ABBONE of FLEURY (Abbo or Abo Floriacensis), saint. — Born in the territory of Orléans between 945 and 950. His pious parents offered him as a child (oblatus) to the monastery of St Benedict at Fleury-sur-Loire, where, having completed his studies, he became a teacher while still very young. To perfect his education, he went to Paris, Reims and, for music, Orléans. He then resumed teaching and combated those who proclaimed the end of the world for the year 1000 (cf. Apologeticus, at the end: PL 139, 471).
In 985, at the request of St Oswald, archbishop of York and formerly a monk at Fleury, an ardent reformer (together with St Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury) of monastic life in England, he was sent to the island to direct the abbey school at Ramsay. He remained there for two years, winning the esteem of the episcopate and of King Æthelred; he was ordained a priest by St Oswald. Recalled to Fleury, he was elected its abbot in 988. His governance marked a revival of the celebrated abbey, whose school became one of the most famous and most frequented in France.
He waged a long struggle with the episcopate to defend the rights of the monks, especially those of his own monastery, which were being threatened by Arnulf, bishop of Orléans. He thus played a major role in the synod of Saint-Denis, held in 992 or 993 (cf. Hefele-Leclercq, IV, 1403-1406), after which he addressed his Apologeticus to King Hugh Capet and his son Robert.
He worked energetically to restore monastic discipline in various monasteries according to the Cluniac reform. Having gone to Gascony to reorganize the priory of La Réole (dependent on Fleury), he arrived there while attempting to make peace between Gascons and Frenchmen engaged in conflict; he was seriously wounded by a lance and died on 13 November 1004. He was venerated as a martyr and, from 1031, received public worship in various places in France (feast on 13 November). His life was written by the disciple Aimoin, his companion on his final mission to La Réole.
Writings. — A complete critical edition of his works is lacking, some of which are still in manuscript; the least incomplete is the one found in PL 139, 375-578. Berlière (in DHG, I, col. 50 ff.) gives precise information on 15 authentic works.
In addition to the already mentioned Apologeticus, we note: the Epistolary (the lengthy letter XIV is important, having been placed by Pierre Pithou at the end of the ancient Code of Canons of the Roman Church, as is VIII, addressed to Abbot Odilo of Cluny on the «canons», or principles, for a harmony of the Gospels); the Life of St Edmund, the martyred king of England (855-70); the Epitome of the lives of 91 Roman Pontiffs; the Liber de computo (manu-
script); several grammatical and astronomical writings; and the Poems (almost all in manuscript), including an acrostic poem addressed to Emperor Otto III.
But the work on which A.’s fame chiefly rests is the Collectio Canonum, known in the history of canon law under the name Collectio Abbonis Floriacensis. In forty-two chapters, it contains texts from Sacred Scripture, councils, decretals, capitularies, sources of Roman or Roman-barbarian law, and the Fathers; and, despite the period in which it was compiled (around 993), it shows no influence of the Pseudo-Isidorian decretals. Many texts from this collection passed into Gratian’s Decretum (Aem. Friedberg, Corpus Iuris Can., I, p. xxxviii, lists 20; and A. Amanieu, in DDC, I, 74, adds another 32).
Overall, it may be said that A. was one of the most learned and influential men of his time (cf. the judgment of his abbot: Vita, 6: PL 139, 393): a defender of papal authority, an advocate of the independence of monasteries, and a promoter of the reform of the secular and regular clergy. He went to Rome twice on missions from the king of France; on his return, he induced Hugh Capet (in 996) to reinstate at Reims the deposed archbishop Arnulf, and two years later persuaded King Robert to submit to Pope Gregory V, who had imposed an interdict on him for his incestuous union with his cousin Berta.
In his spirituality, Jesus Christ occupies a central place. He likes to call himself «amatorum Christi amator Abbo» (cf. Epist.: PL 139, 423. 433. 438. 440), and he wishes the monks to come to «taste how sweet the Lord and his Christ are, in whom we have life, being, and movement» (Epist.: PL 139, 429).
He defines monastic life as a «laboriosum spiritualis philosophiae ottum» (Apol., init.: PL 139, 461), and considers it wholly devoted to contemplation (cf. Epist. 8: Apol. toward the middle; Coll. Can., 23: PL 139, 430. 464. 489). He recommends fraternal charity and the «constant struggle» against the passions, emphasizing for this purpose the high ascetic value of study: «multum prodesse censebat litterarum studia, maximeque dictandi exercitia» (Vita, 8: PL 139, 393).