripture, he found his greatest pleasure in adding something to his store of secular knowledge, in teaching and in composing. Among his writings are homilies, lives of saints, hymns, epigrams, treatises on chronology and grammar, and commentaries on the books of the Old and New Testaments. His calm and gentle disposition, the humanizing character of his pursuits, his benevolence and holiness of life, are in striking contrast with the din of battle and the savage fury of the tempest that raged at this time over the fair face of all England. He was truly a light shining out in the midst of darkness. His writings have secured for him the distinction of an unquestionable pre-eminence in the ancient literature of Britain, and the reputation of having been, in all probability, the most learned man of the world in his age.

The death of this great scholar and saint of the Church was of a piece with his preceding life. During the fourteen days previous to this sad event, and while enduring the pain of a malignant disease, he was employed in translating the Gospel of St. John into the Anglo-Saxon tongue, and in teaching youth. Even when his disease grew so violent that he could breathe only with great difficulty, he still continued to teach during the whole day; and, on the very day of his death, dictated to an amanuensis, and urged his scholars to learn quickly, saying: "Make haste and learn; I know not how long I shall be with you, or whether God will not shortly take me to himself." He died May 26, A. D. 735, while singing the words of the doxology, Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, and surrounded by his disciples and the priests of the monastery, to the latter of whom his last words were an earnest entreaty to say the Holy Mass devoutly, and to pray for his soul. He was buried in the monastery of Jarrow,

whence his bones were removed, in the middle of the eleventh century, to Durham.1

1

§ 172. Labors of Charlemagne for the Diffusion of Knowledge.

Thomassini 1. c., Pt. II., lib. I., c. 96-100. F. Lorentz, Life of Alcuin, Halle, 1829. Schulte, de Caroli M. in literarum studia meritis, Monast. 1826. Bähr, de literarum studiis a Carolo M. revocatis ac schola Palatina instaurata, Heidelberg, 1856. By the same author: Hist. of Roman Literature in the Carlovingian Age, Carlsruhe, 1840.

Although St. Boniface has the honor of having been the first to awaken a desire and cultivate a taste for scientific studies in the inhabitants of the Frankish Empire, still the rapid and general diffusion of knowledge was especially due to the generous encouragement and intelligent efforts of Charlemagne. He gathered about him, in his own court, a second band of distinguished scholars, who, unlike those in England, and formerly in France, were neither Romans nor Greeks, but for the most part Germans. Charlemagne had acquired a taste for letters and intellectual pursuits during his stay in Italy, but being now at an advanced age, and having passed his life in the profession of arms, be realized with pain that the hand which had wielded the sword with so much vigor was but ill adapted to the exercises of the pen. But, while unable himself to make any considerable progress in learning, he zealously stimulated the desire in others, and seized every opportunity to promote its advancement. He induced Peter of Pisa, and Paulinus, Patriarch of Aquileia (†A. D. 804), to leave Italy and take up their residence at his court. At the request of Desiderius, King of the Lombards, Paul Warnefried, or Paulus Diaconus, of the abbey of Monte Cassino, became his master of Greek, won his confidence, and, with only temporary interruptions, retained his friendship until his own death, which occurred A. D. 799. But, of all those learned men whom Charlemagne had attracted to his

2

1See Chambers' Cyclopaedia, art. Beda or Bede.—Bishop Ullathorne, of Birmingham, stoutly maintains that the bones of Venerable Bede are still resting at Durham; while the Benedictine monks of Subiaco no less stoutly maintain that his relics were, after the Reformation, first brought to Gibraltar, and were subsequently transferred to Subiaco, where they are actually venerated. (TR.)

court, none possessed nearly so much influence over his mind as the English monk Alcuin, formerly the head master of the school of York, and incomparably the greatest scholar of his age. Prudently availing himself of the influence which, as friend and counselor, he possessed with the Emperor, he reorganized the Schola Palatina, established in the vicinity of the imperial palace, for the education of the youth of the higher ranks, upon a new basis, and established others at all the cathedrals and cloisters of the empire, in which a complete curriculum of studies, embracing the so-called seven liberal arts, was adopted. This consisted of the Trivium, comprehending grammar, dialectics, and rhetoric, and the Quadrivium, comprehending arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The disquisitions of Martianus Capella and Cassiodorus, based upon models left by the educators who had preceded them, exercised no inconsiderable influence upon the organization of schools of learning. Toward the close of his life, Alcuin wished to withdraw from the bustle of court and the distraction of temporal concerns to prepare, in quiet, for his departure from this world. But, though the Emperor acceded to his request in so far as to release him from immediate and laborious service, he still wished him to aid, by his advice, the work to which so many days of his life had been consecrated. The abbotship of the monastery of St. Martin, at Tours, having become vacant, in the year 796, it was conferred upon Alcuin, who, however, shortly after, conscious of the approach of death, and desiring to be free from all care, resigned it in favor of one of his disciples. He had often expressed a wish, during the last years of his life, to die on the feast of Pentecost, which God, whom he had so faithfully served, was graciously pleased to grant. He departed this life May 19, A. D. 804.

1

Alcuin, after he had become abbot of St. Martin's, estab

1 A resumé, containing substantially everything of importance relating to the seven liberal arts, is to be found in Terentius Varro, Cicero's friend; more definitely in St. Augustine, viz., in his works de ordine et doctrina christiana, and likewise in the fantastic treatise of another African, Martianus Capella, de nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, de septem artibus liberalibus, libb. IX., ed. Kopp, Frcf. 1836; ed. Eissenhardt, Lips. 1866.

lished a school at Tours, whence issued such men as Amalarius of Treves; Rabanus of Mentz; Hetto, Abbot of Fulda; Haimon, Bishop of Halberstadt, and Samuel of Worms.

