GERARD OF FRACHET. - Dominican chronicler, b. at Châlus near Limoges in 1195, d. at Limoges on 4 October 1271. A Dominican from 1225 in Paris, prior at Limoges and at Marseille (1233-45), provincial of Provence (1251-59), prior of Montpellier (1260-63), G. wrote the Chronica Ord. Praed. (Prior, up to 1258), then generally joined to the Vitae Fratrum, ed. B. M. Reichert in Mon. Ord. Praed. Hist., I, Rome 1896, pp. 321-23; the Vitae Fratrum, ed. Reichert in Mon. Ord. Praed. Hist., I, pp. 1-304; the Chronicon ab orbe condito (up to about 1268), ed. in part by M. Bouquet in Recueil des Hist. des Gaules, XXI (Paris 1855), p. 3 ff., XXIII (1904), p. 179 ff.

G.'s Vitae Fratrum are a very important source for the history of the first decades of the Dominican Order. Although wrapped in a legendary style and spirit, the notices are valuable and for certain contemporaries quite exact. The work is divided into 5 books, namely on the beginnings of the Order, on St. Dominic, on Bl. Jordan of Saxony, on the progress of the friars in virtues and discipline, on the death of the friars. While Mandonnet has the Vitae Fratrum presented by Master Humbert of Romans to the General Chapter of 1259, B. Altaner and H. C. Scheeben hold that the publication was made in 1260 or later. An Italian version is from the 15th century, a German one is by R. Stadtmüller (Dülmen 1921).

Bibliography8 works

BIBL.: Quétif-Echard, I, p. 259; Th. Wehofer, Die Schrift des G. v. Frachet Vitae Fratrum, in Jahrb. f. Philos. u. techn. Theol., 11 (1897), pp. 17-41; B. Altaner, Der hl. Dominikus, Untersuchungen u. Texte, Breslau 1922, pp. 127-37; P. Mandonnet, S. Thomas d'A. lecteur à la Curie Romaine, in Xenia thomistica, III, Rome 1925, pp. 12-16; Il libro d'oro domenicano, volgarizzamento anonimo del sec. XV delle « Vitae Fratrum », ed. I. Taurisano, Rome 1925; H. C. Scheeben, Petrus Ferrandi, in Archiv. Fratrum Praed., 2 (1932), pp. 329-331, 345-47; 3 (1933), p. 263; id., Gerhard v. F., in LThK, IV, col. 418.

Angelo Walz

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Gerard of Frachet

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