Agobard

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Saint Agobard
Archbishop
Born	c. 769, Spain^[1]
Died	840
Feast	6 June
Saints Portal

Agobard (c. 769 – 840) was a Carolingian prelate and Archbishop of Lyon.

We know nothing of his early life nor of his descent. In 813 he became coadjutor to Leidrad, Archbishop of Lyon. On Leidrad's death in 816 he succeeded him in as bishop. Agobard pursued the same vigorous policy as his predecessor, who had been one of Charlemagne's most active agents in the reformation of the Church. Agobard occupies an important place in the Carolingian Renaissance; he wrote extensively not only theological works but also political pamphlets and dissertations. His writings reveal a clear intellect and independent judgment.

In his writings against popular superstitions, he denounced the trial by ordeal of fire and water, the belief in witchcraft, and the ascription of tempests to magic, maintained the Carolingian opposition to image-worship, but carried his logic farther and opposed the adoration of the saints. In his purely theological works Agobard was strictly orthodox. He denied the verbal inspiration of Scripture. He also wrote anti-Jewish pamphlets in which he refers to Jews as "sons of darkness".

As many clerics, Agobard was a proponent of the unity of the Frankish Empire. Hence, he opposed the Empress Judith's initiatives on behalf of her son Charles the Bald and supported the rebellion of Charles' half-brothers Lothair and Pepin against their father, the Emperor. Deposed in 835 by the Council of Thionville, he made his peace with the emperor and was reinstated in 837.

Agobard was reverenced as a saint in Lyons, and although his canonization is disputed his life is given by the Bollandists, Acta Sanctorum, Jun. ii.748. Agobard was the first owner of the Codex Agobardinus, a collection of the works of Tertullian.

[edit] References

Agobard's works were lost until 1605, when a manuscript was discovered in Lyons and published by Papirius Masson, and again by Baluze in 1666. For later editions see August Potthast, Bibliotheca Historica Medii Aevi. The life of Agobard in Ebert's Geschichte der Litteratur des Mittelalters (1880), Band ii., is still the best one to consult. For further indications see A. Molinier, Sources de l'histoire de France, i. p. 235.