(Also CORBEY)

A Benedictine abbey in Picardy, in the Diocese of Amiens, dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul. It was founded in 657 by Saint Bathilde, widow of Clovis II, and both she and her son Clotaire III endowed it richly with lands and privileges. The latter were subsequently confirmed by Popes Benedict III and Nicholas I. The first monks came from Luxeuil, Theodefrid being the first abbot. Under St. Adelhard, the ninth abbot, the monastic school of Corbie attained great celebrity and about the same time it sent forth a colony to found the abbey of Corvey in Saxony. In 1137 a fire destroyed the monastic buildings but they were rebuilt on a larger scale. Commendatory abbots were introduced in 1550, amongst those that held the benefice being Cardinal Mazarin. The somewhat drooping fortunes of the abbey were revived in 1618, when it was one of the first to be incorporated into the new Congregation of Saint-Maur . At its suppression in 1790 the buildings were partly demolished, but the church remains to this day, with its imposing portal and western towers. One of the most famous scholars produced by Corbie was Paschasius Radbert (d. 865), the first to write a comprehensive treatise on the Blessed Sacrament. In the controversy to which this work gave rise, his chief opponent was Ratramnus, one of his own monks, whose views, however, are at variance with Catholic teaching ; both treatises are printed in Migne, P. L., CXX-CXXI. The library of Corbie, rich and extensive, was removed to Saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1624.

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online