New Advent
 Home   Encyclopedia   Summa   Fathers   Bible   Library 
 A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z 
New Advent
Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > O > Ostiensis

Ostiensis

Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...

Surname of LEO MARSICANUS, Benedictine chronicler, b. about 1045; d. 22 May, 1115, 1116, or 1117. He belonged to an old noble family, and at the age of fourteen entered Monte Cassino, where his talents soon won him the regard of Abbot Desiderius, later Pope Victor III. Desiderius entrusted his education to the future Cardinal Aldemar. On the completion of his studies, Ostiensis became librarian and archivist of the monastery, and, as such, his main task was to settle, in accordance with the existing documents, all disputes concerning landed property in which the monastery became involved. Abbot Oderisius, who succeeded Desiderius, urged Ostiensis to write a history of the monastery, but, on account of his numerous duties, he was unable to give himself entirely to the work. Paschal II created him Cardinal Bishop of Ostia. In the conflict between the pope and Henry V, Ostiensis vigorously defended the papacy. His unfinished chronicle, originally called "Legenda sancti Benedicti longa", treats the period between 529 and 1075; Petrus Diaconus continued it to 1139. Trustworthy and impartial, the chronicle is a valuable mine of information for the history of Lower Italy, but as the documents on which the narrative rests are still extant, it has no special importance for our knowledge of the time. It was first edited under the title, "Chronica sacri monasterii Casinensis auctore Leone cardinal episcopo Ostiensi", by Abbot Angelus de Nuce (Paris, 1668); then by Wattenbach in "Monumenta Germaniae: Scriptores", VII, 574-727, and Migne in "P.L.", CLXXIII, 479-763. Ostiensis has left several lesser works: "Narratio de consecratione ecclesiarum a Desiderio et Oderisio in Monte Casino aedificatarum" (P.L., CLXXIII, 997-1002), and "Vita sancti Mennatis eremitae et confessoris" (edited in part, P.L., CLXXIII, 989-92).

Sources

GATTULA, Hist. abbatiae Casinensis (Venice, 1733), 879; POTTHAST, Bibl. hist. medii avi, I (Berlin, 1896), 718; WATTENBACH, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen, II (Berlin, 1894), 236-8.

About this page

APA citation. Schlager, P. (1911). Ostiensis. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11347a.htm

MLA citation. Schlager, Patricius. "Ostiensis." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11347a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Joseph E. O'Connor.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.

Copyright © 2023 by New Advent LLC. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

CONTACT US | ADVERTISE WITH NEW ADVENT