Arnulf of Leuven (c. 1200–1250) was the abbot of the Cistercian

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

Villers-la-Ville Villers-la-Ville (; wa, L' Abeye) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. On January 1, 2006, Villers-la-Ville had a total population of 9,572. The total area is 47.45 km2 which gives a population d ...

. After serving in this office for ten years, he abdicated, hoping to pursue a life devoted to study and asceticism. He died within a year. Little else is known.

Work

He compiled the first volume of the annals of the Villers Abbey (1146–1240). However, his primary significance is as a poet. His "Excerptum Speculi Caritatis" is a verse adaptation of the "Summa Causum" of Raymond of Peñafort. Arnulf is also the probable author of the Membra Jesu Nostri, a cycle of seven poems, each a meditation on one of the wounds of the crucified Christ. In the 17th century,

Paul Gerhardt Paul Gerhardt (12 March 1607 – 27 May 1676) was a German theologian, Lutheran minister and hymnodist. Biography Gerhardt was born into a middle-class family at Gräfenhainichen, a small town between Halle and Wittenberg. His father died in ...

wrote an adaptation in German, which became " O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" in English. These poems were ascribed to

Bernard of Clairvaux Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. ( la, Bernardus Claraevallensis; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templars, and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order throug ...

, for they are consistent with his spirituality. However, "the external proof for this ascription is so slight as to be negligible" (Hurlbut, VII, 18). The "Membra Jesu Nostri" did appear in Bernard's collected works, but only beginning two hundred years after his death. When the monasteries were suppressed in the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, all of the relevant manuscripts disappeared. A manuscript of 1320 attributes the authorship of five cycle to Arnulf of Leuven.

Sources

* Deves, Guido Maria and Blume, Clemens. ''Ein Jahrtausend Lateinischer Hymnendichtung.'' O. R. Reisland: Leipzig, 1909. * Hurlbut, Stephen A., e.d. ''Hortus Conclusus: A Series of Mediaeval Latin Hymns With Selected English Renderings."'' St. Albans: Washington, D.C. 1936. * Marlies Lehnertz: ''Vom hochmittelalterlichen katholischen Hymnus zum barocken evangelischen Kirchenlied. Paul Gerhardts „O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden“ und seine lateinische Vorlage, das „Salve caput cruentatum“ Arnulfs von Löwen''. In: Hansjakob Becker, Reiner Kaczynski (Ed.): ''Liturgie und Dichtung. Ein interdisziplinäres Kompendium''. Band 1: ''Historische Präsentation''. EOS, St. Ottilien 1983, ISBN 3-88096-281-2, (''Pietas Liturgica'' 1), S. 755–773. * Unknown. ''

Biographie Nationale de Belgique The ''Biographie nationale de Belgique'' (French; "National Biography of Belgium") is a biographical dictionary of Belgium. It was published by the Royal Academy of Belgium in 44 volumes between 1866 and 1986. A continuation series, entitled the ' ...

'', 1866, I, 469. * Unknown. ''Histoire Littéraire des Pays Bas'', 1769, XVI, 52–58. Year of birth uncertain 1250 deaths Cistercian abbots 13th-century poets People from Villers-la-Ville 13th-century people of the Holy Roman Empire People from the Duchy of Brabant {{Belgium-RC-clergy-stub