Luc d'Achery (1609 – 29 April 1685) was a learned
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
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')
, found ...
of the
Congregation of St. Maur, a specialist in the study and publication of medieval manuscripts.
Life
D'Achery was born at
Saint Quentin in
Picardy
Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France.
Hi ...
. He entered the
Order of St. Benedict at an early age and was professed at the
Trinity Abbey, Vendôme, on 4 October 1632, but his health soon obliged him to remove to Paris. He became a member of the
monastery of St. Germain des Prés in 1637, which in nearly fifty years he scarcely ever left, and he died there aged about 75.
As librarian of the monastery he was soon acquainted with its rich treasures of medieval history and theology. By a continuous correspondence with other monasteries, both in and out of France, he made himself a bibliographical authority of the first rank, especially in all that pertained to the unedited or forgotten writings of medieval scholars.
Works
His first important work was an edition (Paris, 1645) of the ''
Epistle of Barnabas'', whose Greek text had been prepared for the press, before his death, by the
Maurist
The Congregation of St. Maur, often known as the Maurists, were a congregation of French Benedictines, established in 1621, and known for their high level of scholarship. The congregation and its members were named after Saint Maurus (died 565), a ...
Hugo Menardus
Hugo or HUGO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese
* Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback
* Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on a ...
. D'Achery's "Asceticorum vulgo spiritualium opusculorum Indiculus" (Paris, 1645) served as a guide to his colleague,
Claude Chantelou Claude Chantelou (1617 in Vion, France – November 28, 1664 in Paris) was a Benedictine Patristic scholar and writer.
Having spent some time in the Order of Fontevrault, he left it to become a Benedictine in the Congregation of Saint-Mau ...
, in the preparation of the five volumes of his "Bibliotheca Patrum ascetica" (Paris, 1661). In 1648 he published all the works of Blessed
Lanfranc of Canterbury
Lanfranc, OSB (1005 1010 – 24 May 1089) was a celebrated Italian jurist who renounced his career to become a Benedictine monk at Bec in Normandy. He served successively as prior of Bec Abbey and abbot of St Stephen in Normandy and t ...
.
He published and edited for the first time the works of Abbot
Guibert of Nogent (Paris, 1661) with an appendix of minor writings of an ecclesiastical character. In 1656 he edited the "Regula Solitaria" of the ninth century priest
Grimlaicus Grimlaicus or Grimlaic was a cleric who lived in ninth- or tenth-century Francia, probably around Metz.
He is known only for the book he wrote on how to lead a solitary life within a monastic community, the ''Regula Solitariorum''. This was the firs ...
(Grimlaic), a spiritual guide for hermits. His principal work, however, is the famous "Spicilegium, sive Collectio veterum aliquot scriptorum qui in Galliae bibliothecis, maxime Benedictinorum, latuerunt" (Paris, 1655–1677), continued by
Baluze and
Martène, to whom we owe an enlarged and improved edition (Paris, 1723).

D'Achery collected the historical materials for the "Acta Ordinis S. Benedicti" but
Mabillon added so much to it in the way of prefaces, notes, and "excursus" that it is justly accounted as his work. D'Achery was the soul of the Maurist movement, and a type of the medieval Benedictine, humble and self-sacrificing, virtuous and learned. Despite continued illness he was foremost in all the labours of the French Benedictines of St. Maur, and was the master of many of the most illustrious among them, e.g. Mabillon. His valuable correspondence is preserved in the
Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris.
References
*
External links
Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S BenedictiLuc d'Acheryon
data.bnf.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Achery, Luc d'
French librarians
French bibliographers
French palaeographers
Benedictine scholars
French Benedictines
Congregation of Saint-Maur
French medievalists
17th-century Latin-language writers
People from Saint-Quentin, Aisne
1609 births
1685 deaths