Ratramnus (died circa 868) was a
FrankishThe Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic tribal confederation first attested in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul...
theological controversialist of the second half of the ninth century.
He was a
monkA monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, whilst always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
of the
BenedictineBenedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
abbey of
CorbieCorbie is a commune of the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Geography:The small town is situated up river from Amiens, in the département of Somme and is the main town of the canton of Corbie. It lies in the valley of the River Somme, at the confluence of the River Ancre. The town...
near
AmiensAmiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardie.-History:The Paleolithic culture named Acheulean was named for its first identified site, in Saint-Acheul, a suburb of Amiens...
; beyond this fact very little is known about him. He is best known for his treatise on the
EucharistThe Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, Sacrament of the Table, the Blessed Sacrament, or The Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance, generally considered to be a commemoration of the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his...
(
De corpore et sanguine Domini liber), in which he contradicted the doctrine of
transubstantiationIn Roman Catholic theology, "transubstantiation" means the change of the substance of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, while all that is accessible to the senses remains as before.Some Greek confessions use the term "transubstantiation" , but most Orthodox...
, taught in a similar work by his contemporary from the same monastery Radbertus Paschasius.
Ratramnus (died circa 868) was a
FrankishThe Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic tribal confederation first attested in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul...
theological controversialist of the second half of the ninth century.
He was a
monkA monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, whilst always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
of the
BenedictineBenedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
abbey of
CorbieCorbie is a commune of the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Geography:The small town is situated up river from Amiens, in the département of Somme and is the main town of the canton of Corbie. It lies in the valley of the River Somme, at the confluence of the River Ancre. The town...
near
AmiensAmiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardie.-History:The Paleolithic culture named Acheulean was named for its first identified site, in Saint-Acheul, a suburb of Amiens...
; beyond this fact very little is known about him. He is best known for his treatise on the
EucharistThe Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, Sacrament of the Table, the Blessed Sacrament, or The Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance, generally considered to be a commemoration of the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his...
(
De corpore et sanguine Domini liber), in which he contradicted the doctrine of
transubstantiationIn Roman Catholic theology, "transubstantiation" means the change of the substance of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, while all that is accessible to the senses remains as before.Some Greek confessions use the term "transubstantiation" , but most Orthodox...
, taught in a similar work by his contemporary from the same monastery Radbertus Paschasius. Ratramnus sought to reconcile science and religion, whereas Radbertus emphasized the miraculous. However the two agreed that Christ was present in the
eucharistThe Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, Sacrament of the Table, the Blessed Sacrament, or The Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance, generally considered to be a commemoration of the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his...
, Radbertus by miracle and reality and Ratramnus by faith and symbolism. Ratramnus's views failed to find acceptance; their author was soon forgotten, and, when the book was condemned as
heresyHeresy is proposing some unorthodox change to an established system of belief, especially a religion, that conflicts with the previously established opinion of scholars of that belief such as canon. It is sometimes confused with apostasy which is disaffiliation from orthodoxy and blasphemy which is...
at the synod of
VercelliVercelli is a city of about 47,000 inhabitants in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, around the year 600 BC.The city is situated on the river Sesia in the plain of the river Po between...
in 1050, it was described as having been written by
Johannes Scotus ErigenaJohannes Scotus Eriugena , was an Irish theologian, Neoplatonist philosopher, and poet...
at the command of
CharlemagneCharlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 to his death. He expanded the Frankish kingdoms into a Frankish Empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe...
. During the Reformation, there was a revival of interest in the book; it was published in 1532 and immediately translated. It was especially influential in England, where
Thomas CranmerThomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from union with the Holy See...
claimed to have been finally convinced against transubstantion by Ratramnus.
In the controversy about election, when appealed to by
Charles the BaldCharles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.- Struggle against his brothers :He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...
, Ratramnus had written two books:
De praedestinatione Dei, in which he maintained the doctrine of a twofold
predestinationPredestination is a religious concept, which involves the relationship between God and his creation. The religious character of predestination distinguishes it from other ideas about determinism and free will...
; nor did the fate of Gottschalk deter him from supporting his view against Hincmar as to the orthodoxy of the expression
trina Deitas. Ratramnus was famous in his own day for his
Contra Graecorum opposita, in four books (868), a valued contribution to the controversy between the Eastern and Western Churches which had been raised by the publication of the encyclical letter of Photius in 867. An edition of
De corpore et sanguine Domini was published at Oxford in 1859. He is also the author of a letter, the
Epistola de Cynocephalis, on whether the
CynocephaliThe condition of cynocephaly, having the head of a dog — or of a jackal— is a widely attested legendary phenomenon existing in many different forms and contexts...
(dog-headed people) should be considered human (Patrilogia Latina 121: 1153-56).