Ansgerius

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Ansgerius , also Angerius or Ansger , Italian Ansgerio († 1124 ), was a monk of the Benedictine order , first abbot of the monastery of Sant'Agata in Catania in Sicily and first bishop of the Latin diocese of Catania .

Life

Ansgerius came from Brittany and had come to Calabria with Robert von Grandmesnil , probably from Saint-Évroult . Ansgerius became prior in the Abbey of Sant'Eufemia near Lamezia , an outpost of Latin monasticism in the Greek monastic landscape of Calabria . According to the testimony of Gaufredus Malaterra , who had followed Ansgerius to Catania, Roger I , Count of Sicily and Calabria, got to know and appreciate Ansgerius personally. The exact time cannot be determined, but it was a few years before the events in Catania.

The Norman conquest of Sicily came to an end in 1091 with the fall of the last Arab bases in the southeast of the island. However, Roger I had already started building a Latin hierarchy earlier in order to be able to dispose of a bishop at his preferred residence towns of Mileto in Calabria and Troina in Sicily. The Pope Gregory VII was presented with a fait accompli: in Troina the count had a bishop elected, whose consecration he requested from the Pope, and he had moved the diocese of Vibona to Mileto and now demanded the consent of the Pope and the solution from the Metropolitan Union from Reggio Calabria . The Pope's answer is recorded in his register : He consented to the ordination of Bishop Robert of Troina , albeit with the restriction that this should not apply as a prejudice for future elections; Gregor wanted to wait for the result of an episcopal commission to make a decision regarding Mileto. The undated letter can probably be classified as 1080, because on February 4, 1081, the papal privilege was issued to Bishop Arnulf von Mileto, with which Roger's demands were granted and Mileto's Rome immediacy was established. In 1082 Roger then laid down the boundaries of the diocese of Troina, combined with small donations.

At the beginning of the 90s of the 11th century the dioceses of Agrigento , Catania, Mazara and Syracuse were established , this time in closer consultation with the Pope, Urban II. Catania became the second newly established Latin diocese, like Troina in eastern Sicily. In a deed from Count Roger, dated December 9, 1091, the founding of the Abbey of Sant'Agata , the appointment of Ansgerius as abbot, the conferment of city rule over Catania and some small donations are proclaimed by a diocese not the talk. The privilege of Urban II followed on March 9, 1092, in which the founding of the monastery and the appointment of the abbot as Bishop of Catania as well as the establishment of the diocese are confirmed, which Roger has not yet mentioned. Ansgerius received episcopal ordination from the hands of the Pope and the Church of Catania was directly subordinate to the Pope until 1183. In the Arenga , Urban refers to the fact that Catania is mentioned in the scriptures (meaning the register ) of Gregory the Great as a diocese. A reference to the letter register of Gregory I can also be found in Urban's privilege for the abbot Ambrosius of San Bartolomeo di Lipari, which is also documented as a diocese for Gregor; for reasons of the changed demographic conditions, the establishment of a diocese is dispensed with, but the monastery taken under papal protection. Since this privilege was issued on June 3, 1091 in Roger's residence Mileto, negotiations between the Pope and Count must have preceded it. On April 26, 1092, Roger I certified the establishment of the diocese, the elevation of Ansgerius to bishop and his consecration by the Pope and determined which places should belong to the district of Catania, including Aci , Paternò , Adernò , Centuripe and Castrogiovanni . Although the diocese of Troina had existed for a decade, it is not mentioned for the northern boundary of the diocesan area of ​​Catania; The border should be the territory of the city of Troina.

In 1094, on the feast of the Assumption of Mary, Ansgerius was one of the bishops who consecrated the church of the Carthusian monastery of S. Maria di Turri founded by Bruno of Cologne in Calabria . Archbishop Alcherius of Palermo also came from Sicily , four bishops came from Calabria: Goffredus of Mileto , Tristan of Tropea , Henricus of Nicastro and the responsible diocesan bishop Theodoros of Squillace , who belonged to the Greek rite. We do not know when San Filippo di Agira was given property and tithe rights , as we only know the process from a confirmation by Rogers II from 1126 and a confirmation by Bishop Robert of Catania from 1170. At the instigation of Ansgerius and with the consent of Pope Paschal II , a priory of the Palestinian monastery of Sancta Maria de Valle Iosaphat was built in Paternò in 1113 .

1124 Ansgerius received from Roger II. Held in Mascali given, including an oven for bad luck distillery . The exact date of Ansgerius' death in the same year is not known. In December 1125, Roger II expressly confirmed the earlier donations in Mascali to the Bishop Mauritius in addition to donations in Lentini .

