UGO METELLO. - Theologian, born in Toul at the end of the 11th century, died c. 1150.
A disciple of Anselm of Laon (q.v.), he became a canon of the Church of St. Leo in Toul, distinguishing himself by his theological learning despite the empty loquacity and ostentatious vanity of his knowledge. His 55 Epistolae (ed. C. L. Hugo, *Sacrae antiquitatis monumenta*, II, Saint-Dié 1731, pp. 312-420), though verbose and stylistically recherché, are important because they provide valuable insights into the theological movement of the time, the successes and failures of Abelard (q.v.), Ugo Metello’s distrust of dialectic (*cedat ratio fidei, ad hoc probandum non adducas syllogismum, ibid.*, p. 386: regarding the virgin birth of Mary), and his scientific method, which was little concerned with the literary property of others (*accipie quod ex aliorum armariis excussi... cum cornio cola alienis pennis me ornavi, ibid.*, p. 380).
Particularly noteworthy is the *Epistola ad Gerlandum* (also edited in PL 188, 1273-76), in which he refutes the Eucharistic errors of the canon Gerland of Besançon (cf. A. Cordoliani, *Note sur un auteur peu connu: Gerland de Besançon* [d. after 1148], in *Revue du moyen âge latin*, I [1945], pp. 411-19), following Berengar of Tours (q.v.) and offering felicitous interpretations (*asseris quod ille [Augustinus] asserit, sed non sentis quod ille sentit*) of certain passages from St. Augustine (*Serm.*, 77, 4: PL 38, 485). In the conclusion of the same letter, he makes a strong affirmation of the infallibility of the Roman Pontiff. He also wrote several *Carmina*, among which one concerning the controversy over church tithes is noteworthy (ed. Boretius, MGH, *Libelli de lite*, III, pp. 714-19).