Auxilius

AUXIL´IUS: German clerical author; d. after 911. He went to Rome in the pontificate of Formosus (891-896) to receive holy orders from him, as, he tells us, was common custom at the time. He remained in Italy, perhaps at first in Rome, but probably later in or near Naples, with whose bishop Stephen and archdeacon Peter he appears in relation. It is at least not impossible that he finally became a monk at Monte Cassino. We still possess four treatises of his, which all bear directly or indirectly on the controversy about Pope Formosus (q.v.). That In defensionem sacræ ordinationes papæ Formosi, written in 908 or 909, describes the events leading up to the pontificate of Formosus, to show that these afford no ground for contesting the legitimacy of his episcopate, and those which followed his death, to prove how unjust was the sentence upon him. The aim of Auxilius is to prove the validity of orders conferred by Formosus, and the object of the three other treatises is the same. The second, Libellus in defensionem Stephani episcopi, gives not a little information about the checkered career of the Stephen mentioned, proving the validity of his Neapolitan episcopate, though he was enthroned by Benedict IV (900-903), who was ordained 386by Formosus. The third and fourth bear directly upon the validity of these ordinations. The works are in MPL, cxxix, 1053-1100, and E. Dümnler, Auxilius und Vulgarius (Leipsic,1866), pp. 59-116. The Liber cujusdam requirentis et respondentis, in MPL, cxxix,1101-12, is not genuine.

A. Hauck.

Bibliography: Watttenbach, DGQ, i (1894), 305.

AVA: The first German poetess; d. at Melk (on the Danube, 50 m. w. of Vienna), or a neighboring convent of Lower Austria, Feb. 8, 1127. A number of poems are ascribed to her, of which the most important and most certainly genuine is described in one of the manuscripts as treating of ” the life, passion, and resurrection of the Lord, and of the Holy Spirit, according to the gospels; of the Last Judgment and Antichrist, and of the delights of heaven.”

A later manuscript includes the life of John the Baptist. Two sons are said to have helped in its composition, who are thought to have been two poets known from other works, named Hartmann and Heinrich. The former was educated for the priesthood at Passau, became prior of St. Blasien in 1094, then abbot of Göttweih, founded the monastery of Lambrecht in 1096, and died in 1114. The latter was a layman and probably survived Hartmann. Ava was a reclusa, but conjectures as to her sinful early life and later ascetic practises are based upon the doubtful works and are hardly justified by these. The poem as preserved is not composite. It displays real poetic gifts and, in the choice of incidents as well as in their treatment, indicates that the author was a woman, with no trace, however, of feminine enthusiasm. The material is drawn from the gospels and the Acts, for the presentation of Antichrist and the Last Judgment from Rev. xvii-xx. The aim seems to have been to present a simple narrative in poetic form of the great deeds of God in the new covenant similar to treatments of Genesis, Exodus, and other parts of the Pentateuch which are known to have been already in existence. There is no homiletical coloring, and moral reflections and allegory are avoided. The separation of the good and the bad at the Last Judgment gives opportunity for a brief but instructive picture of social conditions of the time, which indicates personal familiarity with the sins of the higher classes. The time of composition was probably about 1120.

A. Freybe.

Bibliography: J. Diemer, Deutsche Gedichte des xi und xii Jahrhunderts, aufgefunden im regulierten Chorherrenstifte zu Vorau in der Steiermark, Vienna, 1849; W. Scherer, Geistliche Poeten der deutschen Kaiserzeit, ii, in Quellen und Forschungen zur Sprache und Culturgeschichte der germanischen Völker, vii, pp 73-77, Stuttgart, 1875; and especially A. Langguth, Untersuchungen über die Gedichte der Ava, Budapest, 1880.