The Benedictine monastery of Sant'Agata, with its scriptorium, was a center of Latin learning. The monks also formed the cathedral chapter: the abbot they elected also became bishop of Catania.

literature

  • Julia Becker: Count Roger I of Sicily. Pioneer of the Norman Kingdom (= library of the German Historical Institute in Rome. Vol. 117). Niemeyer, Tübingen 2008, pp. 177-180, 199f. and often ISBN 978-3-484-82117-0 .
  • Horst Enzensberger : The Latin Church and the founding of a diocese in Sicily at the beginning of the Norman rule. In: Medioevo Italiano. Rassegna storica online 1 (2000), No. 2, pp. 1–40, here pp. 25–36 ( downloadable article PDF).
  • Horst Enzensberger: Fondazione o "rifondazione"? Alcune osservazioni sulla politica ecclesiastica del conte Ruggero. In: Chiesa e società in Sicilia. L'età normanna. Atti del I Convegno internazionale organizzato dall'arcidiocesi di Catania, November 25-27, 1992, a cura di Gaetano Zito. Torino 1995, pp. 21–49, here pp. 34–40 ( online )
  • Gaetano Zito: Catania , in: Gaetano Zito (ed.): Storia delle Chiese di Sicilia , Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano 2009, pp. 355–404, especially pp. 361f.
  • Lynn Townsend White : Latin Monasticism in Norman Sicily , Cambridge (Massachusetts), Mediaeval Academy of America, 1938, pp. 105-109, 208-211, and more

Remarks

  1. ^ Leo Santifaller : Sources and research on documents and chancellery of Pope Gregory VII. 1st part. Swell. [Studi e testi 190], Città del Vaticano 1957, p. 225 no. 195; Josef Déer : The papacy and the southern Italian Norman states [Historical texts, Middle Ages 12], Göttingen 1969, p. 46 No. XIII.1; Dieter Girgensohn : Italia Pontificia sive Repertorium privilegiorum et litterarum a Romanis pontificibus ante annum MCLXXXXVIII Italiae ecclesiis, monasteriis, civitatibus singulisque personis concessorum , t. X: Calabria - insulae . (Regesta pontificum romanorum: Italia pontificia) Zurich 1975, p. 137f. No. 1, 337 No. 17.
  2. ↑ Italia Pontificia X, p. 338, No. 3; see. on the Enzensberger case: The Latin Church ... p. 7f.
  3. ↑ In the traditional form, however, the Count's document is not authentic, cf. Enzensberger: The Latin Church … P. 9–13.
  4. ↑ Overview of the documents for the foundation of a diocese at Enzensberger: Fondazione o "rifondazione" p. 41.
  5. ↑ Cf. Becker: Count Roger I of Sicily, pp. 178f .; Enzensberger: The Latin Church pp. 30–34.
  6. ↑ Becker: Count Roger I of Sicily, p. 179; Enzensberger: The Latin Church pp. 27–29; Italia Pontificia 10, p. 290 No. 19.
  7. ↑ Enzensberger: The Latin Church p. 28f.
  8. ^ Enzensberger: The Latin Church p. 29; Becker: Count Roger I of Sicily p. 195
  9. ↑ Becker: Count Roger I of Sicily, p. 179; Enzensberger: The Latin Church p. 34f.
  10. ↑ Becker: Count Roger I of Sicily, p. 204.
  11. ↑ Carlrichard Brühl : Rogerii II. Regis diplomata Latina (= Codex Diplomaticus Regni Siciliae. Series 1: Diplomata regum et principum e gente Normannorum. Tomus 2, 1). Böhlau, Cologne et al. 1987, pp. 18-20 No. 7 ISBN 3-412-02584-4 .
  12. ↑ Becker: Count Roger I of Sicily p. 200; Lynn Townsend White: Latin Monasticism in Norman Sicily , p. 218.
  13. ↑ Becker: Count Roger I of Sicily p. 200; Italia Pontificia 10, p. 296 No. 1; Lynn Townsend White: Latin Monasticism in Norman Sicily , pp. 210f.
  14. ^ Brühl: Rogerii II. Regis diplomata Latina p. 290 Dep. 24.
  15. ↑ Erich Caspar : Roger II. (1101–1154) and the establishment of the Norman-Sicilian monarchy. Wagner, Innsbruck 1904, p. 496 Regest 48. ( digitized version )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ansgerius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Angerius; Ansger; Ansgerio
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Founding bishop of the Latin diocese of Catania
DATE OF BIRTH 11th century
DATE OF DEATH 1124