Paschasius Radbertus

Saint Paschasius Radbertus was a monk and abbot of Corbie in Picardy and a theologian. He was born around 790 at Soissons and died around 865 at Corbie. A foundling left at the door of the abbey church of Notre-⁠Dame at Soissons, he was raised by the sisters of the abbey; at twenty-⁠two he entered the Benedictine abbey of Corbie, near Amiens, as a monk and took the name Paschasius. He was trained by Abbot Adalhard of Corbie and became head of the school. In 826, at the death of Adalhard, the seat passed to his brother Wala. Paschasius obtained confirmation from the Emperor Louis the Pious and had as a disciple Warin of Corvey. Under Wala he became prior of the abbey and was in turn elected abbot between 843-844 and 851.

Because he received into the abbey the son of Pepin of Aquitaine, he met the hostility of part of the community and of King Charles the Bald. Forced to give up his charge, he withdrew in 851 to the abbey of Saint-⁠Riquier, then returned to Corbie as a simple monk and died there. In 849, at the council of Quierzy, he took part in the struggle against Gottschalk of Orbais and his doctrine of double predestination, judged heretical. He wrote lives of saints, among them those of Adalhard and of his half-⁠brother Wala.

In theology, he wrote the first theological treatise on the Eucharist, "De Corpore et Sanguine Domini", composed in 831 and presented to King Charles the Bald in 844. The teaching in it was opposed from its appearance, and the controversy with Ratramnus of Corbie was one of the foundations of the Catholic eucharistic dogma. After his death his relics were moved to the abbey church of Corbie on 12 July 1058, and his name was entered in the abbey's calendar. The gravestone of 1655 can still be seen. He is commemorated on 26 April, by the Western calendar (new style). He is honored as a saint of the undivided Church, although some of his eucharistic ideas were debated in the West.