Ratramnus

When Charles the Bald visited the abbey of New Corvey in 843, he said he would like to have the Eucharist explained to him. In response, the monk Ratramnus (died c.868) wrote a treatise, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, "On the Body and Blood of the Lord," in which he explained that the bread and wine represented the body and blood of Jesus figuratively.

The abbot of Corvey at the time was Paschasius Radbertus, who also wrote De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, in which he explained that the bread and wine were changed to be equal to the actual flesh and blood of Jesus. He presented a version of his work to Charles. These opposing views did not seem to create any controversy or conflict at the time. That all happened later when others took sides on the question.

Ratramnus also wrote works such as De Praedestinatione Dei, "On the Predestination of God." In this work he denied the ideas of Gottschalk of Orbais, an itinerant Saxon theologian who visited Corvey. Gottschalk believed that predestination worked on both the saved and the damned. Ratramnus defended this idea.

One of his other works was a letter about the Cynocephali, the dog-headed men. The archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, Saint Rimbert (c.830 - 888), while on a mission in Scandinavia, heard that there were communities of men with the heads of dogs living nearby. Rimbert's question was simple: if they were living in organized communities as he was told, were they then capable of reason and therefore of the race of Adam and suitable subjects for Christian conversion?

There was a long history of cynocephali going back to classical times, and they were usually referred to as animals. Ratramnus wrote that they were indeed human in essence though not in appearance and should be converted. (There are no stories of missionaries actually finding and communicating with any communities of dog-headed men.)

Ratramnus' most significant work on the body and blood was, at a later date, wrongly ascribed to someone else. When Berengar of Tours (died 1088) in a later century took up the topic, he used Ratramnus' work for his arguments, thinking it was the work of John Scotus Eriugena. John Scotus Eriugena was not an obscure person, but quite prominent, and we'll see why tomorrow.

Paschasius Radbertus

About 831CE, a Carolingian monk at the monastery of New Corvey in Westphalia wrote De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, "On the Body and Blood of the Lord," in which he stated flatly that the words of Jesus to his disciples at the Last Supper ("This is my body; this is my blood") must be accepted as true, since God does not lie. Although he did not use the word transubstantiation (that came from the writing of Hildebert years later), this is clearly the start of that idea.

Paschasius had an interesting history, starting with his finding as an orphan in 785, left on the steps of the convent of Notre-Dame de Soissons, where he was raised by nuns and their abbess Theodara. Theodara had two brothers who were monks—Adalard and Wala—and visits to the convent by Adalard inspired Paschasius to follow Adalard to Corbie, where he met Wala.

When Paschasius was in his 30s, he followed Adalard to Saxony to help found the monastery of New Corvey. Adalard died in 826, and Paschasius supported Wala as his successor as abbot there. Wala was succeeded in 836 by Heddo, then Heddo by Isaac, but in 843 with Isaac's death, Paschasius became abbot.

During this time Paschasius wrote a few works on theology. De Corpore et Sanguine Domini was given to Charles the Bald of West Francia, a grandson of Charlemagne, in 844. As it turns out, Charles did not quite understand what he was reading, and he visited New Corvey and asked someone to explain the Eucharist to him. That person was Ratramnus.

Ratramnus was a member of New Corvey, possibly the teaching master there, and he wrote a work also entitled De Corpore et Sanguine Domini. Ratramnus explained that the bread and wine represent the body and blood of Jesus in a spiritual way, not physically transformed in any way that is perceptible by human senses. Any so-called "controversy" over the two views was non-existent at the time, only boiling over years later into a theological fight because of Berengar of Tours.

As for Paschasius, he wrote various other works and resigned his position in 853 to go to Saint-Riquier to live quietly. He returned to Corbie near the end of his life and died there in 865. Miracles were reported at his tomb, which caused them to move his body to a prominent place in the Church of St. Peter, Corbie.

Meanwhile, Ratramnus was also writing, including about men with heads of dogs, but let me go into that tomorrow.

Berengar of Tours

A controversial figure who was widely respected by some and strongly denounced by others, Berengar was born in the early 11th century, probably in Tours. He was educated at the school of Chartres under Bishop Fulbert of Chartres. When Fulbert died in 1028, Berengar returned to Tours and became a canon at the cathedral there, becoming head of its school in 1040.

His simple lifestyle, erudition, and judgment enhanced his reputation to the point where he was asked to preside over a dispute between the bishop of Poitiers and his diocesan priests. Count (from 1040 - 1060) Geoffrey of Anjou was an admirer and supporter. To be frank, Geoffrey was described in the Gesta Normannorum Ducum as "a treacherous man in every respect, frequently inflicted assaults and intolerable pressure on his neighbors." Nevertheless, a good man to have on your side if you had controversial views.

He had two views that clashed with official Church thought. He preached the supremacy of Scripture (as opposed to many of the trappings and embellishments of the liturgy that had been added over the years). He might have been fine if that was all. His real downfall was his denial of transubstantiation, the idea that the bread and wine during the Mass was actually transformed in some way to the flesh and blood of Jesus.

To be fair to Berengar, not everyone believed in transubstantiation. A Carolingian theologian in the 9th century, Paschasius Radbertus, was one of the first to claim that the Eucharist was identical to flesh and blood because what Jesus said during the Last Supper must be true because God does not lie. This idea did not receive universal support. A Frankish monk named Ratramnus (died c.868) and Hrabanus Maurus (c.780 - 856) suggested the conversion was more spiritual than physical.

Berengar was accused of disregarding the presence of the divine in the Eucharist, when it is possible that he simply rejected the idea of a physical change in the bread and wine. Berengar wrote in 1050 to Lanfranc of Bec in Normandy (later archbishop of Canterbury), expressing his concern that Lanfranc supported the idea of transubstantiation and considered Ratramnus heretical. Lanfranc had been traveling to Rome, and the letter followed him there. Lanfranc shared the letter with others, with the result that Berengar was summoned to appear at a council in Vercelli in northern Italy. Berengar asked King Henry I of France for permission to go. For reasons unknown, Henry refused and kept Berengar captive. The Lanfranc letter was read in Vercelli and Berengar was declared excommunicated.

The king released him, but called his own council in Paris for October 1051, inviting Berengar. Berengar suspected this council was intended to do him more harm, so he went to stay with Count Geoffrey. The bishop of Angers, Eusebius of Angers, also supported Berengar, under whom he had studied at Tours.

The Church was not going to let him live out his excommunicated life in peace, however. I'll go into that tomorrow.