Stephen of Liège (also Étienne de Liège; ( – 16 May 920) was a Frankish churchman who was the

bishop of Liège A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

from 901 until his death in 920. He was a

hagiographer A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

and composer of church music. His surviving compositions include three

Proper Proper may refer to: Mathematics * Proper map, in topology, a property of continuous function between topological spaces, if inverse images of compact subsets are compact * Proper morphism, in algebraic geometry, an analogue of a proper map for ...

Offices for the Office of the Trinity, the Office of the Invention of St Stephen and the Office of St Lambert. Like the Offices of his contemporary

Hucbald Hucbald ( – 20 June 930; also Hucbaldus or Hubaldus) was a Benedictine monk active as a music theorist, poet, composer, teacher, and hagiographer. He was long associated with Saint-Amand Abbey, so is often known as Hucbald of St Amand. Deeply i ...

, Stephen's compositions follow the eight

mode Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine * ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...

s, though the musicologist Yves Chartier does not consider this innovation, asserting that both composers "did no more than to apply openly a manner of composition that was prevalent in their milieu."

Life and career

Stephen was born in the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

around 850. In

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

he attended cathedral school and later went to the

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

's palace school in 864. Following his education, Stephen attained numerous church posts: he became an abbot of St Evre, St Mihiel and

Lobbes Lobbes (; wa, Lôbe) 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 k ...

as well as a canon of

Metz Cathedral Metz Cathedral, otherwise the Cathedral of Saint Stephen, Metz (french: Cathédrale Saint Étienne de Metz), is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Metz, capital of Lorraine, France. It is dedicated to Saint Stephen. First begun in the early 14th centu ...

. He was elected

in 901, holding the post until his death in Liége on 16 May 920. His works include ''In Festi Sanctisissimae Trinitatis'', an office for the feast of the Trinity. The celebration of the

Feast of the Holy Trinity Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God: the ...

is attributed to him.''The ''Menologies'' ( P.L., CLI, 1020), written during the pontificate of Gregory VII (

Nilles Nikolaus Nilles (21 June 1828–31 January 1907) was a Roman Catholic writer and teacher. Life He was born into a wealthy peasant family of Rippweiler, Luxembourg. After completing his gymnasium studies brilliantly, he went to Rome where f ...

, II, 460), call the Sunday after

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Ne ...

a Dominica vacans, with no special Office, but add that in some places they recited the Office of the Holy Trinity composed by Bishop Stephen of Liège (903–20)'
''Catholic Encyclopedia''

Recording

*''Etienne de Liège. In festo sanctissimae trinitatis''. Psallentes. RIC 249

References

Sources

* *

External links

Image
of the Office of the Trinity by Stephen of Liège {{DEFAULTSORT:Stephen of Liege 850s births 920 deaths Year of birth uncertain Bishops of Liège Christian hagiographers 9th-century composers 10th-century composers

Life and career

Recording

References

Sources

Further reading

External links