Epistle to Frudegard^1348 on the same subject have already been handled at length in this volume.^1349
His treatise on The birth by the Virgin,^1350 i.e. whether Christ was born in the ordinary manner or
not, has also been sufficiently noticed.^1351
Besides these Radbertus wrote, 1. An Exposition of the Gospel of Matthew.^1352 He explained
this Gospel in his sermons to the monks. At their request, he began to write out his lectures, and
completed four of the twelve books before his election as abbot, but was then compelled to lay the
work aside. The monks at St. Riquier’s requested its continuance, and it finally was finished. The
special prefaces to each book are worth attentive reading for their information concerning the origin
and progress of the commentary, and for the views they present upon Biblical study in general. As
the prologue states, the principal sources are Jerome, Ambrose, Augustin, Chrysostom, Gregory
the Great, and Bede.^1353 Of these, Jerome was most used. His excerpts are not always literal. He
frequently alters and expands the expressions.^1354 Radbertus was particular to mark on the margin
of his pages the names of the authors drawn upon, but in transcribing his marks have been obliterated.
His interpretation is rather more literal than was customary, in his day, and he enlivens his pages
with allusions to passing events, dwelling especially upon the disorders of the time, the wickedness
of the clergy and monks, the abuses of the confessional, and the errors of the Adoptionists, Claudius
of Turin and of Scotus Erigena. He also frequently quotes classic authors.^1355
- An Exposition of Psalm XLIV^1356 It was written for the nuns of Soissons, to whom he
owed his life, and the dedication to them is an integral part of the first of its four books. It is
allegorical and very diffuse, but edifying. - An Exposition of the Lamentations of Jeremiah.^1357 This was the fruit of his old age, and
once more, as in his early manhood, he deplored the vices, both lay and clerical, which disgraced
his times. His allusion to the Norman incursions in the neighborhood of Paris,^1358 which took place
in 857, proves that he must have written the work after that date. In his prologue, Radbertus states
that he had never read a commentary on Lamentations written by a Latin author. Hence his
information must have been derived from Greek sources, and he was unacquainted with the similar
work by Rabanus Maurus. He distinguished a triple sense, a literal, spiritual, and a moral, and paid
especial regard to types and prophecies, as he considered that there were prophecies in Lamentations
which referred to his own day.
- Faith, Hope and Love.^1359 This work is preceded by an acrostic poem, the first letters of
each line forming the name "Radbertus Levita." Each of the three books is devoted to one of the
Christian virtues. Radbertus wrote the treatise at the request of abbot Wala, for the instruction of
(^1348) Epistola de corpore et sanguine Domini ad Frudegardum. Ibid. col. 1351-1366.
(^1349) Pp. 543, 546 sqq.
(^1350) De partu virginis, Migne, CXX. col. 1367-1386.
(^1351) Page 553.
(^1352) Expositio in evangelium Matthaei, Migne, CXX. col. 31-994.
(^1353) Ibid. col. 35.
(^1354) Ibid. col. 394.
(^1355) Bähr, 465.
(^1356) Expositio in Psalmum XLIV. Ibid. col. 993-1060.
(^1357) In Threnos sive Lamentationes Jeremiae. Ibid. col. 1059-1256.
(^1358) Ibid. col. 1220.
(^1359) De fide, spe et charitate. Migne, CXIX, col. 1387-1490.