Eckbert of Schönau

Eckebert (Ekbert, Egbert) (born in the early part of the twelfth century of a distinguished family along the Middle Rhine; died 28 March 1184) was Benedictine Abbot of the Abbey of Schönau, and a writer.

He was for a time canon in the collegiate church of Sts. Cassius and Florentius at Bonn. In 1155 he became a Benedictine at Schönau in the Diocese of Trier, and in 1166, after the death of the first abbot, Hildelin, he was placed at the head of the monastery.

He preached and wrote much for the salvation of souls and the conversion of heretics. The Cathari, then numerous in the Rhineland, gave him especial concern. While a canon at Bonn he often had occasion to debate with heretics, and after his monastic profession, was invited by Rainald of Dassel, Archbishop of Cologne, to debate publicly with the leaders of the sect in Cologne itself.

Works

His chief works are:

• Sermones contra Catharos (c 1165) with extracts on the Manichæans, from St. Augustine (Patrologia Latina, CXCV)
• De Laude Crucis (Patrologia Latina, CXCV)
• Soliloquium seu Meditationes (Patrologia Latina, CXCV)
• Ad Beatam Virginem Deiparam sermo Panegyricus (Patrologia Latina, CXCV, CLXXXIV)
• De sanctâ Elizabethâ virgine, a biography of his sister Elizabeth of Schönau, a Benedictine nun and famous visionary and mystic, a portion of which is in Patrologia Latina, CXCV, also in Acta Sanctorum, June, IV, 501 sqq. (ed. Victor Palmé, 1867).
• Complete edition of his works in Roth, "Die Visionen der hl. Elisabeth und die Schriften der Aebte Ekbert und Emecho von Schönau" (Brno, 1884).

Attribution

• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Eckebert" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.