Durandus of Troarn was a FrenchBenedictine and ecclesiastical writer, b. about 1012, atLe Neubourg nearEvreux; d. 1089, atTroarn nearCaen).[1]
Affiliated from early childhood to the Benedictine community ofMont-Sainte-Cathérine and ofSaint-Vandrille, he was made abbot of the newly foundedSaint-Martin of Troarn byWilliam, Duke of Normandy, in whose esteem he stood on a par withLanfranc,Anselm, and Gerbert ofSaint-Wandrille.
Ordericus Vitalis calls himecclesiastici cantus et dogmatis doctor peritissimus. Of his achievements in sacred music we know nothing beyond that mention, but we have hisLiber de Corpore et Sanguine Domini[2] againstBerengarius. The ninth and last part of it contains precious historical information about theheresiarch. In Durandus's mind Berengarius is afigurist pure and simple, after the manner ofScotus Eriugena, whose now lost book he is said to have possessed and used. In the rest of his book Durandus followsPaschasius Radbertus, whom he somewhat emphatically stylesDivini sacramenti scrutator diligentissimus discussorque catholicus, and from whom he borrows both hispatristic apparatus and his theological views.Joseph Turmel, however, notes that Durandus quotes new texts ofBede,Amalarius,Fulbert de Chartres, andSt. John Chrysostom.
His presentation of theEucharisticdogma is franklyAmbrosian, i.e., he maintains with Paschasius and Gerbert the conversion of the bread and wine into the identical body and blood of Christ, thus excluding theAugustinian theory of thePraesentia spiritalis still held by some of his contemporaries and contributing to prepare the definition of theFourth Lateran Council (1215).
Durandus explains with skill the Augustinian texts, chiefly in theDe doctrinâ christianâ and theLetter to Boniface, misused by Berengarius; but in the last analysis he appeals to the argument of authority already used byGuitmond:[3] "The saintly Doctor of Hippo, wearied by the labours of composition, fails at times to clearly bring out his thought. Hence he may appear obscure to the unlearned and even become a source of error. If perchance he should have erred in so great a mystery, we should then bethink ourselves of the Apostolic saying: 'But though an angel from heaven preach a gospel to you besides that which you have received, let him be anathema'".[3]
Durandus wrote also against Berengarius a poem of 900 verses, of which twenty-five preface the above treatise and thirteen are quoted inMabillon'sAnnales (LXIV, 119), the rest being unpublished.Migne[4] appends to theLiber two epitaphs composed by Durandus, one forAbbot Ainard and the other for theCountess Mabile.
This article reproduces the article in the public domain by Joseph Sollier, "Durandus of Troarn" in The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. available online at <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05208b.htm