Adalbert

Who is Adalbert?

Adalbert was a preacher in 8th century Gaul. He claimed that an angel had conferred miraculous powers on him at his birth and that another had brought him relics of great sanctity from all parts of the earth. He also claimed to be able to see the future and read people's thoughts, telling those who came to him that they had no need to confess, since he knew what they had done, and that their sins were forgiven.

Adalbert appeared in the district of Soissons sometime in the 8th century and practised and preached a life of Apostolic poverty. He was banned by the local bishop from preaching in churches, and preached in the countryside, in the open air and later in churches that his followers had built for him.

According to St Boniface, he erected crucifixes at fields and springs. According to the same saint, Aldebert had also claimed to have received a letter that Jesus Christ had given from heaven to Jerusalem, which Aldebert used in his own preachings.

He also used mystic prayers of his own composition to call on the names of angels that were not accepted by the church canon, and which his detractors alleged were demons that he invoked. One of his prayers invoked by name the angel Raguel. His "miracles" gained him the awe of the people and he began to give away parings from his nails and locks of his hair as powerful amulets. He managed to get 'unlearned' bishops to consecrate him a bishop. He would erect crosses or build small chapels in the countryside and at springs and ordered public prayers to be said there.