Today April 26

Today is the feast of Paschasius Radbertus; how's that for a 4-dollar name? He was a monk at the abbey of Corbie and later became abbot. He was a poet, a writer of some note (his most famous work is De Corpore et Sanguine Christi, "The Body and Blood of Christ") and a musician. He was an orphan, a hunchback and a dwarf (from what I've read) and despite his unprepossessing appearance, he made the abbey of Corbie famous. After 7 years as head, trouble broke out there and to maintain peace, Paschasius made the sacrifice of stepping down. He retired to the abbey of St. Riquier at Centula, "flinging himself," he said, "into the arms of philosophy and wisdom, so as to be fed in the autumn of life with the same milk of the Scriptures which he had imbibed in the springtime." He died in peace in the year 865.