Ansegisus
| Saint Ansegisus | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 770 France |
| Died | 20 July 833 or 834 Fontenelle |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church |
| Feast | 20 July[1] |
Saint Ansegisus (c. 770 – 20 July 833 or 834) was a monastic reformer of the Franks.
Born about 770, of noble parentage, at the age of eighteen he entered the monastery of Fontenelle (also called St Wandrille after the name of its founder) in the diocese of Rouen. Saint Girowald, a relative of Ansegisus, was then Abbot of Fontanelle. Upon the recommendation of the abbot Girowald he was entrusted by the Emperor Charlemagne with the government and reform of two monasteries, St. Sixtus near Reims and St. Memmius (St. Menge) in the diocese of Châlons-sur-Marne, in which he was successful.[2]
In 817, Louis the Pious made him abbot of the famous Luxeuil Abbey,[2] founded by Saint Columbanus as early as 590. Finally, having also reformed Luxeuil, he was transferred in 823, after the death of Einhard, as abbot to Fontenelle, where he had begun his monastic life and which he reformed as successfully as the previous monasteries.[2] He was responsible for compiling a number of capitularies, a document of civil and ecclesiastical law,[3] and also commissioned the first abbey history, the Gesta abbatum Fontanellensium.[4]
Primary sources
- Capitularies of Ansegisus (assembled 827), ed. G. Schmitz (1996). Die Kapitulariensammlung des Ansegis (Collectio capitularium Ansigisi). MGH Cap. NS 1. Hanover.
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Archbishop of Sens; d. 25 November 879, or 883. He was a Benedictine monk, Abbot of St. Michael's, at Beauvais, and in 871 became Archbishop of Sens. After Charles the Bald was crowned Emperor by Pope John VIII, he asked the Pope to appoint Ansegisus papal legate and primate over Gaul and Germany. With a papal legate of French nationality, amicably disposed towards the Emperor, Charles the Bald thought he could more easily extend his influence as emperor over those countries. The Pope yielded to the wish of Charles but when the bishops assembled at the Synod Ponthion were asked to acknowledge the primacy of Ansegisus they protested, especially Hincmar, Archbishop of Reims, against what they considered an infringement on their rights. Though Ansegisus retained the title, it is doubtful whether he ever exercised the powers of Primate of France and Germany.
SCHMID in Kirchenlex., I, 886; HEFELE, Conciliengesch., IV, 516 sqq.; GFROERER, Geschichte der Carolinger (Freiburg, 1848), II, 130 sqq.
References
- Back to citation "Saint Ansegisus". 21 July 2012.
- Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 Back to citation occurrence 2.2 "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Ansegisus". www.newadvent.org.
- Back to citation "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Besancon (Vesontio)". www.newadvent.org.
- Back to citation Régis Rech, "Gesta abbatum Fontanellensium", in Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle, edited by Graeme Dunphy and Cristian Bratu (Brill, 2016). Consulted online on 6 May 2019.