Haimo of Halberstadt

Haimo of Halberstadt was a Benedictine monk and bishop of Halberstadt in Germany from 840 to 853, and a well-⁠known writer of his time. He reposed in March 853.

As a young man he entered the monastery of Fulda, where he studied alongside Rabanus Maurus. With him he went to the monastery of Saint Martin at Tours to learn from Alcuin, and then both returned to Fulda. There Haimo became chancellor of the monastery. It is thought that he taught theology too, but there is no sure proof.

At the end of 840 he was named bishop of Halberstadt. Rabanus Maurus sent him his work De Universo as guidance for the episcopal office. Haimo kept away from the court of King Louis the German, preached often and cared only for his diocese. The only public assembly he attended was the Council of Mainz in 847.

He wrote above all commentaries on Holy Scripture: on the Psalms, Isaiah, the twelve minor prophets, the epistles of Saint Paul and the Apocalypse. Many of them repeat the explanations of the Holy Fathers and dwell on the moral and mystical sense of the text. Some works ascribed to him are in fact by Haimo of Auxerre.

He is honored as a saint in the Western tradition, remembered on 27 March; no Orthodox synodal canonization is known.