Honorius, Known as of Autun (Honorius Augustodunensis)

HONORIUS, Known as of Autun (Honorius Augustodunensis). - Theologian of the 12th century. The author, who styles himself solitarius, scholasticus, presbyter, took care to scatter any trace for the investigation of his person and his true name (nomen meum colui silentio contegi); in any case the theater of his activity was not France (Autun, in Burgundy), but Germany, and not in the region of Mainz (as Dieterich held), but rather, in all probability, at Regensburg (as Endres proved), in the religious-scientific milieu dominated by the figure of Christian, "abbas Scotorum" of St. James (1133-53), to whom O. dedicated some of his writings.

His rich output (PL 172) embraces all theological subjects, with frequent digressions into the field of philosophy and the natural sciences. Besides some exegetical writings (literal explanation of the Mosaic cosmogony, of the Psalms, of the Song of Songs, with brief allegorical explanations) and writings on liturgy (allegorical explanations of the rites), one may recall:

1. Dogmatic theology

Elucidarium, sive dialogus de summa totius christianae religionis (coll. 1109-76): a youthful work, in which all theological questions from the Trinity to the resurrection of the flesh are treated in a rudimentary way: a kind of dialogued catechism that had wide diffusion and translations into French, Provençal, Italian, etc.; Sigillum Sanctae Mariae (coll. 495-513): explanations of the biblical texts used in the feast of the Assumption and application of the Song to Mary; Inevitabile seu de libero arbitrio (coll. 1191-1223): the text reproduced by Migne is the later redaction of the same treatise, in which O. attenuates his predestinarianism of Augustinian inspiration; Eucharisticon, de Corpore Domini (coll. 1249-58): a personal work, in which vibrates O.'s eucharistic faith, who against Berengar of Tours forcefully affirms Transubstantiation and the effects of Communion. He denies the validity of consecration performed by heretics (col. 1253); Cognitio vitae, de Deo et aeterna vita (among the works of St. Augustine: PL 40, 1003-32): a work incomplete in the current edition, but the best conceived and composed by the author, who in it treats, in synthetic form, the principal theological questions; Quaestiones octo de angelo et homine (PL. 172, 1185-92): in it the question is formulated: « Utrum Christus incarnaretur, si homo in paradiso perstitisset », to which O. answers affirmatively (prescotism); De animae exilio et patria (coll. 1242-46): where ignorance (exile) and wisdom (fatherland) are treated, emphasizing the importance of philosophy for theological study; De libero arbitrio (coll. 1223-30): a moderate position, in the line of St. Anselm.

2. Moral and political questions

Offendiculum, seu de incontinentia sacerdotum (ed. J. Dieterich, in MGH, Libelli de lite, III, Hannover 1897, pp. 29-80): an invective against concubinous priests, whose Mass is considered invalid because they are held to be « extra Ecclesiam » on account of the excommunication they incur after the First Lateran Council (1123); Summa gloria, de Apostolico et Augusto (PL. 172, 1257-70): O., a strenuous defender of the Papacy, advocates its superiority over the Emperor, even in temporadibus; Scola coeli minor (coll. 1239-42): on the different degrees of charity; Liber duodecim quaestionum (coll. 1177-86): an essay in medieval angelology; at col. 1.182 a solemn affirmation of the primacy of the Roman pontiff; Utrum monachis liceat praedicare (ed. Endres, Honorius A., op. cit. in bibl., p. 147 ff.): he shows himself a warm supporter of the external apostolate of monks; De vita claustrali (PL. 172, 1247-48): a booklet in harmony with the preceding one.

3. History

Summa totius seu de omnimoda historia (coll. 187-96): a general chronicle, of which Migne published (taking it from the MGH, Script., X) a small part; De luminaribus Ecclesiae (coll. 197-234): a De viris illustribus compiled from St. Jerome, Gennadius, St. Isidore, Sigebert of Gembloux, which concludes with a list of O.'s works and with the naive phrase: « qui post hunc scripturus sit, posteritas videbit » (col. 234); Liber de haeresibus (coll. 233-40): heresiology inspired by Isidore of Seville.

4. Liturgy

Gemma animae, de divinis officiis (coll. 541-738): symbolic explanation of the whole liturgy; Sacramentarium, de sacramentis (coll. 737-814): explanation of the rites (sacramento) of the Mass.

5. Natural sciences

Imago mundi, de dispositione orbis (coll. 115-88): a kind of speculum mundi (a genre that became fashionable shortly afterward), divided into three parts: globus mundi (a compendium of geography and astronomy); tempus in quo volvitur (a study of time and the calendar); id quod volvitur (events, history divided into three periods); Clavis physicae, de natura rerum (unpublished): an adaptation of the De divisione naturae of Scotus Eriugena; De solis effectibus (coll. 101-16): a short treatise on astronomy.

To the innate curiosity that drove O. to raise the most thorny problems of philosophy and theology, there did not correspond an equal sense of criticism and force of reasoning to resolve them. Dominated by the mania of the age, he abandoned himself to a chaotic and feverish activity, with which he composed bold but not solid syntheses; therefore one should not be surprised if, alongside solutions that echo the best theological tradition, one detects movements of thought sometimes naive, many times disconcerting (on the nature of God as substantia omnium, on predestination, on the fate of the eucharistic body eaten by sinners, on the origin of evil, on the cosmic resolution of the glorified body of Christ and of the future resurrected bodies).

Antonio Fiolanti