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2. Questions of a scientific nature. P. What is the sun?

P. What is the moon?
P. What are the stars?

P. What is rain?

P. What is fog?

P. What is wind?

P. What is frost?

P. What is autumn?

A. The top of the body.
A. The domicile of the soul.

A. The splendor of the universe,
the beauty of the sky, the
glory of day, the distributor of
the hours.
A. The eye of night, the dispenser
of dew, the prophet of storms.
A. The pictures of the roof of the
heavens, the guides of sailors,
the ornament of night.
A. The reservoir of the earth, the
mother of the fruits.
A. Night in day, a labor of the
eyes.

A. The disturbance of the air, the
commotion of the waters, the
dryness of the earth.

A. A persecutor of plants, a destroyer of leaves, a fetter of the earth.

A. The barn of the year.

63. Charlemagne sends out an Edited Collection of Sermons for Use throughout the Year

To enable the churches to conduct their services better, Charlemagne had prepared a number of copies of sermons and

lesson-readings, "in two volumes, suitable for the whole year," which he sent out in 786, accompanied by the following letter.

Charles, confiding in the aid of God, King of the Franks and Lombards, and Patrician of the Romans, to the religious lectors subject to our power.

Since the divine clemency always guards us at home and abroad, in the issues of war or in the tranquillity of peace, though human insignificance is in no way able to pay back his benefits, nevertheless, because our God is inestimable in his mercy, He approves benignly the goodwill of those devoted to His service. Therefore, because we take care constantly to improve the condition of our churches, we have striven with watchful zeal to advance the cause of learning, which has been almost forgotten by the negligence of our ancestors; and, by our example, also we invite those whom we can to master the study of the liberal arts. Accordingly, God aiding us in all things, we have already corrected carefully all the books of the Old and New Testaments, corrupted by the ignorance of the copyists.

Incited, moreover, by the example of our father Pippin, of venerated memory, who by his zeal decorated all the churches of the Gauls with the songs of the Roman church, we are careful by our skill to make these churches illustrious by a series of excellent lectionaries. Finally because we have found the lectionaries for the nocturnal offices, compiled by the fruitless labor of certain ones, in spite of their correct intention, unsuitable because they were written without the words of their authors and were full of an infinite number of errors, we cannot suffer in our days discordant solecisms to glide into the sacred lessons among the holy offices, and we purpose to improve these lessons. And we have entrusted this work to Paul the deacon, our friend and client. We have directed him to peruse carefully the sayings of the catholic fathers and to choose, so to speak, from the most broad meadows of their writings certain flowers, and from the most useful to form, as it were, a single garland. He, desiring to obey devoutly our highness, has read through the treatises and sermons of the different catholic fathers, has chosen from each the best, and has presented to us in two volumes lessons suitable for the whole year and for each separate festival, and free from error. We have examined the text of all these with our wisdom, we have established these volumes by our authority, and we deliver them to your religion to be read in the churches of Christ.

64. Charlemagne's General Proclamations as to Education (Trans. by Munro, D. C., in his Laws of Charles the Great) Issued by Charlemagne, in 787, to the abbots of the different monasteries, reproving their illiteracy and exhorting them to the

study of letters. This has been called "the first general charter of education for the Middle Ages." Only the copy of the Proclamation addressed to the Abbot Baugulf of Fulda has escaped destruction. This reads as follows:

(a) The Proclamation of 787 A.D.

Charles, by the grace of God, King of the Franks and Lombards and Patrician of the Romans, to Abbot Baugulf and to all the congregation, also the faithful committed to you, we have directed a loving greeting by our ambassadors in the name of omnipotent God.

Be it known, therefore, to your devotion pleasing to God, that we, together with our faithful, have considered it to be useful that the bishoprics and monasteries entrusted by the favor of Christ to our control, in addition to the order of monastic life and the intercourse of holy religion, in the culture of letters also ought to be zealous in teaching those who by the gift of God are able to learn, according to the capacity of each individual, so that just as the observance of the rule imparts order and grace to honesty of morals, so also zeal in teaching and learning may do the same for sentences, so that those who desire to please God by living rightly should not neglect to please him also by speaking correctly. For it is written: "Either from thy words thou shalt be justified or from thy words thou shalt be condemned." (Matthew, xii, 37.) For although correct conduct may be better than knowledge, nevertheless knowledge precedes conduct. Therefore, each one ought to study what he desires to accomplish, so that so much the more fully the mind may know what ought to be done, as the tongue hastens in the praises of omnipotent God without the hindrances of errors. For since errors should be shunned by all men, so much the more ought they to be avoided as far as possible by those who are chosen for this very purpose alone, so that they ought to be the especial servants of truth.

