Halitgar (Halitgarius, Halitcharius, Halitgaire, Aligerio) was a ninth-century
bishop of Cambrai (in office 817–831). He is known also as an apostle to the
Danes
Danes (, ), or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural.
History
Early history
Denmark ...
, and the writer of a widely known
penitential
A penitential is a book or set of church rules concerning the Christianity, Christian sacrament of penance, used for regular private confession with a confessor-priest, a "new manner of reconciliation with God in Christianity, God" that was prom ...
.
Life
In 822 he travelled to Denmark as a missionary with
Ebbo of Rheims and
Willeric of Bremen, though not to great immediate effect. In 823 he dedicated the church and relics of
St Ursmer at
Lobbes
Lobbes (; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium.
On 1 January 2006 Lobbes had a total population of 5,499. The total area is 32.08 km2 which gives a population density of 171 inhabitants per km2.
The m ...
. In 825, with
Amalarius of Metz, he carried the conclusions of a Paris synod on
iconoclasm
Iconoclasm ()From . ''Iconoclasm'' may also be considered as a back-formation from ''iconoclast'' (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία, ''eikonoklasia''. is the social belie ...
to
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious (; ; ; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aquitaine from 781. As the only ...
. He went as ambassador to
Byzantium
Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...
in 828.
De Paenitentia
His ''De Paenitentia'' laid down qualities Christians should aspire to in their lives. He discussed a distinction between killing in warfare (a sin), and in self-defense in battle. Heavy penances for homosexual acts were imposed on older men. The work is also a source for information about surviving
pagan
Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...
practices.
It was written in five volumes, at Ebbo's request.
[New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. II: Basilica - Chambers , Christian Classics Ethereal Library](_blank)
/ref> Ebbo's intention was to have a normative penitential; Halitgar set aside tariffs of penance
Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of contrition for sins committed, as well as an alternative name for the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession.
The word ''penance'' derive ...
s for exhortations.[ Henry Charles Lea, ''A History of Auricular Confession and Indulgences in the Latin Church'' I (1896), p. 105.] This work and the two attributed to Hrabanus Maurus were considered to supersede those written before, and were very influential, particularly in pre-Norman England. At this point, "the books used by confessors began to consist more and more of instructions in the style of the later moral theology".
His sources have been much debated:
*material from Gregory the Great
Pope Gregory I (; ; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great (; ), was the 64th Bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 until his death on 12 March 604. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Rom ...
, Prosper of Aquitaine
Prosper of Aquitaine (; – AD), also called ''Prosper Tiro'', was a Christian writer and disciple of Augustine of Hippo, and the first continuator of Jerome's Universal Chronicle. Particularly, Prosper is identified with the (later) axiom ''� ...
, the ''Collectio Acheriana''[''Ghostly Recensions in Early Medieval Canon Law: The Problem of the Collectio Dacheriana and its Shades'', The Legal History Review, Volume 68, Numbers 1-2, January, 2000]
References
*''Die altenglische Version des Halitgar'schen Bussbuches : (sog. Poenitentiale pseudo-Ecgberti)'', Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1964
*Raymund Kottje (1980), ''Die Bussbucher Halitgars von Cambrai und des Hrabanus Maurus: Ihre Uberlieferung und ihre Quellen''
Notes
{{Authority control
Bishops in the Carolingian Empire
Bishops of Cambrai
Writers from the Carolingian Empire
9th-century writers in Latin
Ambassadors to the Byzantine Empire