ADAM OF EBRACH, BL.

Abbot; b. near Cologne, c. 1100; d. Nov. 20, 1161. He is probably to be identified with Adam, monk of morimond, to whom bernard of clairvaux wrote two surviving letters (Patrologia Latina, ed. j. p. Migne 182:91–105). Adam was originally a monk of marmoutier who by 1121 had become a cistercian at Foligny, whence he went to Morimond and became abbot. In 1125 he and many of the monks abandoned Morimond, and only considerable pressure from Bernard induced them to return. Adam founded the Abbey of ebrach, near Mannheim, in 1127 and became its first abbot. His high and saintly reputation so assured the house of success that he was able to make new foundations: at Reun (1129), heilsbronn and Langheim (1133), Nepomuk (1145), Alderspach (1146), and Bildhausen (1158). In his final years he was a correspondent of the mystic St. hildegarde of bingen and an ardent supporter of the crusades. His cult has never been officially recognized, but his feast is kept by the Cistercians.

Feast: Feb. 25.

Bibliography: f. x. von wegele, "Relacio … et … Narratio fundationis monasterii Eberacensis," Monumenta Eberacensia (Nördlingen 1863) 3–7. r. trilhe, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart (Paris 1912–) 1:461–463. f. j. schmale, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 1:131–132. selner, Brevis notitia monasterii B.M.V. Ebracensis (Rome 1749) 99–102.

[j. l. grassi]