And straightway give us peace;
That, with thyself as such a guide,
We may from evil cease.
Through thee may we the Father know,
And thus confess the Son;
For thee (from both the Holy Ghost),
We praise while time shall run.
Rabanus Maurus, teacher and Abbot of Fulda and Archbishop of Mayence (Mainz), was commonly called the “foremost German of his time.” Though the centuries have somewhat obscured the lustre of his renown, they have not deprived him of his place in history, nor have they dissociated his name from that of his instructor, prototype, and model, the great pedagogue Alcuin.
Of the birthplace of Rabanus we have no certain knowledge. Some have said that he was Scotch or English, others that he was French; but the more reliable authorities are convinced that he was a German, born either at Fulda or Mainz. The epitaph written by himself affords probably the solution of the question. It was composed at Mainz while its author was archbishop, and contains these words:
“Urbe quidem hac genitus sum, ac sacro fonte renatus,