487
BERKNGARIUS
told did not omit to provide also for the temporal
welfare of Engelberg. He procured for his monas-
tery many financial privileges, among which was the
right to levy tithes upon the churches of Stanz and
Buoehs, which were under his jurisdiction. The
contemporaneous annals of Engelberg, which are
published in " Mon. Germ. Hist., SS.", XVII, 2S0,
relate that Berchtold foretold the death of Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa. Later chronicles state that,
through his blessing, the lake near Stanzstad was
stocked with fish, and that shortly before his death
he three times changed water into wine. He is
generally represented in the act of blessing fish.
His miracle of turning water into wine is corroborated
by an epigram beneath a representation of him which
was kept in the choir of Engelberg up to the seven-
teenth century. At Engelberg his feast is cele-
brated on the anniversary of his death.
Ada SS. (Paris. 1887), Nov. 1, 385; Murer, Helvetia Sancta (Lucerne. 1648; St. Gall. 1751); Bdrgener, Helvetia tiancta (Einsiedeln and New York. 1860). I, 80; Versuch einer urkundlichen Darstellung des reichsfreien Stifles Engelberg (Lucerne, 1846); Mayer, Das Benediktiner Slitt Erigelberg (Lucerne, 1891).
Michael Ott.
Berea. See Bercea.
Berengar, Fredoli. See Fredoli.
Berengarius of Toirrs, b. at Tours about 999; d. on the island of St. Cosnie, near that city, in 1088. Having completed his elementary studies in his na- tive city, he went to the school of Chartres in order to study arts and theology under the direction of the famous Fulbert. There he was distinguished for his curious and quick intelligence. It seems that even at this early time his bent of mind and singular opinions were a source of anxiety to his master. (M. Clerval, Les Ecoles de Chartres au Moyen Age, Chartres, 1895.) After the death of Fulbert (1029) Berengarius left Chartres and took charge, as scho- lasticus, of the school of St. Martin of Tours. His reputation spread rapidly and attracted from all parts of France numerous and distinguished disciples, who afterwards held positions of importance in the Church. Among them are mentioned, though there is some doubt about the first two, Hildebert of Lavardin who became Bishop of Le Mans and Arch- bishop of Tours, St. Bruno, the founder of the Carthusians, Eusebius Bruno, afterwards Bishop of Angers, Frolland, Bishop of Senlis, Paulinus, dean of Metz. In 1039 Berengarius was chosen arch- deacon of Angers by Hubert, bishop of that city. Berengarius accepted this office, but continued to live at Tours and direct his school.
It was about 1047 that the teaching of Berengarius touching the Holy Eucharist began to attract at- tention. In the Eucharist ic controversy of the ninth century, Radbcrt Paschasius, afterwards abbot of Corbie, in his "De Corpore et Sanguine Domini" (831), had maintained the doctrine that in the Holy Eucharist the bread is converted into the real body of Christ, into the very body which was born of Mary and crucified. Ratramnus, a monk of the same abbey, defended the opinion that in the Holy Eu- charist there is no conversion of the bread; that the body of Christ is, nevertheless, present, but in a spiritual way; that it is not therefore the same as that born of Mary and crucified. John Scotus Eri- gena had supported the view that the sacraments of the altar arc figures of the body of Christ; that they are a memorial of the true body and blood of Christ. (P. Batiffol, ICtudes d'histoire et de th^ologie positive, 2d .series, Paris, 1905.) When, therefore, Hugues, Bishop of Langres, and Adeiman icoldtre of Lidge, discussed Berengarius's teaching on this sub- ject . the latter answered by appealing to the au- thority of Erigena. It was at this point that Lanfranc, ablxjt of the monastery of Le Bee, attacked as hereti-
ical the opinion of Erigena and defended the doc-
trine of Radbert Paschasius. Berengarius, in his
defence, wrote a letter which Lanfranc received in
Rome whither he had gone to take part in a council.
The letter was read in this council (1050); Beren-
garius was condemned, and was ordered to appear
at a council which was to be held the same year at
Vercelli. King Henry I being titular Abbot of St.
Martin of Tours, Berengarius applied to him for
permission to go to the council. It is probable that
at this time the conferences of Brionne and Chartres
were held in which Berengarius imsuccesi-fully de-
fended his opinions. (Cf. Durand of Troarn, Liber de
Corpore et Sanguine Christi, xxxiii, in Migne, P. L.,
CXLIX, 1422.) The king, for reasons which are not
exactly known, ordered Berengarius to be imprisoned,
and at the Council of Vercelli (1050) his doctrine
was examined and condemned.
The imprisonment, however, did not last long. The Bishop of Angers, Eusebius Bruno, was his dis- ciple and supporter, and the Count of Anjou, Geof- frey Martel, his protector. The following year, by order of Henry I, a national synod was held in Paris to judge Berengarius and Eusebius Bruno; neither was present, and both were condemned. At the Council of Tours (1055), presided over by the papal legate Hildebrand, Berengarius signed a pro- fession of faith wherein he confessed that after consecration the bread and wine are truly the body and blood of Christ. At another council held in Rome in 1059, Berengarius was present, retracted his opinions, and signea a formula of faith, drawn up by Cardinal Humbert, affirming the real and sensible presence of the true body of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. (Mansi, XIX, 900.) On his re- turn, however, Berengarius attacked this formula. Eusebius Bnmo abandoned him, and the Count of Anjou, Geoffrey the Bearded, vigorously opposed him. Berengarius appealed to Pope Alexander II, who, though he intervened in his behalf, asked him to renounce his erroneous opinions. This Berenga- rius contemptuously refused to do. He then wrote his "De Sacra Ccend adversus Lanfrancum Liber Pos- terior", the first book of which — now lost — had been written against the Council of Rome held in 1059. He was again condemned in the Councils of Poitiers (1075), and of St. Maixent (1076), and in 1078, by order of Pope Gregory VII, he came to Rome, and in a council held in St. John Lateran signed a pro- fession of faith affirming the conversion of the bread into the body of Christ, born of the Virgin Mary. The following year, in a council held in the same place Berengarius signed a formula affirming the same doctrine in a more explicit way. Gregory VII then recommended him to the bishops of Tours aii<l Angers, forbidding that any penalty should be in- flicted on him or that anyone should call liim a heretic. Berengarius, on his return, again attacked the formula he had signed, but as a consequence of the Council of Bordeau.x (1080) he made a final retraction. He then retired into solitude on the island of St. Cosme, where he died in union with the Church.
Doctrine.? and their Condemnation. — Accord- ing to some of his contemporaries, Berengarius held erroneous opinions about the spiritual power, mar- riage, the baptism of children, and other (loiiits of doctrine. (Bernold of Constance, Do Bcrengcrii ha'resiarcha! damnalione niultiplici in P. L.,CXLVIII, 1456; Guitmond, De Corporis et Sanguinis Christi vcritate in Eucharistiii, P. L., CXLIX," 1429, 1480.) But Berengarius's fundamental doctrine concerns the Holy Eucharist.
In order to understand his opinion, we must ob- serve that, in philosophy, Berengarius had rationalis- tic tendencies and was a nominalist. Even in the study of the questions of faith, he held that reason