For when in the years just passed letters were often written to us from several monasteries in which it was stated that the brethren who dwelt there offered up in our behalf sacred and pious prayers, we have recognized in most of these letters correct thoughts and uncouth expressions; because what pious devotion dictated faithfully to the mind, the tongue, uneducated on account of the neglect of study, was not able to express in the letter without error. Whence it happened that we began to fear lest perchance, as the skill in writing was less, so also the wisdom for understanding the Holy Scriptures might be much less than it rightly ought to be. And we all know well that, though errors of speech are dangerous, far more dangerous are errors of the understanding.

Therefore, we exhort you not only not to neglect the study of letters, but also with most humble mind, pleasing to God, to study earnestly in

order that you may be able more easily and more correctly to penetrate the mysteries of the divine Scriptures. Since, moreover, images, trophes and similar figures are found in the sacred pages, no one doubts that each one in reading these will understand the spiritual sense more quickly if previously he shall have been fully instructed in the mastery of letters. Such men truly are to be chosen for this work as have both the will and the ability to learn and a desire to instruct others. And may this be done with a zeal as great as the earnestness with which we commend it. For we desire you to be, as it is fitting that soldiers of the church should be, devout in mind, learned in discourse, chaste in conduct and eloquent in speech, so that whosoever shall seek to see you out of reverence for God, or on account of your reputation for holy conduct, just as he is edified by your appearance, may also be instructed by your wisdom, which he has learned from your reading or singing, and may go away joyfully giving thanks to omnipotent God. Do not neglect, therefore, if you wish to have our favor, to send copies of this letter to all your suffragans and fellow-bishops and to all the monasteries. (And let no monk hold courts outside of his monastery or go to the judicial and other public assemblies. Farewell. (Legens valeat.)) In 789 Charlemagne supplemented the above with the following general admonition:

(b) The Proclamation of 789 A.D.

And we also demand of your holiness that the ministers of the altar of God shall adorn their ministry by good manners, and likewise the other orders who observe a rule and the congregations of monks. We implore them to lead a just and fitting life, just as God Himself commanded in the Gospel. "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven," so that by their example many may be led to serve God; and let them join and associate to themselves not only children of servile condition, but also sons of free men. And let schools be established in which boys may learn to read. Correct carefully the Psalms, the signs in writing (notas), the songs, the calendar, the grammar, in each monastery or bishopric, and the catholic books; because often some desire to pray to God properly, but they pray badly because of the incorrect books. And do not permit your boys to corrupt them in reading or writing. If there is need of writing the Gospel, Psalter and Missal, let men of mature age do the writing with all diligence.

(c) In 802 he ordered further:

(We will and command) that laymen shall learn thoroughly the creed and the Lord's prayer.

These three documents reveal a deep interest in the improve

ment of the learning of the clergy, and a large vision as to needs in that uncouth and illiterate age. The hand that prepared them was doubtless Alcuin's, though they appear in the name of Charlemagne.

65. Letter from Alcuin to Charlemagne

(Alcuin's Letters; trans. by C. W. Colby)

In 796, Charlemagne appointed Alcuin Abbot of the monastery of Saint Martin's at Tours, after fourteen years' service as head of the palace school at the Frankish court. Alcuin was now sixtyone years old, and he spent the remaining eight years of his life here as Abbot, largely engaged in supervising the work of copying books. This letter, written to Charlemagne in 796, shortly after taking up his work at Tours, is interesting as describing his work in Frankland. In it he contrasts the learning with that of his homeland, and appeals for books to copy. His praise of wisdom and frequent quotations from Scripture are characteristic of the

man.

But I, your Flaccus,1 am doing as you have urged and wished. To some who are beneath the roof of Saint Martin I am striving to dispense the honey of Holy Scripture; others I am eager to intoxicate with the old wine of ancient learning; others again I am beginning to feed with the apples of grammatical refinement; and there are some whom I long to adorn with the knowledge of astronomy, as a stately house is adorned with a painted roof. I am made all things to all men that I may instruct many to the profit of God's Holy Church and to the lustre of your imperial reign. So shall the grace of Almighty God toward me be not in vain and the largess of your bounty be of no avail. But I your servant lack in part the rarer books of scholastic lore which in my native land I had, thanks to the unsparing labour of my master and a little also to my own toil. This I tell your excellency on the chance that in your boundless and beloved wisdom you may be pleased to have me send some of our youths to take thence what we need, and return to France with the flowers of Britain; that the garden may not be confined to York alone but may bear fruit in Tours, and that the south wind blowing over the gardens of the Loire may be charged with perfume. Then shall it be once more as is said in Solomon's Song from which I quote: "Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits." And he shall say to his young men: "Eat, O friends;

1 The members of that literary circle which formed itself about Charlemagne and Alcuin assumed among themselves Hebrew or Greek or Latin names. Charlemagne himself was David; Alcuin, Horatius Flaccus; Angilbert, Homer; Enginhard, Calliopeus, etc.

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