CANDIDO di FULDA (BRUUN). - Theologian, philosopher, hagiographer, poet, and artist, born in the second half of the 8th century, died in 845.
He latinized the Germanic name Bruun to Candidus, and some have confused him with his contemporary, the Anglo-Saxon Wizzone (Wizo), who at the Palatine Academy received the nickname Candidus from Alcuin.
He lived at Fulda and in 822 succeeded Rabanus Maurus (822-42) in the direction of that famous school. A skilled artist, he painted the apse of the Basilica where, in 819, the relics of s. Bonifacio were translated (Vita metr. s. Eigilis, XVII, 131-37).
His literary output is important: 1) S. Eigilis vita, in prose (PL 105, 381-402, crit. ed. by G. Waitz in MGH, Script., XV, 221-33) and in verse (PL 105, 401-422; crit. ed. by E. Dümmler in MGH, Poet., II, 94-117); 2) Opusculum de Passione Domini, in 20 chs. (ed. B. Pez: PL 106, 57-104); 3) Epistola Candidi « Num Christus corporeis oculis Deum videre potuerit » (ed. B. Pez: PL 106, 103-108; crit. ed. by E. Dümmler, in MGH, Epist., IV, 557-61); 4) Vita Baugulfi, second abbot of Fulda, which has not come down to us.
A special place belongs to him in nascent Scholasticism due to 12 philosophical-theological fragments known under the title Dicta Candidi, published for the first time by B. Hauréau (Hist. de la philos. scholastique, I, Paris 1872, pp. 131-38).
The most recent criticism (cf. Bull. de théol. anc. et méd., I, n. 127) divides them into three parts: 1) Dictum I, originally in the form of a letter to Louis the Pious and Einhard, is certainly authentic (it was published by Frobenius Forster among the apocrypha of Alcuin: PL 101, 1359 sq.); 2) Dicta II-VIII, referring back to the "categories," are of doubtful attribution, perhaps by his disciples; 3) Dicta IX-XII have greater affinity with Dictum I, and therefore can be considered authentic. A thorough study of the manuscript tradition is still lacking.
The most interesting are the first, which deals with the human soul, imagine Dei, and the last, which represents, for the Middle Ages, the first essay of a dialectical demonstration of the existence of God (Quo argumento collegendum sit Deum esse). The argument is based on the greatness and hierarchy of beings, which demand a being greater than man, omnipotent, God. C.'s thought is inspired by Claudianus Mamertus and above all by s. Agostino.