Adelmann

ADELMANN: Bishop of Brescia in the eleventh century. The time and place of his birth are unknown, and the date of his death, as well as that of his consecration as bishop, is uncertain. Gams (Series episcoporum, Regensburg, 1872, p. 779) assigns the latter two events to 1053 and 1048, respectively. Adelmann himself states that he was not a German; he has been commonly taken for a Frenchman, but may have been a Lombard. The first certain fact of his life is that, together with Berengar of Tours, he studied under Fulbert at Chartres. Afterward he studied, and later taught (probably from 1042), in the school of Liége, then at Speyer. The works which have made him known are: (1) a collection of Rhythmi alphabetici de viris illustribus sui temporis, devoted to the praise of Fulbert and his school, and (2) a letter to Berengar on his eucharistic teaching; the letter was written before Berengar’s first condemnation, but after his departure from the traditional doctrine was notorious (both works in MPL, cxliii. 1289-98). The letter is not so much an independent investigation as a solemn warning to his friend against the danger of falling into heresy. Adelmann treats the subject from the purely traditional standpoint, and considers it settled by the words of institution. 41 The change (he uses the words transferre, transmutare) of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ takes place invisibly in order to afford an opportunity for the exercise of faith; such occurrences, accordingly, can not be investigated by reason, but must be believed.

(A. Hauck.)

Bibliography: Histoire littéraire de la France, vii. 542; Hauck, KD, vol. iii., p. 963.