DURAND OF TROARN: Roman Catholic abbot of Troarn; b. at Neubourg (13 m. n.w. of Evreux) apparently in the early part of the eleventh century; d. at Troarn (5 m. e. of Caen) Feb. 11, 1088. He entered a monastery in early youth, and in 1059 was appointed abbot of Troarn, an office which he held for the remainder of his life. He is noteworthy for his share in the second eucharistic controversy, his De corpore et sanguine Christi dating apparently from about 1054. In his opinion the entire controversy centered about the question whether in the Sacrament there was a symbol or a true substance, he himself maintaining the latter teaching as the belief of the entire Catholic Church. His book is noteworthy, as showing the feeling that the attacks of Berengar on the doctrines of Paschasius Radbertus imperiled the truth of Christianity, and as indicating the opposition of the older traditionalistic theologians to any explanation of controverted problems. In conformity with his theory that all difficulties may be solved by the statements of the Church Fathers, a large portion of his work consists of compilations from such predecessors as Hilary, Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Cassiodorus, Bede, Amalarius, Hincmar, and Fulbert. Noteworthy also are his data concerning the course of the Berengarian controversy from 1050 to 1054.

(A. HAUCK.)

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The work of Durand is appended to L. d’Achery’s edition of Lanfranc, Paris, 1745, and in MPL, cxlix. Consult: Hist. littéraire de France, viii. 239; H. Sudendorf, Berengarius Turonensis, pp. 25 sqq., Gotha, 1850; C. Werner, (Gerbert von Aurillac, pp. 171 sqq., Vienna, 1878; J. Schnitzer, Berengar von Tours, pp. 328 sqq., Stuttgart, 1892.