the monastic virtues, and so successfully that he soon won an enviable reputation for ascetic piety
and learning. He was well read in classical literature, particularly familiar with Virgil, Horace and
Terence, and equally well read in the Fathers. He knew Greek and perhaps a little Hebrew. His
qualifications for the post of teacher of the monastery’s school were, therefore, for that day unusual,
and he brought the school up to a high grade of proficiency. Among his famous pupils were Adalhard
the Younger, St. Ansgar, Odo, bishop of Beauvais, and Warinus, abbot of New Corbie. He preached
regularly and with great acceptance and was strict in the observance by himself and others, of the
Benedictine rule.
In the year 822 he accompanied his abbot, Adalhard, and the abbot’s brother and successor,
Wala, to Corbie in Saxony, in order to establish there the monastery which is generally known as
New Corbie. In 826 Adalbard died, and Wala was elected his successor. With this election Radbertus
probably had much to do; at all events, he was deputed by the community to secure from Louis the
Pious the confirmation of their choice. This meeting with the emperor led to a friendship between
them, and Louis on several occasions showed his appreciation of Radbertus. Thus in 831 he sent
him to Saxony to consult with Ansgar about the latter’s northern mission, and several times asked
his advice. Louis took the liveliest interest in Radbertus’s eucharistic views, and asked his
ecclesiastics for their opinion.
In 844 Radbertus was elected abbot of his monastery. He was then, and always remained,
a simple monk, for in his humility, and probably also because of his view of the Lord’s Supper, he
refused to be ordained a priest. His name first appears as abbot in the Council of Paris, Feb. 14,
- He was then able to carry through a measure which gave his monastery freedom to choose its
abbot and to govern its own property.^1345 These extra privileges are proofs that the favor shown
toward him by Louis was continued by his sons. Radbertus was also present in the Council of
Quiercy in 849, and joined in the condemnation of Gottschalk. Two years later (851) he resigned
his abbotship. He had been reluctant to take the position, and had found it by no means pleasant.
Its duties were so multiform and onerous that he had little or no time for study; besides, his strict
discipline made his monks restive. But perhaps a principal reason for retiring was the fact that one
of his monks, Ratramnus, had ventured to criticize, publicly and severely, his position upon the
Eucharist; thus stirring up opposition to him in his own monastery.
Immediately upon his resignation, Radbertus went to the neighboring abbey of St. Riquier,
but shortly returned to Corbie, and took the position of monk under the new abbot. His last days
were probably his pleasantest. He devoted himself to the undisturbed study of his favorite books
and to his beloved literary labors. On April 26, 865,^1346 he breathed his last. He was buried in the
Chapel of St. John. In the eleventh century miracles began to be wrought at his tomb. Accordingly
he was canonized in 1073, and on July 12th of that year his remains were removed with great pomp
to St. Peter’s Church at Corbie.
The fame of Paschasius Radbertus rests upon his treatise on The body and blood of the
Lord,^1347 which appeared in 831, and in an improved form in 844. His arguments in it and in the
(^1345) Privilegium monasterii Corbeiensis, in Migne, CXX. col. 27-32. Cf Hefele, IV. 119.
(^1346) This is the date given in the Necrology of Nevelon. See Mabillon, Annales, lib. XXXVI. (vol. III. p. 119).
(^1347) De corpore et sanguine Domini, in Migne, CXX. col. 1259-1350.