Halitgar (Halitgarius, Halitcharius, Halitgaire, Aligerio) was a ninth-century
bishop of Cambrai
The Archdiocese of Cambrai ( la, Archdiocesis Cameracensis; French: ''Archidiocèse de Cambrai'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France, comprising the arrondissements of Avesnes-sur-Help ...
(in office 817–831). He is known also as an apostle to the
Danes, and the writer of a widely known
penitential
A penitential is a book or set of church rules concerning the Christian sacrament of penance, a "new manner of reconciliation with God" that was first developed by Celtic monks in Ireland in the sixth century AD. It consisted of a list of sins ...
.
Life
In 822 he travelled to Denmark as a missionary with
Ebbo of Rheims and
Willeric of Bremen, though not to great immediate effect. In 823 he dedicated the church and relics of
St Ursmer
Ursmar of Lobbes (died 713) was a missionary bishop in the Meuse and Ardennes region in present-day Belgium, Germany, Luxemburg and France. He was also the first abbot of Lobbes Abbey.
As many missionaries in the 7th and 8th century, he may have ...
at
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 ...
. In 825, with
Amalarius of Metz 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 ...
, he carried the conclusions of a Paris synod on
iconoclasm
Iconoclasm (from Greek: grc, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, εἰκών + κλάω, lit=image-breaking. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be conside ...
to
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious (german: Ludwig der Fromme; french: Louis le Pieux; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aqui ...
. He went as ambassador to
Byzantium in 828.
De Paenitentia
His ''De Paenitentia'' laid down qualities Christians should aspire to in their lives. He discussed a distinction between killing in warfare (a sin), and in self-defense in battle. Heavy penances for homosexual acts were imposed on older men. The work is also a source for information about surviving
pagan practices.
It was written in five volumes, at Ebbo's request.
[New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. II: Basilica - Chambers , Christian Classics Ethereal Library](_blank)
/ref> Ebbo's intention was to have a normative penitential; Halitgar set aside tariffs of penances for exhortations.[ Henry Charles Lea, ''A History of Auricular Confession and Indulgences in the Latin Church'' I (1896), p. 105.] This work and the two attributed to Hrabanus Maurus were considered to supersede those written before, and were very influential, particularly in pre-Norman England. At this point, "the books used by confessors began to consist more and more of instructions in the style of the later moral theology".
His sources have been much debated:
*material from Gregory the Great
Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregoria ...
, Prosper of Aquitaine
Prosper of Aquitaine ( la, Prosper Aquitanus; – AD), a Christian writer and disciple of Augustine of Hippo, was the first continuator of Jerome's Universal Chronicle.
Life
Prosper was a native of Aquitaine, and may have been educated at ...
, the ''Collectio Acheriana''Julianus Pomerius
Julianus Pomerius was a Christian priest in fifth century Gaul. He wrote five treatises, only one of which, ''De Vita Contemplativa'', survives. He was renowned in rhetoric and grammar and was friends with Ennodius and Ruricius.
He appears to ha ...
*a source common to Halitgar, the ''Collectio quadripartita'', and the penitential writings of Hrabanus Maurus.[''Ghostly Recensions in Early Medieval Canon Law: The Problem of the Collectio Dacheriana and its Shades'', The Legal History Review, Volume 68, Numbers 1-2, January, 2000]
References
*''Die altenglische Version des Halitgar'schen Bussbuches : (sog. Poenitentiale pseudo-Ecgberti)'', Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1964
*Raymund Kottje (1980), ''Die Bussbucher Halitgars von Cambrai und des Hrabanus Maurus: Ihre Uberlieferung und ihre Quellen''
Notes
{{Authority control
Bishops in the Carolingian Empire
Bishops of Cambrai
Writers from the Carolingian Empire
9th-century Latin writers
Ambassadors to the Byzantine Empire