Besides the schools already mentioned, there were many others in a flourishing condition at this period, or shortly after. Such were those of Orleans, Toulouse, Lyons, Rheims, Corbie, Aniane, Saint-Germain-d'Auxerre, Saint-Gall, Reichenau, Hirsau, Fulda, Utrecht, Mentz, New-Corbie (Corvey on the Aller), Treves, and others.

In these retreats of learning, where the reason was severely exercised, the intellectual faculties trained to quick apprehension and subtle distinction, and the heart fed and warmed by the writings attributed to Denys the Areopagite, which were now coming into general favor, might be discerned—faintly, indeed, but unmistakably-the elements which produced that long race of laborious Schoolmen and Mystics who became so prominent during the Middle Ages.

A tolerably correct idea of the degree of excellence reached in scientific studies and literature, in this epoch, may be had from the various treatises, writings, and ecclesiastical hymns that have come down to us from the scholars and poets of that age.2

2

There can be no doubt that the primary motive which stimulated Charlemagne to found and protect schools was the formation of a learned and efficient body of clergy. This, however, need excite no surprise, as religion was then the center of all that constituted intellectual and spiritual life. But the education of the people was by no means neglected, as is proved by the case of Theodulph, Bishop of Or

1 Alcuini opp. ed. Frobenius, Ratisb. 1776 sq., 2 T. f., in Migne's ser. lat., T. 99-101. They contain 232 important letters, lives of saints, poems, treatises, and extend over almost all branches of human knowledge.

2 We remind the reader but of the following: Prayer to God, "Rex Deus immensi quo constat," by Eugenius of Toledo († 637); "Crudelis Herodes, Deun regem venire quid times," and "Ad regias Agni dapes," by Sedulius (Sheil, an Irishman.—TR.); of the Holy Innocents, "Hymnum canentes martyrum," by Beda the Venerable; Hymn on St. John B., "Ut queant laxis resonare fibris,” by Paulus Diaconus; to God, "Te homo laudet," by Alcuin; "Veni creator spiritus," pretendedly by Charlemagne; the anthem for Palm Sunday, "Gloria, laus et honor," by Theodulph of Orleans.

leans († a. D. 821), a zealous co-laborer of Charlemagne in the cause of learning, who founded primary schools1 in his diocese for the benefit of his flock, and it was not long before many followed his example.2

§ 173. First Heresies—Adelbert and Clement-Adoptionism.

I. Elipandi epp. ad Fidelem abbatem; ad Carolum M. (in Florez, España Sagrada, T. V., an. 1751 and again 1859); ad Alcuinum; ad Felicem (nuper conversum). Beati et Etherii de adoptione Filii Dei advers. Elipand., libb. II. (Canisii lectt. antiq., T. II., Pt. I., p. 279 sq., and Galland. bibl., T. XIII., p. 290 sq. Migne, ser. lat., T. 96.) Alcuini libell. advers. haeres. Felicis; ep. ad Felicem; advers. Felic., lib. VII.; advers. Elipand., lib. IV. (opp. ed. Froben., T. II.) Paulini Aquilejensis sacrosyllabus et cont. Felic., libb. III. (opp. ed. Madrisius. Venet. 1787 fol.) Agobardi archiep. Lugdun. advers. dogma Felic. (opp. ed. Baluzius, Paris. 1666.) in bibl. max. Lugd. T. XIII. et XIV.; in Migne, ser. lat. T. 99–101. Letters and Documents in Mansi, T. XIII. Harduin, T. IV., p. 863 sq. German in Rösler's Library of the Fathers of the Church, Pt. X., p. 569–590. Hefele, Hist. of Councils, Vol. III., p. 601–654. Werner, Hist. of Apolog. and Polem. Literat., Vol. II., p. 433 sq.

II. Madrisii dissert. de Felicis et Elipandi haeresi, in his ed. opp. Paulini. Fr. Walch, Hist. Adoptianor., Götting. 1755. Frobenii dissert. de haeres. Elip. et Felic. (opp. Alcuini, T. I.) Relatio historica de ortu et progressu haeresium, praesertim vero Augusto-Vindelicor., Ingolst. 1654. Walch, Hist. of Heretics, Pt. IX., p. 667 sq. Against him, Enhueber, dissertat. dogmat. hist. quae contra Christ. Walchium adoptionis in Christo homine assertores, Felicem et Elip. merito ab Alcuino Nestorianismi fuisse petitos ostenditur (in Alcuini opp., T. I., etc.; in Migne, T. 101, p. 337-438). Seiters, Boniface, p. 418 sq. Helfferich, Visigothic Arianism, Hist. of Spanish Heretics, Berlin, 1860, p. 86-151.

About the year 744, when St. Boniface was in the very midst of his labors and the full tide of success, he encountered a most formidable opponent in a Frank by the name of Adelbert.

1 His indefatigable activity is most conspicuous in his capitulare ad parochiae suae sacerdotes, a. D. 797, in Harduin, T. IV., p. 913 sq. Mansi, T. XIII., p. 995 sq.

2 A circular of Charlemagne, addressed to all the bishops and abbots in 788, recommends the erection of these schools, "constitutio de scholis per singula Episcopia et monasteria instituendis." Capitul. Aquisgr. a. 789, c. 70: Non solum servilis conditionis infantes, sed etiam ingenuorum filios adgregent (canonici et monachi) sibique socient. Et ut scholae legentium puerorum fiant, Psalmos, notas, cantus, computum, grammaticam per singula monasteria vel episcopia discant. Sed et libros catholicos bene emendatos habeant, quia saepe dum bene aliquid Deum rogare cupiunt, per inemendatos libros male rogant. (Baluz., T. I., p. 173.)