ALDHELM (Aldhelmus or Althelm; Old English Ealdhelm (= Old Helmet), Saint. - Of a royal Saxon family, born in Wessex around 640, perhaps in 639, died on 25 May 709. His first teacher was the Irish monk Maildulf (Irish Maedulf), founder of the monastery that took from him the name of Malmesbury (in Bede: Maildulfi urbs). Around the year 668, already a religious, he went to the school of Canterbury, where his teachers were Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus and Abbot Adrian (on whom cf. Bede, Hist. Eccl., IV, 1-2), who greatly influenced his formation: A. calls Adrian the teacher of his "rude infancy" (Rp. ad. Hadr.). On the death of Maildulf (675), Bishop Leuthere wished him abbot of the monastery, which in thirty years of governance he brought to great splendor. Under the pontificate of Sergius I (687-701) he undertook a journey to Rome and returned to his homeland with the distinguished "privilegium" of exemption for his monastery, placed under the direct dependence of the Holy See. The vast diocese of Winchester, the only one at that time for the West Saxons, having been divided in two, he was elected, in 705, bishop of the new diocese of Sherborne, while remaining, by the will of the monks, superior of the monastery. He died, during a pastoral visitation, in the village of Dulting (Somersetshire), and was buried at Malmesbury.
His life was action, study, prayer. He used to say: "When I read, it is God who speaks to me; when I pray, it is I who speak to God" (cf. William of Malmesbury, V, 3 init.: PL 179, 1633). In the disciplinary controversies with the Britons (Celts) he was a champion of the Roman cause and an apostle of peace. In 1080 Lanfranc of Pavia (v.), having died as archbishop of Canterbury and primate of England, prescribed his cult throughout the island (feast on 25 May).
He left various writings: 1. De (Septenario et de) Metris et Enigmatibus ac pedum regulis, in 141 chapters, important for the many texts cited (Virgil predominates among them) and the preface to the Enigmas with the acrostic "Aldhelmus cecinit millenis versibus odas", useful for the exact spelling of the name. 2. De Virginitate, in prose and in verse, in imitation of Sedulius, as Bede notes, judging it an "outstanding" work: the prose treatise, dedicated to Hildelda, abbess of Barking (on whom cf. Bede, Hist. eccl., IV, 10), celebrates, in 70 chapters, the privileges of virginity, illustrating them with examples from all ages (St. Gregory the Great is called there "pedagogus noster": chapters 42 and 55); it concludes with a greeting to the religious women, "flores Ecclesiae, Christi margaritae, paradisi gemmae"; the Carmen consists of 2904 hexameters, of which the first 38 constitute the preface, acrostically enclosed in the initial verse "Metrica tirones nunc promant carmina castos". 3. Carmina ecclesiastica, with which he celebrates the patrons of the various churches, especially the Virgin and the 12 Apostles.
There remain certain Chartae Aldhelmianae or diplomas, among them the famous "privilegium" of Pope Sergius. A precious historical source is the brief Epistolary (10 letters by him and 3 addressed to him), which informs us about the "ratio studiorum" of the famous school of Canterbury, where Roman law and (Gregorian) chant were also taught (Ep. 1); about the schools of Ireland (Epp. 3 and 5), about his relations with the Celtic monastery of Péronne (France); the letter to the disciple Ethelwald is a program of Christian asceticism (prayer, mortification, study); he wrote the one to the Welsh king Geraint, of 680, concerning Roman unity (regarding the tonsure and Easter) on behalf of the bishops assembled in council.
A. cites Holy Scripture both according to the Vulgate and according to the Itala. He reveals a certain national sentiment. His importance lies in the fact that he had a double education, Celtic and Roman, and was the first abbot of Malmesbury, the first bishop of Sherborne, the first Anglo-Saxon who successfully cultivated Latin poetry (cf. William of Malmesbury, V, 1: PL 179, 1621) and the first of his people (recently converted to Christianity) whose writings have come down to us with certainty. He has a rather rude style, with tastes at times bizarre, but his verses are very expressive. Some have judged him a primitive, a "lettered barbarian"; the Middle Ages, however, held him in great honor: Bede calls him "vir undecumque doctissimus... sermone nitidus... eruditionem mirandus"; St. Boniface and Lull, apostles of Germany, greatly loved his writings; Alfred the Great collected his popular songs in the vernacular, now lost, proclaiming him "prince of Anglo-Saxon poetry" (cf. William of Malmesbury, V, 1: PL 179, 1621). His works, whose numerous codices are dispersed throughout Europe, had commentators. A. therefore has a distinguished place in the history of culture.
Bibliography2 works
Sources: First of all the writings of the saint; then Bede, a contemporary, Hist. eccl., V, 18: PL 92, 260 ff. (= C. Plummer, II, Oxford 1896, pp. 308-313); Faricius of Arezzo, monk at Malmesbury, then abbot of Abingdon (d. 1117), Vita e Aldhelmi: PL 89, 63-84; William of Malmesbury (d. 1143), De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum, the whole of I, V: PL 179, 1619-80.
Studies: J. Mabillon, Acta SS. O. v. Bened., III, 1, Paris 1672, pp. 222-27; G. F. Browne, S. Aldhelm, his Life and Times, London 1903; W. B. Wildman, Life of S. Ealdhelm, London 1905; T. Cogliani, De Septenario e di Aldhelm, Cagliari 1907; M. Manitius, Gesch. der lat. liter. des Mittelalters, I, Munich 1911, pp. 134-42; A. Manset, Le témoignage d'Aldhelme de Sherborne sur une particularité du Canon Grégorien de la Messe Romaine, in Rev. Bénéd., 28 (1911), pp. 90-95; D. Mazzoni, Aldhelmiana... in Riv. stor. Benedettina, 16 (1915), pp. 93-114, 245-50, 402-47; G. Prampolini, Storia Universale della Letteratura, II, Turin 1934, pp. 221-23; finally the index of volumes III (p. 506) and IV
(p. 399) of the Bull. d'Hist. Bénéd., suppl. to vols. 44 (1932), and 55 (1941) of the Revue Bénédictine.
Ieino Cecchetti