Ratherius (887–890 AD – 974 AD) or Rathier or Rather of
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...
was a teacher, writer, and bishop. His difficult personality and political activities led to his becoming an exile and a wanderer.
Early life and career
He was born sometime between 887 and 890 AD into a noble family in the territory of
Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far fro ...
. While still a boy, Ratherius was sent as an
oblate
In Christianity (especially in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Methodist traditions), an oblate is a person who is specifically dedicated to God or to God's service.
Oblates are individuals, either laypersons or clergy, normally liv ...
to
Lobbes Abbey
Lobbes Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Wallonia in the municipality of Lobbes, Hainaut, Belgium. The abbey played an important role in the religious, political and religious life of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, especially around the yea ...
, belonging to the
Order of Saint Benedict
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict ( la, Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated as OSB), are a monastic religious order of the Catholic Church following the Rule of Saint Benedict. They are also sometimes called the Black Monk ...
in the
County of Hainaut
The County of Hainaut (french: Comté de Hainaut; nl, Graafschap Henegouwen; la, comitatus hanoniensis), sometimes spelled Hainault, was a territorial lordship within the medieval Holy Roman Empire that straddled what is now the border of Belg ...
. He was a diligent student and later became a monk there. At an early age, he was described as being restless, difficult to get along with, ambitious, and overly zealous. Consequently, despite his strict orthodoxy, wide learning, and good conduct, he met with difficulties in every position he assumed and failed to attain lasting success. He spent his life wandering fruitlessly.
[ As presiding bishop, he once commented that if he attempted to enforce the canons against unchaste persons who administered ecclesiastical rites, the Church would be without anyone except boys. Furthermore, if he put into effect canons against bastards, they would also be excluded.
When Abbot Hilduin of Lobbes went in to Italy in 926, he took Ratherius with him as a companion. Hilduin's cousin, ]Hugh of Italy
Hugh (c. 880–947), known as Hugh of Arles or Hugh of Provence, was the king of Italy from 926 until his death. He belonged to the Bosonid family. During his reign, he empowered his relatives at the expense of the aristocracy and tried to estab ...
was the current king, and after many difficulties, Ratherius received the Diocese of Verona from him in 931. Yet he only ruled his see for two years, soon quarrelling with members of his diocese and with the king. The king sent him to prison and had him brought to Como
Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como.
Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps ...
; in 939 he escaped from Como into Provence
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...
, becoming a tutor in a noble family until he returned to the Abbey of Lobbes in 944.[
In 946 he traveled again to Italy and, after being held for some time as a prisoner by ]Berengar II of Italy
Berengar II ( 900 – 4 August 966) was the King of Italy from 950 until his deposition in 961. He was a scion of the Anscarid and Unruoching dynasties, and was named after his maternal grandfather, Berengar I. He succeeded his father as Marg ...
, (opponent of King Hugo), regained the Diocese of Verona. The difficulties that arose were again so great that after two years he fled to Germany and for some time wandered about the country. He took part in the expedition to invade Lombardy with Liudolf, Duke of Swabia
Liudolf ( – 6 September 957), a member of the Ottonian dynasty, was Duke of Swabia from 950 until 954. His rebellion in 953/54 led to a major crisis of the rising German kingdom.
Liudolf was the only son of the Saxon duke Otto the Great, s ...
, the son of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of He ...
, but was unable to regain his diocese; so in 952, he returned again to Lobbes.[
From Lobbes Abbey, Ratherius was called to the cathedral school of ]Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
by Archbishop Bruno of Cologne
Bruno of Cologne, O.Cart. (german: Bruno von Köln, it, Bruno di Colonia;c. 1030 – 6 October 1101), venerated as Saint Bruno, was the founder of the Carthusian Order. He personally founded the order's first two communities. He was a celebrate ...
who in 953, gave Ratherius the Diocese of Liège
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
. However, as early as 955, a revolt against him by the nobility obliged Ratherius to give up this see, and he retired to Aulne Abbey
Aulne Abbey was a Cistercian monastery located in Wallonia between Thuin and Landelies on the Sambre in the Bishopric of Liège in Belgium, now a Walloon Heritage Site.
History
It was originally founded as a Benedictine monastery in 656 on the b ...
. In 962 the Diocese of Verona was restored to him by Emperor Otto but after seven years of constant quarrels he was obliged once more to withdraw. In 968 he went to Lobbes, where he incited such opposition against the Abbot Folcwin
Saint Folcwin ( la, Folquinus, Folcwinus, Folcvinus; Old Dutch: ''*Folkwin''; French : Folquin, date of birth unknown, died 855 AD in Esquelbecq) was a Frankish abbot, cleric and Bishop of Thérouanne (appointed 816). He was a contemporary of No ...
that Bishop Notker of Liège restored order by force, and in 972 sent Ratherius back to the Abbey of Aulne, where he remained until his death at Namur
Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration.
Na ...
on 25 April 974.
Works
Ratherius was also a fine preacher: one of his strengths was his skill in reviving old ideas and making them new again[ He was one of the first to employ the use of ]fable
Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular m ...
s to illustrate his sermons, and respected ordinary intelligence, speaking against "swollen rhetoric
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate par ...
".
His writings are as unsystematic as his life was changeable and tumultuous. While his style is confused and lacks clarity, his writings generally made reference to particular occasions, and were pamphlets and invectives against his contemporaries. He also wrote complaints against himself in his own affairs.[ In one of his Verona sermons, Rather mentions reading the Latin poet ]Catullus
Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His ...
in 966, which makes him a figure in the tenuous transmission of Catullus medieval manuscripts.
While imprisoned in Pavia
Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the ...
, Ratherius wrote ''Praeloquia'', a treatise
A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions." Tre ...
in six books about holy living and the profane condition of the Italian bishops, criticizing all social ranks of the period.[
His other writings include:][
* ''Conclusio deliberativa'', and ''Phrensis'' (twelve books composed during a later time of strife, when Ratherius had been forced to relinquish the ]episcopal see
An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...
of Verona), both in defense of his right to the Diocese of Liège
* ''Dialogus confessionum'' and ''Qualitatis conjunctura'', a self-accusation
* ''De contemptu canonum, Synodica, Discordia inter ipsum et clericos'', and ''Liber apologeticus'', against the ecclesiastics of his era and in defence of himself
Some of his sermons and letters have also been preserved. The writings shine light upon his era. His works were edited by the brothers Ballerini (Verona, 1765); also in ''Patrologia Latina
The ''Patrologia Latina'' (Latin for ''The Latin Patrology'') is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1841 and 1855, with indices published between ...
'', CXXXVI. Unedited letters are to be found in ''Studi e documenti di storia e diritto'' (1903) 51–72.[
]
References
Sources
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratherius
9th-century births
974 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
10th-century Latin writers
10th-century Italian bishops
Bishops of Liège
Bishops of Verona
French Benedictines
10th-century writers