Candidus of Fulda

Candidus Bruun of Fulda was a Benedictine scholar of the ninth-century Carolingian Renaissance of letters. He received his first instruction from the learned Eigil, Abbot of Fulda, 818-822. Abbot Ratger (802-817) sent the gifted scholar to Einhard at the court of Charlemagne, where he most probably learned the art he employed later in decorating with pictures the western apse of St. Salvator, the socalled Ratgerbasilica, to which, in 819, the remains of St. Boniface were transferred. When Rabanus Maurus was made abbot (822), Candidus succeeded him possibly as head of the monastic school of Fulda. Some scholars saw Candidus even as a philosopher. But, as Christine Ineichen-Eder has pointed out, the so-called "Dicta de imagine mundi" or "Dei", twelve aphoristic sayings strung together without logical sequence, are the work of Candidus-Wizo, a pupil of Alcuin. The doctrine is taken from the works of St. Augustine, but the frequent use of the syllogism marks the border of the age of Scholasticism. In his last saying Candidus makes somewhat timidly the first attempt in the Middle Ages at a proof of God's existence. This has a striking similarity to the ontological argument of St. Anselm. (Man, by intellect a better and more powerful being that the rest, is not almighty; therefore a superior and almighty being — God — must exist). The third saying, which denies that bodies are true, since truth is a quality of immortal beings only, is based on that excessive realism which led his contemporary, Fredegisus, to invest even nothingness with being. The other sayings deal with God's image in man's soul, the concepts of existence, substance, time, etc. The philosophy of Candidus marks a progress over Alcuin and gives him rank with Fredegisus, from whom he differs by rarely referring to the Bible in philosophical questions, thus keeping apart the domains of theology and philosophy. The only complete edition of the "Dicta Candidi" is in Hauréau. There is a more critical edition of part in Richter. Canduds-Wizo, not Brun Candidus of Fulda, is also the author of an "Exposition Passionis D.N.J. Chr." and of a letter concerning the question, "quod Christus dominus noster, in quantum homo fuit, cum hic mortalis inter mortales viveret, Deum videre potuisset". The preserved "Life" of Abbot Aegil of Fulda (died 822) in prose and verse and the lost "Life" of Abbot Baugolf of Fulda (d. 802) are in fact works of Brun Candidus of Fulda. The "Life" of Abbot Eigil, an opus geminum and the first illustrated biography we know of, written circa 840, is an outstanding specimen of biography from the time of the Carolingian renaissance and an important source for the monastic reform of Benedict of Aniane. It includes interesting information about Eigils predecessor Ratger, shown as the unicorn attacking the shepherd in psaum 21, whose conflict with the conventus led to his deposition by Louis the pious in 817, and about the discussions concerning the election of his successor. Furthermore descriptions of two churches are given, first St. Salvator, the so called Ratger-basilica, completed and augmented with two crypts by the monk Rachulf and dedicated 1. November 819, secondly St. Michael, a cimitery erected by Hrabanus Maurus and dedicated 15. January 822. Its architecture, a centralized building with eight columns in the nave, one central column in the crypt and one single keystone in the vault, is explained to have a spiritual meaning as a figure of Christ and his ecclesia. The tituli of the altars of both churches, composed by Hrabanus Maurus, and Eigils two epitaphs, written by himself and by Hrabanus Maurus, are cited in full length. The dedication ceremony of St. Salvator and the tranlation of the relics of St. Boniface from his tombe in the centre of the church to his new grave in the western apse is described in detail and the hymns Te deum and Gloria in excelsis, which were sung during the ceremony, are translated in verse. The source for the lost illustration may have been the above mentioned apse picture according to his own testimony executed by the author himself, which is probably reflected in three sacramentary manuscripts of the Ottonian age (Göttingen, Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek 2° Ms. theol. 231 Cim., fol. 111r; Udine, Archivio Capitolare, Cod. 1, f. 66v; Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Lit. 1, fol. 165v). ----

External links

* [http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/30_10_0750-0850-_Candidus_Fuldensis.html Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes]
* Gereon Becht-Jördens: Vita Aegil abbatis Fuldenis a Candido ad Modestum edita prosa et versibus. Ein Opus geminum des IX. Jahrhunderts. Einleitung und kritische Edition (phil. Diss. Heidelberg), Marburg (Selbstverlag) 1994.
* Gereon Becht-Jördens: Die Vita Aegil abbatis Fuldensis des Brun Candidus. Ein opus geminum aus dem Zeitalter der anianischen Reform in biblisch figuralem Hintergrundstil, Frankfurt am Main 1992 (ISBN3-7820-0649-6).
* Gereon Becht-Jördens: Litterae illuminatae. Zur Geschichte eines literarischen Formtyps in Fulda. In: Gangolf Schrimpf (Ed.): Kloster Fulda in der Welt der Karolinger und Ottonen (Fuldaer Studien 7), Frankfurt am Main 1996 (ISBN 3-7820-0707-7), p. 325-364.
* Gereon Becht-Jördens: Die Vita Aegil des Brun Candidus als Quelle zu Fragen aus der Geschichte Fuldas im Zeitalter der anianischen Reform. In: Hessisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte 42, 1992, p. 19-48.
* Christine Ineichen-Eder: Künstlerische und literarische Tätigkeit des Candidus-Brun von Fulda. In: Fuldaer Geschichtsblätter 56, 1980, p. 201-217 (without notes but with illustrations of considerable value also in: Winfrid Böhne (Ed.): Hrabanus Maurus und seine Schule. Festschrift der Rabanus-Maurus-Schule 1980, Fulda 1980, p. 182-192).

"This article incorporates text from the 1913 "Catholic Encyclopedia" article " [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_%281913%29/Candidus?oldid=338379 Candidus] " by John M. Lenhart, a publication now in the public domain. Some corrections and additions are made by Gereon Becht-Jördens."