Dom André Wilmart
O.S.B. (1876 – 21 April 1941
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
) was a French
Benedictine
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
medievalist and
liturgist
Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...
, who spent most of his career at
St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough. He was a leading expert on medieval spirituality in the decades between the World Wars. He studied at the University of Paris and the seminary of Saint-Sulpice at
Issy. After an extended stay at the
Abbey of Solesmes, he decided to become a monk, making his profession in 1901. Shortly after he entered Solesmes, the monks left for England due to ongoing conflict between the Catholic Church and the government of the
Third Republic. Wilmart was ordained as a priest in 1906. Soon afterwards he was sent to Farnborough, which was his home for the rest of his life. In addition to Wilmart's work as a scholar, he knew and was influenced by Catholic public intellectuals such as
Charles Péguy and
Baron von Hügel.
Wilmart's most significant work is ''Auteurs spirituels et textes dévots du moyen âge latin'' (Paris: Bloud et Gay, 1932, reissued by Brepols, 1971), which remains an important handbook on the topic. Among other discoveries, he is responsible for recovering the works of
John of Fécamp. He was chosen to edit
catalogue of the Reginensis manuscript collectionin the
Vatican Library
The Vatican Apostolic Library (, ), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was formally established in 1475, alth ...
(the manuscripts of
Queen Christina of Sweden
Christina (; 18 December O.S. 8 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 8 December1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Monarchy of Sweden, Queen of Sweden from ...
), which became his major project in the 1930s. He was a Corresponding Fellow of the
Medieval Academy of America
The Medieval Academy of America (MAA; spelled Mediaeval until ) is the largest organization in the United States promoting the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The academy publishes the q ...
from 1928. He was the author of more than 375 books and articles; a complete bibliography was published a separate book.
References
External links
The Ancient Library of ClairvauxAlain le Roux et Alain le Noir, Comtes de Bretagne
1876 births
1941 deaths
British Benedictines
Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America
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