St. Paschasius Radbertus

Benedictine theologian and abbot. Paschasius was left as an infant upon the door of Notre Dame convent in Soissons, France, and was raised by the nuns there before receiving an education from the monks of St. Peter's, Soissons. After entering the Benedictine monastery of Corbie under St. Adalard, he was ordained a deacon. In 822, he was sent with other monks under Adalard to establish the monastery of New Corbie in Westphalia, Germany. He served for a number of years as master of novices and headmaster at both Corbie and New Corbie and in 844 was made abbot of Corbie. Never ordained a priest and finding the office against his nature, Paschasius resigned about 849. He went to the abbey of Saint Riquier, but returned to Corbie where he eventually died. A prolific writer, he was the author of several biblical commentaries, a Life of Abbot Adalhard, and the well known De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, the first ever treatise on the Eucharist. He was also probably the author of epistle IX of Pseudo Jerome, which is an important document in the development of the doctrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin.