AUTPERT, Ambrose (Ambrosius Autpertus, Authortus, not well Authortus). - Ecclesiastical writer, born of a distinguished family at the beginning of the 8th century in France (Provence? Aquitaine?).
He received a careful education, delving more deeply into the sacred sciences than the profane (cf. preface to book VIII on the Apocalypse). Having come to Italy, he visited Rome and pushed on to Benevento. Here, in the nearby Benedictine monastery of S. Vincenzo al Volturno, he embraced the religious life. Ordained a priest, he devoted himself to preaching. On the death of Abbot John I (773-77), he was called by the French monks — present there in considerable number — to succeed him, while the Lombard or Italian monks elected Potone. From this arose a nationalist dispute, on account of which A. gave up the abbatial office (778). Summoned to Rome by Pope Adrian I together with other monks to clarify the question of Potone, who was accused of infidelity before Charlemagne, he died suddenly on the journey, between May and June of 781 (cf. Codex Carolinus, no. 67, in MGH, Epist., III, p. 595); wrongly, on the other hand, the date of his death is commonly given, with the Chronicon Vulturnense, as 19 July 778. His body, carried back to his monastery, was buried in the church of S. Pietro.
For his virtues, the same chronicler calls him sanctissimus; Mabillon (Acta SS. O.S.B., III, part 2, Paris 1672, pp. 259-67) and the Bollandists (Acta SS. Iulii, IV, Antwerp 1725, pp. 646-41) gave him the title of saint.
WORKS
In PL 89, A. occupies only a few columns (1265-1332); but all his writings gathered together would make at least two volumes. His productions have for the most part been placed under other better-known names, from St. Ambrose of Milan to St. Ildephonsus, not to mention those that the monks of Montecassino believed they had to claim for their abbot Autpertus (834-38).
1. In the first place comes his great commentary on the Apocalypse in 10 books (in Maxima Bibliotheca vet. Patrum, XIII, Lyon 1677, pp. 403-657; not, as some write, in PL, where it is missing), which he called, on account of its easy intelligibility, Speculum parvulorum; he obtained the approval of Pope Stephen III (IV), which he used against envious detractors. For this commentary, "tanto labore confectum," A. draws on earlier Latin writers, especially Primasius, himself also accepting the Augustinian theory of "recapitulation" (cf. Praef., chap. Cum itaque). Throughout the work the piety of the author shines through (cf. preface to bk. VIII).
2. Conflictus vitiorum atque virtutum, a short ascetic treatise dedicated to Lanfrid, first abbot of Benediktbeuern in Bavaria (cf. the Anonymous of Melk, De script. eccl., chap. 51: PL 213, 975). Once the bloody persecutions had ceased, the struggle for Christians now consists in that of the virtues against the vices. Inspired by Prudentius' Psychomachia, the Conflictus is realized, in the course of the work, in the personification of 25 of the principal vices that seek to entice the soul with subtle reasonings, then overcome by those of the virtues. The epilogue, moreover, resolving the difficulty of those who believe they cannot sanctify themselves while remaining in their homeland, is a document of the different spiritual tendency of Benedictine monasticism, fond of "stabilitas loci," and of Celtic monasticism, which favored emigrating far away (peregrinatio, v.). This ascetic opuscule is among the most celebrated of the Middle Ages, which attributed it to Ambrose of Milan (PL 17, 1057-74), Isidore of Seville (ibid., 83, 1131-44), as well as to Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, and above all Augustine (ibid., 40, 1091-1106); under the latter's name two fragments of it are cited in the Corpus Iuris Canonici (Causa 22, q. 2, can. 13; C. 27, q. 1, c. 20). For these various attributions, cf. F. Arevalo, Isidoriana, III, chap. 84, nos. 20-41 (PL 81, 615-624).
3. Vita Paldonis, Tatonis et Tasonis Vulturnensium (the founders of his monastery: PL 89, 1319-32; critical edition by G. Waitz, in MGH, Script. rer. Lang. et Ital., Hannover 1878, pp. 546-55). It is a work of a liturgical character, praised by Paul the Deacon (Hist. Lang., VI, 40) and included in the Chronicon Vulturnense (critical edition by V. Federici [Fonti per la storia d'Italia, 58], I. Rome 1925, pp. 101-23), as well as in the Lezionario Parfense, of the 11th century, but with variants and additions (cf. U. Balzani, Il Chronicon Parfense, [Fonti per la storia d'Italia, 23], I. Rome 1903, pp. XII and 9-16).
4. Homilies: three (de Cupiditate, in Purificatione S. Mariae, in Transfiguratione Domini: PL 89, 1277-1320); others, in Natale S. Mariae, are contained in ms. Paris, 3783 (on which cf. Morin, in Rev. Bénéd., 8 [1891], pp. 275-78); still others, yet to be identified, are in manuscripts of Montecassino, mingled with those of the homonymous Cassinese abbot.
5. Oratio contra septies septena vitio, with which the Chronicon Vulturnense opens (ed. cit., I, pp. 3-15); in Migne it is in the appendix to the works of St. Ambrose (PL 17, 755-62).
6. The commentaries on Leviticus, on the Song of Songs and on the Psalms, noted by the Chronicon Vulturnense as remarkable for their "melliflua suavitate," appear to be lost.
7. Of his Epistolary only one letter to Stephen III (IV) remains, prefixed to the commentary on the Apocalypse.
A. is one of the most important figures of the period preceding the Carolingian revival. He seems to precede his contemporaries by several centuries, and when a critical edition of all his works can be had, "more than one will be astonished to find that a theologian of this worth has remained almost unknown for twelve centuries" (Morin).
His Vita, written in the 11th century by the monk John, not free of legendary elements, is included in the Chronicon Vulturnense, I, chaps. 64-74 (ed. cit., pp. 177-201).
Bibliography8 works
Igino Cecchetti