today for De corpore et sanguine Domini, the first Latin treatise on eucharistic theology.
The work was written (831) for the Saxon novices of Corvey and revised (844) for
Charles the Bald. The second edition is in direct response to his fellow monk, Ratramnus,
as is the defense of Mary’s perpetual virginity in De partu Virginis. Radbertus’s
eucharistic theology, which strictly identifies the historical body of Christ with the
sacrament of the altar, was influential in the later definition of Transubstantiation at the
Council of Trent. However, the most popular work of Paschasius Radbertus in medieval
France was Cogitis me, a letter on the Assumption of the Virgin Mary written under the
name of Jerome. In other sermons on the Assumption and in his life of the Virgin Mary,
Radbertus shows the importance of the influence of apocryphal literature, such as the
Protevangelium of James, on the development of medieval Christian thought.
E.Ann Matter
[See also: CORBIE; MARY, DEVOTION TO; RATRAMNUS OF CORBIE]
Paschasius Radbertus. Opera. PL120. CCCM 16, 56, 56A, 56B, 85, 94, 96, 97 (all ed. Beda
Paulus), and 56C (ed. E.Ann Matter). Turnhout: Brepols, 1969–93.
Bonano, S. “The Divine Maternity and Eucharistic Body in the Doctrine of Paschasius Radbertus.”
Ephemerides mariologicae 1(1951):379–94.
Maus, Cyrin. A Phenomenology of Revelation: Paschasius Radbert’s Way of Interpreting Scripture.
Dayton: St. Leonard College, 1970.
Peltier, Henri. Paschase Radbert, abbé de Corbie: contribution a l’étude de la vie monastique et de
la pensée chrétienne aux temps carolingiens. Amiens: Duthoit, 1938.
PASSION DES JONGLEURS
. An anonymous narrative poem in octosyllabic couplets from the late 12th or early 13th
century recounting the events of Christ’s last days. Based largely on the biblical accounts,
the poem also draws on the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus for such episodes as the
Descent into Hell. Recited publicly by jongleurs, the poem served as the principal source
for the early Passion plays. Its popularity is attested by some twenty-six extant
manuscripts.
Alan E.Knight
[See also: APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE; PASSION PLAYS]
Perry, Anne Amari, ed. La Passion des jongleurs. Paris: Beauchesne, 1981.
PASSION DU CHRIST
. A 10th-century inspirational poem of 516 lines that includes Christ’s Passion, beginning
with the events of Palm Sunday and concluding with Pentecost. Its language, difficult to
localize, is remarkable for its many heterogeneous forms. The work survives in a single
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 1336