AUTPERTO, AMBROGIO (Ambrosius Autpertus, Authortus, incorrectly Authortus). – Ecclesiastical writer, born of a distinguished family at the beginning of the 8th century in France (Provence? Aquitaine?).
He received a thorough education, applying himself more deeply to the sacred than to the secular sciences (cf. pref. to Bk. VIII on the Apocalypse). Having come to Italy, he visited Rome and proceeded as far as 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. At the death of Abbot Giovanni I (773–77), he was called by the French monks—who were present there in considerable numbers—to succeed him, while the Lombard or Italian monks elected Potone. This gave rise to a nationalistic dispute, as a result of which A. relinquished the office of abbot (778). Summoned to Rome by Pope Adriano I together with other monks to clarify the matter concerning Potone, who had been accused of disloyalty before Carlomagno, he died suddenly while travelling, between May and June 781 (cf. Codex Carolinus, no. 67, in MGH, Epist., III, p. 595); it is commonly and incorrectly stated, on the other hand, following the Chronicon Vulturnense, that he died on 19 July 778. His body, transported 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) bestowed upon him the title of saint.
WORKS. – In PL 89, A. occupies only a few columns (1265–1332); but, if all his writings were collected, they would fill at least two volumes. His works have for the most part been attributed to other, better-known names, from s. Ambrose of Milan to s. Ildefonsus, not to mention those which the monks of Montecassino have thought they ought to claim for their abbot Autpert (834–38).
1. First 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 absent), which he called, because of its easy intelligibility, Speculum parvulorum; he secured the approval of Pope Stephen III (IV), which he used against envious detractors. In this commentary, « tanto labore confectum », A. draws on earlier Latin writers, especially Primasius, also accepting the Augustinian theory of « recapitulation » (cf. Praef., opening words Cum itaque). Throughout the work the author’s piety shines through (cf. preface to Book VIII).
2. Conflictus vitiorum atque virtutum, an 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 consisted henceforth in that between the virtues and the vices. Inspired by Prudentius’s Psychomachia, the Conflictus unfolds through the personification of 25 principal vices, which seek to entice the soul with subtle arguments, later overcome by those of the virtues. The epilogue, resolving the difficulty of those who believe that they cannot become holy while remaining in their homeland, is a testimony to the divergent spiritual tendencies of Benedictine monasticism, devoted to the « stabilite loci », and of Celtic monasticism, which encouraged emigration to distant lands (venitela, v.). This ascetic opusculum is among the most celebrated works 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 Leo M., Gregory M., and above all Augustine (ibid., 40, 1091–1106); under the name of the latter, two of its fragments are reproduced 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 ed. 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 incorporated into the Chronicon Vulturnense (critical ed. V. Federici [Fonti per la storia d’Italia, 58], I. Rome 1925, pp. 101–23), as well as into the Lectionary of Parfense, from the eleventh 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 (for which cf. Morin, in Rev. Bénéd., 8 [1891], pp. 275–78); still others, not yet identified, are found in manuscripts of Montecassino, intermingled with those of the abbot of the same name from Cassino.
5. Oratio contra septies septena vitio, with which the Chronicon Vulturnense opens (ed. cit., I, pp. 3–15); in Migne it appears in an appendix to the works of s. Ambrose (PL 17, 755–62).
6. His commentaries on Leviticus, the Song of Songs, and the Psalms, described by the Chronicon Vulturnense as remarkable for their « melliflua suavitate », seem to have been lost.
7. Of his Epistolary, only one letter to Stephen III (IV) survives, placed before the commentary on the Apocalypse.
A. is one of the most important figures of the period preceding the Carolingian revival. He seems to have preceded his contemporaries by several centuries, and when a critical edition of all his works becomes available, « more than one person will be astonished to discover that a theologian of such worth remained almost unknown for twelve centuries » (Morin).
His Vita, written in the eleventh century by the monk Giovanni and not free from legendary elements, is included in the Chronicon Vulturnense, I, chaps. 64–74 (ed. cit., pp. 177–201).