Ilduin, Abbot of St-Denis

ILDUIN, Abbot of St-Denis. - Born of a noble family in the second half of the 8th century, died on 22 November 844. He completed his studies under Alcuin and had as a disciple Hincmar of Reims, who remained always devoted to him. From 814-15 he was abbot of St-Denis, in Paris, and from about 820 he was archchaplain of the court of Louis the Pious, whose son Lothair he accompanied to Rome in 842.

At the Council of Paris of 825 he favored the Eastern legates in the question of the images. He took part in court intrigues, also taking part in the plot of Louis's sons against their father, carried out at Easter of 830; as a consequence of which he was exiled to Paderborn and, following the trial of 2 February 831, was stripped of the various abbeys over which he presided and relegated to New Corbie (Saxony). But, defended by Hincmar, he soon returned to Paris, where around 832 he reformed his monastery and devoted himself, far from political intrigues, to a life of study.

From this period come his works: some letters to Louis the Pious; a Libellus passionis in which he strives to show the identity of St. Dionysius the Areopagite with the first bishop of Paris; a life of St. Dionysius, written by order of Louis the Pious around 834, of which he also made a rhythmic version; particularly important is the Latin translation, although very imperfect, of the Corpus Dionysianum completed between 831-34.

Alberto Ghinato