ACARDO (Achardus), blessed. — Abbot of S. Vittore, then bishop of Avranches. Descended from a noble Norman family that had settled in England in the retinue of William the Conqueror during the expedition of 1066, he was born in the first half of the twelfth century, according to some on the English island, according to others in Normandy near Domfront (Orne). He died on 29 March 1171.
Having received his initial education among the regular canons of Bridlington (diocese of York), he went to Paris to perfect his studies. There he embraced the religious life in the newly founded abbey of S. Vittore, where the example of the celebrated Hugh spurred him on in study and virtue. When Abbot Gildunus died (1155), he succeeded him as the second abbot of S. Vittore. In 1157 he was elected bishop of Sécz, but Henry II of England opposed his consecration because, as s. Thomas of Canterbury reports, Pope Adrian IV had favored his election. In 1161 he was appointed bishop of Avranches. Pious and benevolent, through his friendship with the English monarch he obtained many favors for his diocese and for the entire region of Normandy. He was buried in the church of the Premonstratensian abbey of La Lucerne, of which he had been the principal benefactor and whose foundation stone he had blessed (1164).
In the sources he bears the title of master (magister Achardus), and his epitaph calls him famous doctor Achardus (PL 196, 1779). But his writings, not yet entirely identified, have remained unpublished.
The abbey of Maredous undertook the task of producing the editio princeps, and has been gathering the necessary materials since 1899. On the basis of these, Morin notes “his subtle and at the same time lucid genius, his bold analysis of the mysteries of the human being, joined to Victorine mysticism, in a lively, at times eloquent style, much more effective than the scholastic style of the later age,” and recognizes him as the author of the treatise De discretione animus, spiritus et meutis, previously and falsely attributed to Adam of S. Vittore. In 1935 he published it, according to cod. Paris. Mazar. 1002 (942), of the thirteenth century, originating from S. Vittore. Important is his treatise or sermon De abnegatione sui ipsis, also called, less exactly, De tentatione Domini in deserto, because its subject is Matt. 4:1. The author’s aim is to lead the soul to perfection through the seven degrees of evangelical self-denial, which cause it to enter, as it were, seven deserts. In stripping itself of itself and of all things, the soul is intimately united with God. The booklet is addressed to everyone, but especially to religious.
In Migne there are only two brief Epistolae by A. (PL 196, 1381-82). Some of his works are lost, such as the De Trinitate, of which a passage is quoted in Giovanni di Cornovaglia’s Eulogium ad Alexandrum III (PL 199, 1054 ff.), and the Ouestiones de peccato, cited in the Allegoriae in Novum Testamentum attributed to Hugh of S. Vittore (but later).
A profound theologian and champion of traditional doctrine, he advocates the realism of the union of the two natures in Christ against nominalists of every variety.
Vossius erroneously attributed to him the Vita B. Gezzelini or Schetzelonis, published (Douai 1626) by Raisse (cf. Acta SS. Augusti, I, Venice 1741, pp. 172-73, 175-80); it is probably the work of his namesake and contemporary Acardo of Clairvaux.