Petrus Cellensis

Petrus Cellensis (Ger. Peter von Celle , fr. Pierre de la Celle ; * around 1115; † February 20, 1183 in Chartres ) was a French abbot and bishop as well as a spiritual writer.

Vita

Peter von Celle was born in Champagne around 1115 - the scion of the house of Aulnoy-les-Minimes near Provins . There was a distant relationship to the French royal family. As a young man he embarked on a monastic career. After a comment of his own, he initially sought contact with the Cluniac from St-Martin-des-Champs in Paris . There he met Johann von Salisbury , who later became Bishop of Chartres , with whom he had a lifelong friendship after studying together on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève .

After a few years of study, Peter was convinced by the representatives of the Gregorian reform ; he renounced the secular school life in Paris and became a Benedictine monk: “Oh Paris, how drawn you are to seize and disappoint souls. In you there are networks of vice and pitfalls of evil; In you the arrow of hell pierces the hearts of the foolish ... ”So he wrote in horror in one of his letters. During this time, Peter von Celle made friends with a student and later opponent of Abelard , Goswin von Anchin .

After studying in Paris, Peter entered the Benedictine convent of Montier-la-Celle , which was a few kilometers southwest of Troyes in the Champagne region. He owed his future nickname Cellensis or de Cella . He may have already spent his childhood in this convent. Around 1145 Peter became abbot of this monastery. During this abbate he was associated with numerous greats of his time. Among other things, he made friends with Bernhard von Clairvaux , whose Cistercian order won him a lot of admiration. As a result, both convents had business dealings with each other repeatedly. He wrote several sermons for Bishop Theobald of Paris, whom he had probably got to know personally during his time as Prior of St-Martin-des-Champs.

In 1148 John of Salisbury visited his friend in Montier-la-Celle and stayed there for quite a while after he had given up his role as teacher of the Artes Liberales in Paris and was ordained a priest in 1147. Under the mediation of Bernhard von Clairvaux, Peter stood up for Johann at Theobald , the Archbishop of Canterbury , who immediately took him into his service. Peter's letters from this time convey a vivid picture of his diverse activities and contacts: With John of Salisbury , Thomas Becket , Archbishop Eskil von Lund , as well as Popes Eugene III. and Alexander III. he was in constant correspondence.

Peter's close confidante also included Bishop Heinrich von Beauvais . This acquaintance also went back to Peter's study time in Paris. Heinrich was the biological son of King Ludwig VI. and Queen Adelaide of Savoy ; he had been prepared for a high church career from childhood. Heinrich began his ascent in the church hierarchy as a canon of the cathedral chapter of Notre-Dame , of which he was a subdeacon until 1136 . Around 1145 he became archdeacon at Dom Sainte-Croix of Orléans , then titular abbot of all royal monasteries, seven of them in number. This was followed by a short interlude as a Cistercian monk under Bernhard von Clairvaux , where he first made the acquaintance of Pope Eugene III. made. In 1147 - according to some sources not until 1149 - the clergy of Beauvais elected him bishop there. This episcopate was overshadowed by serious quarrels with the people and chapter of Beauvais and the now rival brother on the royal throne. During this time, Peter von Celle stood by his friend Heinrich in an advisory capacity.

In 1162 Heinrich was then surprisingly elected as the new Archbishop of Reims . In the same year he brought Peter von Celle to his side and gave him the city's most renowned abbatiate. Peter became abbot of the venerable Saint-Remi monastery in Reims , where the first Merovingian king Clovis I was baptized and anointed with the legendary oil of Sainte-Ampoule . Peter von Celle led the convent as abbot for nineteen years - until 1181. In his function as vicar he represented the Metropolitan of Reims during his absence.

Even during this time, John of Salisbury still sought out the abbot he was friends with. Here in Reims he is said to have written his Historia Pontificalis before he was elected to the bishopric of Chartres in 1176 at the instigation of Archbishop Wilhelm von Sens and King Louis VII .

