Durandus of Troarn (b. about 1012, at

Le Neubourg Le Neubourg is a commune in Eure, Normandy, France. The composer and organist Roger Boucher (1885–1918) was born in Le Neubourg. History In the 11th century the manor of Le Neubourg was a subsidiary holding of Roger de Beaumont (d.1094), a pri ...

near Evreux; d. 1089, at

Troarn Troarn () is a commune in the Calvados in the Normandy region in northwestern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Saline, but this merger was undone on 31 December 2019. Population Sights * The abbey founded by Roger ...

near

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

and ecclesiastical writer. Affiliated from early childhood to the Benedictine community of Mont-Sainte-Cathérine and of Saint-Vandrille, he was made abbot of the newly founded Saint-Martin of Troarn by

William, Duke of Normandy William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...

, in whose esteem he stood on a par with Lanfranc, Anselm, and Gerbert of

Saint-Wandrille Fontenelle Abbey or the Abbey of St. Wandrille is a Benedictine monastery in the commune of Rives-en-Seine. It was founded in 649 near Caudebec-en-Caux in Seine-Maritime, Normandy, France. First foundation It was founded by Wandregisel or Sa ...

Ordericus Vitalis Orderic Vitalis ( la, Ordericus Vitalis; 16 February 1075 – ) was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. Modern historia ...

calls him ''ecclesiastici cantus et dogmatis doctor peritissimus''. Of his achievements in sacred music we know nothing beyond that mention, but we have his ''Liber de Corpore et Sanguine Domini'' against Berengarius. The ninth and last part of it contains precious historical information about the

heresiarch In Christian theology, a heresiarch (also hæresiarch, according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary''; from Greek: , ''hairesiárkhēs'' via the late Latin ''haeresiarcha''Cross and Livingstone, ''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' 1974) ...

. In Durandus's mind Berengarius is a figurist pure and simple, after the manner of

Scotus Eriugena John Scotus Eriugena, also known as Johannes Scotus Erigena, John the Scot, or John the Irish-born ( – c. 877) was an Irish Neoplatonist philosopher, theologian and poet of the Early Middle Ages. Bertrand Russell dubbed him "the most ...

, whose now lost book he is said to have possessed and used. In the rest of his book Durandus follows

Paschasius Radbertus Paschasius Radbertus (785–865) was a Carolingian theologian and the abbot of Corbie, a monastery in Picardy founded in 657 or 660 by the queen regent Bathilde with a founding community of monks from Luxeuil Abbey. His most well-known and influ ...

, whom he somewhat emphatically styles ''Divini sacramenti scrutator diligentissimus discussorque catholicus'', and from whom he borrows both his patristic apparatus and his theological views. Joseph Turmel, however, notes that Durandus quotes new texts of

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

Amalarius Amalarius (''c''. 775–''c''. 850) was a Frankish prelate and courtier, temporary bishop of Trier (812–13) and Lyon (835–38), and an accomplished liturgist. He was close to Charlemagne and a partisan of his successor, Louis the Pious, througho ...

, Fulbert de Chartres, and

St. John Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of ...

. His presentation of the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...

is frankly Ambrosian, i.e., he maintains with Paschasius and Gerbert the conversion of the bread and wine into the identical body and blood of Christ, thus excluding the

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

theory of the ''Praesentia spiritalis'' still held by some of his contemporaries and contributing to prepare the definition of the

Fourth Lateran Council The Fourth Council of the Lateran or Lateran IV was convoked by Pope Innocent III in April 1213 and opened at the Lateran Palace in Rome on 11 November 1215. Due to the great length of time between the Council's convocation and meeting, many bi ...

(1215). Durandus explains with skill the Augustinian texts, chiefly in the ''De doctrinâ christianâ'' and the ''Letter to Boniface,'' misused by Berengarius; but in the last analysis he appeals to the argument of authority already used by Guitmond:''

Patrologia Latina The ''Patrologia Latina'' (Latin for ''The Latin Patrology'') is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1841 and 1855, with indices published between ...

'', CXLIX, 1415. "The saintly Doctor of Hippo, wearied by the labours of composition, fails at times to clearly bring out his thought. Hence he may appear obscure to the unlearned and even become a source of error. If perchance he should have erred in so great a mystery, we should then bethink ourselves of the Apostolic saying: 'But though an angel from heaven preach a gospel to you besides that which you have received, let him be anathema'". Durandus wrote also against Berengarius a poem of 900 verses, of which twenty-five preface the above treatise and thirteen are quoted in

Mabillon Dom Jean Mabillon, O.S.B., (; 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 Mabi ...

's ''Annales'' (LXIV, 119), the rest being unpublished.

Migne Jacques Paul Migne (; 25 October 1800 – 24 October 1875) was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias, and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a u ...

'', CXLIX, appends to the ''Liber'' two epitaphs composed by Durandus, one for Abbot Ainard and the other for the Countess Mabile.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Durandus of Troarn 1010s births 1089 deaths 11th-century French Catholic theologians French Benedictines Benedictine theologians