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Rupert of Deutz THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG Rupert second of the arrangement of vigils, and the third of the order of the service of the altar, while the fourth deals with the dispute concerning the preeminence of Augustine or Benedict. Still under the patron age of Curio, Rupert wrote his In evangelium sancti Joannis commentarius. This work, which is dis tinctly allegorical in character, is divided into four teen books, and was probably written before 1117. After its completion, Rupert finished his De trani tate et operibus ejus, which he had begun in 1114. This is the most important of all his writings, and falls into three main portions: the work of the Father, from the beginning of creation to the fall of man; the work of the Son, from the fall to the passion; the work of the Spirit, from the passion to the resurrection at the last day. The major part of the De trinitate is occupied with the Old Testa ment, with the mystical interpretation of its entire ceremonial law and sacrificial ritual. Like Augus tine in his " City of God," and like Irena'us, Hilary, Justin, and Hugo of St. Victor, Rupert regards the six ages of the world as embracing the entire history of the earth, the sixth day of history corresponding to the sixth day of creation, as well as to the spirit of fear of Isa. xi. 2, and beginning with the birth of the Son of man. The third part of the entire work now opens, and the four Gospels show the glory of the kingdom in which are developed the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the liberal arts, music, etc. The De trinitate was followed by the In apocalyp sim Joannis apostoli libri duodecam. Here the seven churches of Asia are compared with the seven women that take hold of one man in Isa. iv. 1, and the glassy sea of Rev. iv. 6 is explained as baptism, through which man passes to the throne of grace' as Israel passed through the Red Sea. 3. Allegor- The serpent that cast water out of his ical, Bio- mouth after the woman (Rev. xii. 15 graphical, 16) typifies Arius with his attack upon and Prac- the Church. The number 666 is that tical Works. of man, who was created on the sixth day, without entering the divine hep tad. The triple hexad is ruled by Satan, and not only can not, but will not, become a heptad, being triply augmented in its opposition to God. Abbot Cuno was likewise the inspiration of Rupert's in cantica canticorum commentarius, also called De incar natione Domini, a work naturally composed in the allegorical exegesis of the period. To this time may belong the charge brought against Rupert that he taught that the Holy Ghost was incarnate in the Virgin. Norbert was the first to make the accusa tion, and it has been conjectured that Rupert's reply may be embodied in the Conjlictus Ruperti cum Norberto, which is preserved in two manuscripts at Lobkow and Weissenau. In the Altercatio mona chi et the controversy between secular and regular priests is discussed, the decision being that a monk may preach after receiving ordination. A like opinion was later expressed by Rupert in his EPistola ad Everardum (the abbot of Brauweiler), and his Epiatola ad Liezelinum eanonem on the dig nity of monasticism may belong to the same period. It was probably at the request of the abbot of St. Martin in Cologne that Rupert wrote the Vita Sancti Eliphii, and about 1120 he also composed
his Vita Sancti Heriberti. Toward the end of the same year he was chosen tenth abbot of Deutz, and is said to have built a dormitory and the chapel of St. Laurence before the castle doors. To his literary controversies were now added troubles with squatters in the old castle, who were later guilty of burning both the castle and the monastery. In 1120 Abbot Wibald of Stablo wrote Rupert asking whether, in his opinion, self-pollution involved so grave a breach of chastity as to forbid ordination, and Rupert's reply, the De hesione virginitatis, constitutes a noteworthy chapter of clerical discipline. If the unique manuscript of the De vita vere apostolica, now preserved in the monastery of Grafschaft, is to be ascribed to Rupert, there are here five diar logues essentially on the old question of the relative position of seculars and regulars. Rupert, writing to Canon Liezelin, ranked the monks far above the secular clergy, the regulars being both priests and monks.
About this time Rupert wrote his Commentarius in duodecim prophetess minores, which seems to have been completed about 1124. It contains little which is especially noteworthy, however, and when Archbishop Cuno interrupted the work, Rupert turned to his De victories Verbi Dei, based on the
4. The conversations between the author and Writings his patron during the latter's visits to
of his Deutz, and picturing, in thirteen books, Later the victory of the Son of God over Years. Satan. After a brief preface, Rupert passes to the names of the fiend, and then the battle breaks out in heaven, rolls over the earth, blazing most fiercely when Christ and Satan enter on the stage of earth, and lasts until the dragon is slain by the Lord. On the completion of this work, Rupert resumed his commentary on the prophets, and at Christmas of the same year (1124) was present at the enthronization of Pope Honorius at Rome. He then visited Monte Cassino, but with in the year was one of the signers of a diploma at the monastery of Grafachaft. Shortly after his re turn to Deutz, Rupert must have begun his De glories et honore fidii hominis, a free exegesis of Mat thew in thirteen books. He begins with the vision of Ezek. i. 5 aqq., the four cherubim typifying Christ: four, since he is at once God and man, king and priest; man, since he was born in Zion; an ox, since as a priest he offered himself in sacrifice; a lion, since he conquered death and rose from the dead; an eagle, since God ascends above all the heavens. For almost every word of Matthew the Old Testament is cited by Rupert, but in the last book he returns to a philosophical consideration of the necessity of the incarnation. The work can not have been completed before 1126, but it was ready by 1127, and together with it the abbot had written his commentary on the books of Kings. About the same time, moreover, he wrote his Dialogus inter Christianum et Jvdmum, a work of minor impor tance, except as showing his vast knowledge of the Old Testament and his skill in devising exegetical arguments. On Aug. 25, or Sept. 1, 1128, Deutz was consumed by fire, and Rupert, an eye-witness of the disaster, describes it in his De incendio oppidi Tuitii. Soon afterward he composed his De glori-