Otloh of St. Emmeram

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Otloh of St. Emmeram (also Othlo) (b 1013; d. 1072) was a Benedictine monk of St. Emmeram's Abbey* in Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany, known as a scholar and educator.

(*Please note: the present form of the name in German is St. Emmeram, but the forms St. Emmeram and St. Emmeran have in the past been used interchangeably).

[edit] Life

He was born in 1013 in the bishopric of Freising. After studying at Tegernsee and Hersfeld, he was called to Würzburg by Bishop Meginhard because of his skill in writing. He entered the Benedictine Order in 1032 at St. Emmeram's in Regensburg, was appointed dean in 1055, and was entrusted with the care of the monastic school. His most distinguished pupil was William of Hirsau.

To escape the oppressions of Bishop Otto he fled to Fulda in 1062, where he remained until 1067, when, after a short stay at Amorbach, he returned to Regensburg and spent his time in literary work. In his early days he was enthusiastic about classical authors, especially Lucan, but later he thought them unsuitable for religious life, and tried to replace the heathen authors by writings of his own which served for education and edification.

Otloh was praised as modest and pious; he was opposed to dialectics, not because of lack of education but because he wished to be untrammelled by set words and forms.

He is accused of having originated the legend of the transfer of the relics of Saint Denis the Areopagite to Regensburg, and also of having forged many letters of exemption for his abbey ^[1].

[edit] Works

His collected works are found in Migne, Patrologia Latina, CXLVI, 27-434.

These include:

Dialogus de suis tentationibus, varia fortuna et scriptis (possibly the beginning of autobiography in the Middle Ages)

Life of Saint Wolfgang of Regensburg

Life of Saint Boniface, compiled from the letters of the saint found at Fulda

Life of Saint Alto

Life of Saint Magnus

The following are in Pez ("Thesaurus", III, 143-613):

Dialogus de tribus quæstionibus (treating of the symbolism of the number three)

De promissionis bonorum et malorum causis

De cursu spirituali

De translatione s. Dionysii e Francia in Germaniam, a fragment

De miraculo quod nuper accidit cuidam laico

De admonitione clericorum et laicorum

De spirituali doctrina, in hexameters

Liber Proverbiorum

Sermo in natali apostolorum

Liber visionum tum suarum tum aliorum

[edit] Notes

1. ↑  Lechner in "Neues Archiv", XXV, 627, and "Zeitschr. für kath. Theol.", XXXI, 18.

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.