Peter Cellensis

(PETER DE LA CELLE).

Bishop of Chartres, b. of noble parentage in Champagne; d. at Chartres, 20 February, 1183. He was educated in the monastery of St. Martin-des-Champs at Paris, became a Benedictine, and in 1150 was made Abbot of La Celle near Troyes, whence his surname, Cellensis. In 1162 he was appointed Abbot of St. Rémy at Reims, and in 1181 he succeeded John of Salisbury as Bishop of Chartres. He was highly esteemed by men like John of Salesbury, Thomas à Becket, Archbishop Eskil, Eugene III, and especially Alexander III. His literary productions were edited by Janvier (Paris, 1671) and reprinted in P.L., CCII, 405-1146. They consist of 177 epistles, 95 sermons, and 4 treatises entitled: (1) "De panibus ad Joannem Sarisberiensem"; (2) "Mosaici tabernaculi mysticæ et moralis expositionis libri duo"; (3) "De conscientia"; (4) "De disciplina claustrali ad Henricum I, Campaniæ Comitem". His epistles, which are valuable from an historical standpoint, were edited separately by Sirmond (Paris, 1613). His sermons and treatises are extremely bombastic and allegorical.