Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel OSB ( 770 – c. 840) was a

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 ...

monk of

Saint-Mihiel Abbey Saint-Mihiel Abbey is an ancient Benedictine abbey situated in the town of Saint-Mihiel, near Verdun in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France. The benedictine abbey was built in 708 or 709 by a Count Wulfoalde and his wife Ada ...

near

Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...

. He was a significant writer of

homilies A homily (from Greek ὁμιλία, ''homilía'') is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture, giving the "public explanation of a sacred doctrine" or text. The works of Origen and John Chrysostom (known as Paschal Homily) are considered e ...

and commentaries.

Life

Visigoth The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied barbarian military group united under the comman ...

ic heritage, Smaragdus was born in Spain around 770. He had moved to

Francia The Kingdom of the Franks (), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, or just Francia, was the largest History of the Roman Empire, post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks, Frankish Merovingian dynasty, Merovingi ...

by the first decade of the 9th century. Through a fellow immigrant Goth,

Theodulf of Orléans Theodulf of Orléans (Saragossa, Spain, 750(/60) – 18 December 821) was a writer, poet and the Bishop of Orléans (c. 798 to 818) during the reign of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious. He was a key member of the Carolingian Renaissance and an im ...

, he was introduced to

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

. After serving as principal of the convent school of the monastery on Castellion, he was elected abbot about 805. Around 814, he moved his monks a few miles away and founded the monastery of Saint-Mihiel on the banks of the river

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

, in the

diocese of Verdun The Diocese of Verdun (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Besançon. The Diocese of Verdun co ...

. Charlemagne employed him to write the letter to

Pope Leo III Pope Leo III (; died 12 June 816) was bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 26 December 795 to his death on 12 June 816. Protected by Charlemagne from the supporters of his predecessor, Adrian I, Leo subsequently strengthened Charlem ...

, in which was communicated the decision of the Council of Aachen (809) respecting the adoption of the ''

filioque ( ; ), a Latin term meaning "and from the Son", was added to the original Nicene Creed, and has been the subject of great controversy between Eastern and Western Christianity. The term refers to the Son, Jesus Christ, with the Father, as th ...

'' clause, and sent him to Rome with the commissioners to lay the matter before the pope. He acted as secretary, and drew up the protocol.

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 ...

showed him equal consideration, endowed his monastery, and in 824 appointed him to act with

Frothar of Toul Frothar of Toul was bishop of Toul from around 813 to his death in 847. He is known mainly for his surviving collection of letters. Before becoming bishop, he was abbot of St. Evre's Abbey, Toul. He undertook work for Louis the Pious Louis t ...

as arbitrator between Ismund, abbot of

Moyenmoutier Abbey Moyenmoutier (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Vosges (department), Vosges Departments of France, department in Grand Est in northeastern France. Geography The little town of Moyenmoutier is positioned along the lower part of the :fr:R ...

, and his monks. Smaragdus died about 840.

Works

His writings show diligence and piety. His published works in prose are: *''Collections of Comments on the Epistle and Gospel for each holy day in the year'', (''Collectiones in epistolas et evangelia de tempore et de sanctis''. Migne, CII. col 13-552. an uncritical but comprehensive compilation from numerous ecclesiastical writers, prepared for the use of preachers, and described by the author as a liber comitis. *''Diadema monachorum ''(''The Crown of Monks''), a collection in one hundred chapters of ascetic rules and reflections concerning the principal duties and virtues of the monastic life. It is for the most part a compilation. The sources are the ''Collectiones patrum'' of Cassian and the writings of

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 ...

. Smaragdus made it after his elevation to the abbotship and enjoined its daily evening reading upon his monks (PL 102:693). It proved to be a very popular work, was widely circulated during the Middle Age, and was repeatedly published in the early modern period. *''Commentaria in regulam Sancti Benedicti''. A commentary upon the

Rule of St Benedict The ''Rule of Saint Benedict'' () is a book of precepts written in Latin by Benedict of Nursia, St. Benedict of Nursia (c. AD 480–550) for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot. The spirit of Saint Benedict's Rule is summed up ...

undertaken in aid of the monastic reforms instituted by the

Council of Aachen A number of significant councils of the Latin Church were held at Aachen (also known in French as ''Aix-la-Chapelle'') in the early Middle Ages. In the mixed council of 798, Charlemagne proclaimed a capitulary of eighty-one chapters, largely a repe ...

. It is characterised by great strictness.Migne, PL, 102:689–932. A more recent Latin edition appeared in the 1970s. An English translation is David Barry, ''Commentary on the Rule of St Benedict'', CS 212, (Kalamazoo, MI, 2007) *''The Royal way'' (''Via regia'', ibid. col 933–970) dedicated to

while king of Aquitania. So Ebert, l.c. p. III, it consists of thirty-two chapters of moral and spiritual counsels, which if faithfully followed will conduct an earthly king into the heavenly kingdom. The work is really only an adaptation of the Diadem to the wants of the secular life. *''Acts of the Roman conference'' (''Acta collationis Romanae'') Migne, CII. col. 971–976, the protocol already mentioned. *Epistle of Charles the Great to Leo the Pope upon the procession of the Holy Spirit (''Epistola Caroli Magni ad Leonem Papam de processione Spiritus Sancti''), Migne, XCVIII. col. 923–929. the letter mentioned above. *Epistle of Frotharius and Smaragdus to the Emperor Louis (''Epistola Frotharii et Smaragdi ad Ludovicum Imperatorem''), Migne, CVI. col, 865–866. the report of the arbitrators. *''Liberin partibus Donati''. A larger grammar or a commentary upon Donatus (''Grammatica major seu commentarius in Donatum''). This is his earliest work, written at the request of his scholars, probably between 800 and 805. It is still unprinted, except a small portion in

Mabillon Dom Jean Mabillon , (; 23 November 1632 – 27 December 1707) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He is considered the founder of the disciplines of palaeography and diplomatics. Early life Mabillon w ...

, ''Vetera analectam'', Nov. ed. (Paris, 1723) pp. 357, 358. There remain in manuscript a Commentary on the Prophets, and a History of the Monastery of St. Michael (cf. Mabillon, l.c.) Smaragdus also wrote poetry. Besides a hymn to Christ (Ebert, l.c. p. 112) there have been preserved his metrical introductions to his Collections and Commentary on the rule of St. Benedict, of which the first has twenty-nine lines in

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek as well as in Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of s ...

, and the second thirty-seven

distich In poetry, a couplet ( ) or distich ( ) is a pair of successive Line (poetry), lines that rhyme and have the same Metre (poetry), metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (closed) couplet, each of the two lines is en ...

References

* Text taken from

Philip Schaff Philip Schaff (January 1, 1819 – October 20, 1893) was a Swiss-born, German-educated Protestant theologian and ecclesiastical historian, who spent most of his adult life living and teaching in the United States. Life and career Schaff was ...

, ''History of the Christian Church'', Volume IV: Mediaeval Christianity. A.D. 590–1073, which is in the public domain
source at CCEL

Life

Works

References

Further reading