Posidonius (bishop of Urgell)

Posidonius (Catalan: Possedoni) was the bishop of Urgell in northern Spain between 814 and 823.[1][2][3] He may have become bishop as early 803, the last year when Archbishop Leidrad was still clearly in control of the diocese following the ouster of Bishop Felix for heresy.[4]

The monastery of Santa Maria de Gràcia de Senterada, which Posidonius rebuilt under the Benedictine rule[4]

Posidonius was not a native of Urgell. Prior to becoming bishop, he was the first Benedictine abbot of Sant Sadurní de Tavèrnoles, appointed by the reformer Benedict of Aniane. A document of 1040 records that he gave some land he owned to the monastery when he became abbot. He procured a diploma from King Louis of Aquitaine (the future Emperor Louis I) permitting the construction of monasteries on fiscal lands. Possibly he was a former member of Louis's court.[4]

Posidonius is recorded as bishop in a donation made by Fredelao, count of Cerdanya and Urgell, in 815 for the benefit of the monasteries of Sant Sadurní and Sant Esteve i Sant Hilari that Fredelao had built in Cerdanya on land he had received from the Emperor Louis.[5] A supposed privilege issued to Posidonius by the Emperor Louis in 835 or 836 is a later forgery.[1] The last authentic reference to Posidonius as bishop is a confirmation of immunity for the monastery of Santa Maria de Gràcia de Senterada issued by Count Matfrid of Orléans at the bishop's request on 21 June 823.[4]

References
  1. Carles Gascón Chopo and Oliver Vergés Pons, "The Act of Consecration of the Catherdral of Urgell: A Forged Charter of the Time of Bishop Ermengol Written Between 1016 and 1024", Hortus Artium Medievalium 24 (2018): 459–472, at 461 and 464n.
  2. Diocese of Urgell, GCatholic.com.
  3. History of Urgell.
  4. Cebrià Baraut, "La intervenció carolíngia antifeliciana al bisbat d'Urgell i les seves conseqüencies religioses i culturals (segles VIII–IX)", in Josep Perarnau (ed.), Jornades Internacionals d'Estudi sobre el Bisbe Feliu d'Urgell: La Seu d'Urgell, 28–30 de setembre de 1999. Crònica i estudis (Facultat de Teologia de Catalunya and Societat Cultural Urgel·litana, 2000), pp. 155–194, at 167 and 177–181.
  5. Jaime Villanueva, Viage literario a las iglesias de España, Vol. 10: (Viage a Urgel).
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