Berengar of Tours

Type Figure Region France Time c. 999–1088 Also known as Berengar of Tours

Berengar of Tours (c. 999–1088) was one of the most important French theologians of the 11th century, long-serving schoolmaster at the cathedral of T…

Timeline

1051–1058Tours · ToursIn the 1050s Berengar taught theology at Tours, arguing that Christ's body in the Eucharist was present in a 'symbolic/mystical manner' rather than through material transformation, provoking rebuttals from Lanfranc, Humbert of Silva Candida, and others; the debate spread across Western Europe through letters and synods.
1059–1060Rome · RomeIn 1059 Pope Nicholas II presided over the Lateran Synod, where Berengar was forced to sign a retractatio, acknowledging that the bread and wine, through consecration, became the true body and blood of Christ in sacramental mystery; this decision marked the official defeat of his symbolic doctrine, though his private writings retained a rationalist character.

Sources

Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2005)
De Sacra Coena — Berengar of Tours