medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Bill,
In the Roman Martyrology's revision of 2001 Rabanus is entered under 4. February as a Saint. Since it's understood in Roman Catholic officialdom that an entry in the RM is not the equivalent of canonization or beatification, that listing doesn't automatically make him a saint in official RC practice. But it makes it rather likely that he is indeed recognized as one. And so he is. If you go to the websites of the dioceses of Fulda and of Mainz you will see him referred to as "hl. Rabanus Maurus" (Fulda; e.g. <http://www.bistum-fulda.de/bistum_fulda/search/?searchTerm=Rabanus&x=22&y=10>) or "St. Rabanus Maurus" (Mainz; e.g. <http://www.bistummainz.de/pfarreien/dekanat-mainz-stadt/pvpg/pg_hart/kindertagesstaetten/kitarabanusmaurus/index.html>).
In the modern church there are three avenues to recognized sainthood: 1) a formal canonization trial; 2) equivalent canonization, and 3) papal confirmation of an existing cult. Whereas formal canonizations are given lots of publicity, that tends not to be the case with the other two procedures, where recognition proceeds with a lot less general hoopla. I'm guessing that in Rabanus' case it was determined that he enjoyed a _cultus ab immemorabili_ either in Fulda or in Mainz or in both and that, as happened with St. Hildegard of Bingen long before Benedict XVI extended her cult to the universal church in 2012, that cult has been approved at the level of Saint for at least some German dioceses. For Hildegard's path to recognition see:
http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2012/05/cult-of-st-hildegard-extended-to.html#.VrVFnubVZ8E
At the moment Rabanus is still only a local or regional saint. But that's a VERY large category: the RM is full of these and there are not a few others who have yet to grace its pages. Such saints (as well, of course, as saints recognized by other churches but not by the Roman Catholic Church) routinely appear in this list's Saints of / for the Day.
Best,
John
________________________________________
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Bill Schipper <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, February 5, 2016 4:07 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] FEAST - A Saint for the Day (Feb. 4): St. Rabanus Maurus
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
John,
But Hrabanus was not canonized as far as I know, so he's not really a
"saint" is he? That said, I'm glad you noted his death date!
Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Dillon
Sent: February 4, 2016 8:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [M-R] FEAST - A Saint for the Day (Feb. 4): St. Rabanus Maurus
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Rabanus -- sometimes written Germanically as _Hrabanus_ -- Maurus (d. 856)
was born in Mainz of noble Frankish parentage. It is often thought that the
_Magnentius_ that forms part of his name in the manuscript tradition of his
works is an epithet signifying "of Mainz" (anciently _Moguntiacum_). Early
in life he became a monk at Fulda, whence in 802 he was sent to Tours for
further study under Alcuin. After a year he returned to Fulda, where
eventually he became head of the monastic school and then, in 822, abbot.
In the early 840s he resigned that office following an imperial regime
change and left Fulda. In 847, having been reconciled to the rule of Louis
the German, Rabanus was named archbishop of Mainz. In the following year he
presided over a synod in Mainz that condemned the teachings on
predestination of Gottschalk of Orbais, whose views Rabanus had for some
time been working to suppress. In 850 he strove memorably to lessen the
effects of a severe famine. Rabanus died in 856 and was buried in Mainz's
abbey of St. Alban (of Mainz). We know about him from his own writings and
those of several contemporaries, including both his teacher Alcuin and his
student and successor at the school in Fulda, Rudolf.
The learned Rabanus is best known for his writings, especially the early
collection of figure poems _Liber sanctae crucis_, commentaries on many
books of the Bible, the encyclopedic _De rerum naturis_, and one form of the
hymn _Veni creator spiritus_. Among his many other works is a martyrology.
Some period-pertinent images of St. Rabanus Maurus:
a) as depicted (at far right; at center, pope Gregory IV) in a presentation
illumination in a ninth-century copy of the _Liber sanctae crucis_ (Amiens,
Bibliothčques d'Amiens métropole, ms. 223, fol. 2v):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8452181v/f8.item.zoom
b) as depicted (at far right; at center, pope Gregory IV) in a presentation
illumination in an earlier ninth-century copy of the _Liber sanctae crucis_
(Wien, ÖNB, Codex Vindobonensis 652, fol. 2r):
http://tinyurl.com/gukj6vr
http://tinyurl.com/huzmpzj
c) as depicted (at far left; supporting him, Alcuin; at right, archbishop
Otgar of Mainz) in a presentation illumination in an earlier ninth-century
copy of the _Liber sanctae crucis_ (Wien, ÖNB, Codex Vindobonensis 652, fol.
2v):
http://tinyurl.com/z7emd92
http://tinyurl.com/zmzcqh4
d) as depicted (author portrait; kneeling before the Cross) in an early or
mid-ninth-century copy of the _Liber sanctae crucis_ from either Fulda or
Mainz (Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 2422, fol. 29v):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8490076p/f66.item.r=.zoom
e) as depicted (at far left; supporting him, Alcuin; at right, St. Martin of
Tours) in a presentation illumination in a mid-ninth-century copy of the
_Liber sanctae crucis_ (Cittā del Vaticano, BAV, cod. Reg. lat. 124, fol.
2v):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/28433765@N07/3417666175
f) as depicted (author portrait; kneeling before the Cross) in an early
eleventh-century copy of the _Liber sanctae crucis_ (Bern,
Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 9, fol. 24v):
http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/de/bbb/0009/24v
g) as depicted (at right; at left, Louis the German), at the prologue to
Ezekiel, in a later thirteenth-century bible from Paris (ca. 1250-1300; Den
Haag, KB, 76 F 23, fol. 231r):
http://manuscripts.kb.nl/zoom/BYVANCKB%3Amimi_76f23%3A231r_init
h) as portrayed in a later thirteenth-century portrait bust (ca. 1260-1270)
in the Bischöfliches Dom- und Diözesanmuseum, Mainz:
http://images.bistummainz.de/1/15/2/11386991212430992.jpg
i) as depicted in a hand-colored engraving in an early sixteenth-century
edition of the _Liber sanctae crucis_ in the Princeton University Library
(Pforzheim: Thomas Anshem, March 1503):
http://blogs.princeton.edu/graphicarts/rabanus%20maurus4.html
Best,
John Dillon
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