ABBO OF FLEURY, ST.

Abbot, writer; b. Orléans, France, c. 945–950; d. La Réole Abbey, Nov. 13, 1004. Offered as an oblate in Fleury, he studied at Paris, Reims, and Orléans. He was ordained in England, where he had been called to preside over the school of Ramsey (985–988). From 988 to 1004 he was abbot of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire (Fleury). One of the most remarkable teachers of his century, he was also a prolific writer and a staunch defender of papal authority against royal and episcopal power. When commissioned by King robert ii to treat with the papacy in the royal interest, Abbo achieved harmony between the Church and the Capetian dynasty. A zealous promoter of ecclesiastical reform and a champion of monastic independence, he obtained papal immunity for his own monastery and carried the principles of Cluny into the monasteries of France and England. Abbo was fatally wounded during a quarrel that arose between his followers and the Gascons outside the Abbey of La Réole, where he was undertaking a reform. He is revered as a martyr and has received public veneration since 1031. The most notable of his writings (PL 139:463–582) are: Apologeticus to Hugh Capet and his son on the rights and duties of clergy, religious, and laity; Liber de computo; Collectio canonum; Passio S. Eadmundi, (ed. Arnold, Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey, London, 1890–96).

Feast: Nov. 13.

Bibliography: Epistola encyclica de caede A. abbatis, Patrologia Latina 139:417–418; abbo of fleury, Epistolae, Recueil des historiens de Gaule et de la France 10:434–442. aimoin, Vita s. Abbonis, Patrologia Latina 139:375–414. a. van de vyver, "Les Oeuvres inédites d'A.," Revue Bénédictine 47 (1935) 125–169. p. cousin, A. de Fleury-sur-Loire (Paris 1954). m. mostert, The political theology of Abbo of Fleury: A study of the ideas about society and law of the tenth-century monastic reform movement (Hilversum 1987). a. fliche, La Réforme grégorienne, 3 v. (Louvain 1924–37) 1:49–59. e. sackur, Die Cluniacenser, 2 v. (Halle 1892–94) 1:270–299.

[p. j. mullins]