The architectural redesign and enlargement of the Remigius monastery in Reims falls under the aegis of Peter von Celle. In order to make room for the numerous groups of pilgrims, the old Romanesque portal structure was removed and replaced by a new one in the Gothic style. The ship was extended by two vaulted yokes . The stylistic peculiarity of a windowless triforium characterizes this construction phase. Also a new, deeper choir with ambulatory and five Rayonnant Chapels now replaced the old chancel - built in the style of Champagne. If you disregard the serious damage that the Second World War brought with it, Saint-Remi still presents itself today in the same architectural form as Peter von Celle once designed.

In 1182 the life of the aged abbot took another surprising turn: Already marked by a serious illness for years - he suffered from kidney stones and gout  - Peter von Celle followed his friend Johann von Salisbury, who died in October 1180, to the episcopate of Chartres . Pope Lucius III pronounced the appropriate appointment. This choice was surprising; because as recently as 1178 Peter von Celle came away empty-handed in the election of cardinals: he had not been able to take part in the Third Lateran Council due to illness .

After his election as Bishop of Chartres, Peter is said to have gone to work with vigor: he had Chartres fitted with a city wall from his own box, which earned him the thanks of the local citizens. But a long term as primate of Chartres Cathedral was no longer granted to him. On February 19 or 20, 1183 (1182 according to the Easter rhythm), the former abbot died of the consequences of a short-term illness. The citizens of Chartres are said to have kissed the body laid out during the funeral procession - the bishop was so popular. In the Abbey of Josaphat Peter von Celle was buried at the side of John of Salisbury.

Works and Editions

In addition to numerous letters whose new German edition is in preparation, Peter von Celle also left behind a whole series of sermons as well as several smaller and four larger treatises.

• The entire literary works of the abbot were first published in 1671 by Dom Janvier in Paris.

• A collection of 169 letters had previously been published in 1613 by J. Sirmond . A new edition of this edition followed in 1728.

• Mignes Patrologia Latina , Volume 202, Columns 405–1146, reproduces Janvier's edition, supplemented by other letters pertaining to Peter von Celle. This collection includes 177 letters, 95 sermons as well as several smaller and four larger treatises: De panibus ad Joannem Sarisberiensem , Mosaici tabernaculi mysticae et moralis expositionis libri duo , De conscientia and the late work De disciplina claustrali ad Henricum I, Campaniae comitem .

• In 1850, Messiter at Oxford edited a large collection of letters from the manuscripts of St. John's College.

• In 1948 Jacques Leclercq finally added seven more newly discovered letters from the abbot - including an exchange of letters with Abbot Goswin of Anchin , a declared opponent of Abelard.

• In 2001 J. Haseldine published all of Peters von Celle's letters in a critical Latin-English edition.

literature

• J. Godefroy: La Maison d'Aulnoy-les-Minimes, souche de Pierre de Celle . In: Revue Mabillon 41, 1951, 33ff.
• Ch.Lalore: Cartulaire de Montier-la-Celle . Paris 1882.
• G. Wellstein: The friendly relations of Petrus Cellensis to the Cistercians . In: Cist. Chron. 38, 1926, 213ff.
• J. Haseldine: The letters of Peter of Celle . Oxford 2001.
• Gillet: De Petro Cellensi, abbate Sancti Remigii Remensis et Carnotensi episcopo dissertatio . Paris 1881.
• Georges: Pierre de Celles, sa vie et ses œuvres . Troyes 1857.
• Saint-Remi de Reims: l'oeuvre de Pierre de Celle et sa place dans l'architecture gothique , Bibl. Société. française d'archéologique, VIII, Geneva 1978.
• Jacobi Sirmondi Opera Varia, Venice 1728, volume 3.
• J. Leclercq: Nouvelles lettres de Pierre de Celle . In: Studia Anselmiana , 43, 1958.
• G. de Martel: Pierre de Celle, L'école du cloître . Paris 1977.
• H. Feiss: The School of the Cloister in Peter of Celle . Selected works, Cistercian, Kalamazoo 1987.

Web links

• Literature by and about Petrus Cellensis in the catalog of the German National Library
• Peter von Celle: De disciplina claustrali
• Peter von Celle: Letter 25: Confrontation with Heloisa