CANDIDUS OF FULDA (BRUUN)

Hagiographer, theologian; d. Fulda 845. He entered Fulda under its second abbot, Baugulf (779–802), and was sent by Abbot Ratgar (802–817) for literary and artistic study under einhard. He was ordained after his return, but seems to have played no part in the canonical deposition of Ratgar. He enjoyed the confidence of Abbot Eigil (818–822) who assigned him to paint the apse of the new basilica, where the remains of St. Boniface were placed. Bruun was a teacher, but it is not certain that he became head of the monastery school after rabanus maurus was elected abbot (822–842). His chief literary work was a Life of St. Eigil in two books, one in prose (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores 15:221–33) and one in verse (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Poetae 2:96–117). The work, written c. 840 with the encouragement of Rabanus, is valuable for the internal history of Fulda. A life of Baugulf, suggested by Eigil, if actually written, remains unknown.

It is another "Candidus," Wizo, the Anglo-Saxon disciple and confidant of alcuin who is almost certainly the author of the first section, De imagine Dei, of the Dicta Candidi (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Epistolae 5:615), long attributed to Bruun. This section, on man's soul as bearing the image of the Trinity, was taken in part from the Libellus de dignitate conditionis humanae, Ch. 2. The rest of the passage is that which is known also as the Dicta of Alcuin. Unfortunately, the origin of the Libellus de dignitate itself is obscure; but since it was already quoted as a supposed work of St. Ambrose c. 790, it is strongly suggested that both parts of Wizo's passage, De imagine Dei, are excerpts from this earlier Libellus. When B. Hauréau published the Dicta Candidi [Histoire de la philosophie scolastique (Paris 1872) 1:134–137], he included 11 other items along with the above section, treating all 12 entries as a single treatise; hence, the rise of the misnomer XII Dicta Candidi. Special interest has centered on No. XII as an early example of rational argument for the existence of God. However, the actual provenance of these 11 items must still be explored before their place in the history of early medieval speculation and scholastic method can properly be assessed. Like the first Dicta of Wizo, with which they appear as anonymous items in the earliest MS tradition, these last 11 dicta undoubtedly belong to a period before 800 a.d.

There is an Opusculum de passione Domini (Patrologia Latina 106:57–104), a series of Holy Week homilies for a monastic community, and a letter entitled "Whether Christ Could See God with His Bodily Eyes" (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Epistolae 4:557–561) that are both by the same author; but critical opinion is divided as to which "Candidus" it is.

Bibliography: m. manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters (Munich 1911–31) 1:660–663. f. zimmermann, "Candidus … Geschichte der Frühscholastik," Divus Thomas (Fribourg 1914–54) 7 (1929) 30–60. h. lÖwe, "Zur Geschichte Wizos," Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 6 (1943) 363–373. p. schmitz, Histoire de l'ordre de saint Benoît (Maredsous 1942) 2:109–110. w. wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter (Weiman 1952–63) 233. s. hilpisch, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (Freiburg 1957–65) 2:736.

[j. j. ryan]