BERNONE di REICHENAU (Berno Augiensis). — Called Bernardo by some; statesman, liturgist, musician, hagiographer, orator, and poet, he was one of the most distinguished figures of his time. Abbot of Reichenau from 1008 to 1048 and a friend of the Emperor s. Enrico II, he accompanied him to Rome for the coronation (14 February 1014), and on another occasion, when he took part in a conference of prelates to discuss certain particulars of the Roman liturgy.
Zealous for the good of the Church, he took an active part
in the Cluniac reform movement and maintained contact with the leading figures of his time. He greatly increased the library of his abbey and made it a center of study and holiness. He died on 7 June 1048 and was buried in the choir of S. Marco in the church of Reichenau; the tomb and bones were discovered in December 1929.
His stature as a restorer appears even greater in the light of his literary activity. His works are: 1. De celebratione Adventus Domini, addressed to Aribone, archbishop of Mainz, in order to resolve the then-current question concerning the length of Advent when Christmas falls on a Monday. 2. Dialogus de teinuli Quattuor Temporum. 3. De officio Missae, in which he discusses various questions concerning additions made to the Mass. 4. De varia psalmorum atque contum modulatione, an interesting work of biblical-liturgical criticism concerning various texts intended for singing, both in the Breviary and in the Mass, with references to the Hebrew original and to the ancient versions. 5. Tonarius, preceded by an extensive Prologus: this is B.’s most famous work. 6. De contona Tonorum diversitate, a brief summary of the preceding work. He also wrote Vita sancti Uldarici, an elegant reworking of Gerardo’s work, but of little historical value. B. also composed and set to music an Office for s. Uldarico. A Vita Sancti Mainardi has been attributed to him, apparently wrongly; for him, instead, he composed an Office. He is also the author of several Hymns and Sequences. A collection of B.’s Letters is preserved in the Sangall. codex 898, from the 11th century. Other works of his, such as De instrumentis musicalibus, are lost. A. Duch, however, rediscovered the treatise De nigromantia seu divinatione daemonum condemnanda and 16 Sermon.
In the absence of a critical edition of B.’s works, the best remains that of Migne: PL 142, 1047-1214. For B.’s correspondence with Aribone of Mainz, cf. Ph. Jaffé, Monum. Magantino, in Bibl. Rerum Germ., III, Berlin 1866, pp. 365-72. His musical works were published in 1784 by Martino Gerbert, in Scriptores ecclesiastici de Musica Sacra, II, Leipzig 1905, pp. 61-122.