GERBERT, MARTIN VON HORNAU. - Benedictine, born at Horn on the Neckar (Württemberg) on 12 Aug. 1720, died in the abbey of St. Blasien (Black Forest) on 13 March 1793. At the age of 16 he entered the said abbey (1736) and was ordained priest (1744); for ten years he taught philosophy and theology there, and while attached at the same time to the library he was able to deepen his knowledge of sacred and profane history, especially of medieval music and liturgy. He completed his education with travels in Germany, Italy, and France, collecting a great many documents (1759–62).
Elected prince-abbot in 1764, he showed paternal care for the monks and provided them with new constitutions; after a fire destroyed the monastery in 1768, he rebuilt it and endowed it with a fine church, transforming it also into a true academy of scholars and establishing there what was called the first German institute for historical research: he directed, in fact, the compilation and publication of *Germania Sacra* (v.). Devoted to the Holy See, he sought to mediate between episcopalism and the papacy and effectively combated Josephinism in the Austrian territories under his jurisdiction.
He wrote extensively: besides *Iter Alemanicum; Accedit Italicum et Gallicum* (St. Blasien 1765) and *Historia Silveae Nigrae Ordinis S. Benedicti coloniae* (3 vols., ibid. 1783–1784), in which he treats of the numerous Benedictine monasteries spread through the Black Forest from the 7th to the 18th century and also of the various episcopal sees and principal families of the region;
GERBERT MARTIN VON HORNAU — GERDIL HYACINTHE-SIGISMOND 96
*Sur les diverses erreurs du temps présent* of 23 July 1860, which earned the praise of Pius IX and served as the basis for the commission charged with drafting the Syllabus. Also part of his scholarly activity are: *Livre de sainte Théodose* (Amiens 1854); *Conférence sur Rome* (Perpignan 1863); *La stratégie de M. Renan*, published posthumously in Paris in 1866. Better known than all these, however, is his little book of piety on the Eucharist: *Considérations sur le dogme générateur de la piété catholique* (Paris 1829).