EADMER. - Benedictine historian and theologian, called the "Singer," b. between 1060 and 1064, d. at Canterbury on 13 January 1124. English by origin, educated in Scotland, he became a monk at Canterbury. A disciple of St. Anselm, in 1120 he was promoted archbishop of St. Andrews in Scotland, but the following year he resigned before even being consecrated. He handed down the narrative of the civil and religious events of his time concerning England; the memory of many figures who adorned the Church, and the society of his times. In his theological works he reproduces the thought and sometimes the language of St. Anselm, which partly explains the erroneous attribution of some work of one to the other; he distinguished himself by the defense of the privilege of the Immaculate Conception.

The opuscule De Conceptione B. Mariae Virginis (Fribourg in Br. 1904, edited by H. Thurston and Th. Slater; the most used edition is that of Migne: PL 159, 301-18; French version by B. Del Marmol, Maredsous 1923), erroneously attributed to St. Anselm and reclaimed for him by Fr. H. Thurston, is precious as one of the first attempts at a systematic defense of that dogma.

E., anticipating Scotus, states in identical words his strongest argument: Potuit plane et voluit; si igitur voluit, fecit (PL 159, 305), concluding with the description of the beneficial effects derived from it for humanity. Other works: De vita et conversatione Anselmi (1093-1109), 2 vols. (PL 158, 49-118; Acta SS. Aprilis, II, Paris 1865, pp. 866-93; M. Rule, Script. rerum brit. medii aevi, London 1884; Lives of St. Wilfrid, St. Bregwin, St. Oswald, St. Dunstan, St. Odo, some attributed to the monk Osbern (PL 159, 709-800); De beatitudine coelesti (PL 159, 587-

606); De excellentia Virginis Mariae (PL 159, 557-80); De Anselmi similitudinibus (PL 159, 605-708); Ad Glastonienses monachos de corpore s. Dunstani (PL 159, 709-808); Ad monachos Vigornienses de electione episcopi (PL 159, 807-808); Nova opuscola de sanctorum veneratione et obsecratione (A. Wilmart, in Revue de science religieuse, 15 [1935], pp. 184-219, 354-79). It appears among his works, but does not belong to him: De quattuor virtutibus quae fuerunt in B. Maria eiusque sublimitate (PL 159, 579-86).

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: B. Heurtebize, s. v. in DThC, IV, coll. 1977-78; A. J. Mac Donald, Eadmer on the Canterbury Privileges, in Journ. of Theol. Studies, 32 (1930), pp. 35-55; F. S. Schmitt, Eadmer als Gewachsmann, in Revue bénédictine, 44 (1932), pp. 322-29; J. Clayton, St-Anselm. A Critical Biography, Milwaukee 1933; A. W. Burridge, L'Immaculée Conception dans la théologie de l'Angleterre médiévale, in Revue d'hist. ecclésiastique, 52 (1936), pp. 570-97.

Vito Zolini

@incollection{ec5_eadmero, author = {Zollini, Vito}, title = {Eadmero}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/eadmero} }

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