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BERTI


522


BERTINORO


istence and all the existing copies have been com- piled from various manuscripts foimd in the monas- teries of St. Gall, St. Blaise, Muri, and Engelberg. The chronicle was continued by Bemold to the year 1100, and by others to the year 1175. From various passages in Berthold's chronicle it appears that, for a short time at least, he considered Cadalus. Bishop of Parma, as the legitimate occupant of the papal throne; but he soon noticed his mistake and from the year 1070, or even earlier, acknowledged Alex- ander II as the true pope. Bernold remarks in his chronicle under the year 1088 that Berthold. an excellent teacher who was very well versed in Holy Scripture, died at an advanced age on the r2th of March.

GiESEBRECHT, Gesch.dcr deutschen Kaiserzeit (Ith ed.), III. 1032; ScHULZEN, De Berloldi et Bemoldi Chronicis dissertalio historica (Bonn, 18G7); Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichls- ouellcn (Berlin, 1S94), II, vii; Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands (Leipzig, 190G). Ill, 952.

Michael Ott.

Berti, Giovanni Lorenzo, an Italian theologian, b. 28 May, 1696, at Sarravezza, Tuscany; d. 26 March, 1766, at Pisa. His parents were of the lower class. At the age of fifteen he entered the Augustinian order, and preached with success before he had attained his twenty-third year. He subsequently occupied important offices in his order, i. e. those of general secretary, prefect of the Angelica (the former valuable library of the Augustinians at Rome), general assistant. He first taught philosophy, then theology, at Sienna, Florence, Bologna, Padua, Rome, and finally (1748) became professor of ecclesiastical history at Pisa. He suffered, in 1762, a stroke of apoplexy which was repeated and eventually caused his death. His literary career was an agitated one. By order of Father Schiaffinati, his Superior General, he wrote the extensive work "De Theologicis Dis- ciplinis" (Rome, 1739-45), an exposition of the theological teaching of St. Augustine. The book, which appeared in se\'eral editions, was vehemently attacked by d'Ise de Salmon (who was successively Bishop of Agen, 1730-35, Bishop of Rodez, 1735-46, and Archbishop of Vienne, 1747-51) and by Languet de Gergy, Archbishop of Sens (1731-53). They ac- cused Berti of Jansenism. In answer, the latter published: (1) "Augustinianum Systema de Gratis" (Rome, 1747; Munich, 1750); (2) "In Opusculum'; (Leghorn, 1756). The accusations against Berti were submitted to the Roman authorities. Benedict XIV (1740-58) had his book examined and found its teaching sound. Besides other works published in this controversy, Berti wrote: (1) "Commentarius de Rebus gestis S. Augustini" (Venice, 1756); (2) "S. Augustini Quajstionum de Scientia, . . . dilucida- tio" (Pisa, 1756); (3) "De Hsresibus Trium Priorum Sseculorura" (Bassano, 1769); (4) "Historia Ec- clesiastica" (Florence, 1753), an ecclesiastical his- tory, which he later published in an abridged form (Pisa, 1760), and which, thus shortened, was fre- quently re-edited (recently at Turin, 1892).

HuRTER, Nmrnmclalor (Innsbruck, 189S). Ill, 1-5; Heorte- BIZE in Diet, de thiol, cath. (Paris, 1905), II. 795-796; Keller in Kirchenlex. (Freiburg, 1887), II, 482, 483.

N. A. Weber.

Bertin, Saint, Abbot of St. Omer, b. near Con- stance about 615; d. about 709. At an early age he entered the monastery of Luxeuil in France where, under the austere Rule of St. Columban, he prepared himself for his future missionary career. About the year 638 he set out, in company with two confreres, Mummolin and Ebertram, for the extreme northern part of France in order to assist liis friend and kins- man, Bishop St. Onier, in the evangelization of the Morini. This country, now the Department Pas-de- Calais, was then one vast marsh, studded here and there with hillocks and overgrown with seaweed and bulrushes. On one of these hillocks, Bertin and his


companions built a small house whence they went out daily to preach the word of God among the natives, most of whom were still heathens. Gradually some converted heathens joined the little band of mission- aries and a larger monastery had to be built. A tract of land called Sithiu had been donated to Omor by a converted nobleman named Adrowald. Omer now turned this whole tract over to the missionaries, who selected a suitable place on it for their new monastery. But the community grew so rapidly that in a short time this monastery also became too small and an- other was built where the city of St. Omer now stands. Shortly after Bertin's death it received the name of St. Bertin. Mummolin, perhaps because he was the oldest of the missionaries, was abbot of the two monasteries until he succeeded the deceased St. Eligius as Bishop of Noyon, about the year 659. Bertin then became abbot.

The fame of Bertin's learning and sanctity was so great that in a short time more than 150 monks lived under his rule, among them St. Winnoc and his three companions who had come from Brittany to join Bertin's community and assist in the con- version of the heathen. When nearly the whole neighbourhood was Christianized, and the marshy, land transformed into a fertile plain, Bertin, know- ing that his death was not far off, appointed Rigo- bert, a pious monk, as his successor, while he himself spent the remainder of his lite preparing for a happy death. Bertin began to be venerated as a saint soon after his death. His feast is celebrated on 5 September. In medieval times the Abbey of St. Bertin was famous as a centre of sanctitv and learn- ing. The "Annales Bertiniani" (830^882; Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script., I, 419-515) are important for the contemporary history of the West Prankish Kingdom. The abbey church, now in ruins, was one of the finest fourteenth-century Gothic edifices. In later times its library, archives, and art-treasures were renowned both in and out of France. The monks were expelled in 1791 and in 1799 the abbey and its church were sold at auction. The valuable charters of the abbey are published in Guerard, "Cartulaire de I'abbaye de St. Bertin" (Paris, 1841; appendi.x by Morand, ibid., 1861). The list of abbots is given in "Gallia Christiana nova". III, 485 sqq. bee La- plane, "Abb& de St. Bertin" (St. Omer, 1854-55).

Mabillon, Acta SS. O. S. B., sccc. Ill, I, 93-150; Acta SS., 2 September, 549-630; Butler, Lives of the Saints. 5 Sept.; Baring-Gould, Lives of the Saints. 5 Sept.; Montalembert, Monks of the West (Boston), I. 628 sqq.; Guerin, Vies des Saints (Paris), X, 492 sqq. The earliest sources are two anonymous biographies, one of them written before the middle of the ninth century, the other somewhat later. They are published by Mabillon and by the BoUandists, loc. cit.

Michael Ott.

BertinoTO, Diocese of. — Bertinoro, anciently called Forum Truentinorum, and, at the time of the Gothic war, Petra Honorii, whence the present name, is a small city in Romagna, province of Forli, Italy. According to legend, about the year 303 St. Illumi- nata, a virgin of Ravenna, took refuge here, but did not escape martyrdom. Vp to 1360 Bertinoro was subject to the Bishop of Forlimpopoli; in that year, however. Cardinal Albornoz being commander of the troops of Pope Gregory IX, the latter city was de- stroyed, and the episcopal seat was transferred to Bertinoro. A word will first be said of Forlimpopoli.

Forlimpopoli was founded in 173 B. c. by the Consul M. Popilius Ltenas. The first bishop is sup- posed to have been St. Rufillus, appointed by Pope bt. Sylvester, and he is supposed to have trans- formed a temple of Isis into a church. At all events St. Rufillus is the patron of the city, and the church in which his body is preserved is said to have been an ancient temple of Hercules. In 500 Asellus, Bishop of Forlimpopoli, was present at the Roman synod that passed on the election of Pope Sinima-