GERARD OF CAMBRAI. — Theologian and bishop, born in Liège ca. 975, died on March 14, 1051. A disciple of Gerbert (Sylvester II), he became a cleric in Reims, then chaplain to Henry II, who in 1012 appointed him bishop of Arras and Cambrai.
An active man, he founded monasteries, attended synods, and in 1025 celebrated the Council of Arras (Atrebatensian), whose acts remain famous for a clear and extensive exposition, in 18 chapters, of doctrine on the hierarchy, the Sacraments, and particularly the Eucharist (PL 142, 1270-1313), which at that moment was being denied by a heterodox group steeped in Manichaeism (the first symptoms of Catharism). Some of his letters also survive (PL 142, 1313-23), in the first of which he deals with excommunication.