Alberic of Monte Cassino

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Alberic of Monte Cassino was a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church who died in 1088. He was a cardinal from 1057.

He was (perhaps) a native of Trier, and became a Benedictine. He opposed successfully the teachings of Berengarius, which were considered heretical by the Pope, defended the measures of Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy, and composed several theological and scientific works, lives of saints, etc.

He is the author of the earliest medieval treatise on ars dictaminis, or letter-writing (De dictamine). Many of his letters are to be found in the works of St. Peter Damian^[1].

One of his pupils, John of Gaeta, was the future Pope Gelasius II^[2].

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Patrologia Latina, CXLV, 621-634.
2. ^ I. S. Robinson, The Papacy 1073-1198 (1990), p. 214.

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