On earth a while mid suffering

Author: Peter Abelard

Abelard, Peter, born at Pailais, in Brittany, 1079. Designed for the military profession, he followed those of philosophy and theology. His life was one of strange chances and changes, brought about mainly through his love for Heloise, the niece of one Fulbert, a Canon of the Cathedral of Paris, and by his rationalistic views. Although a priest, he married Heloise privately. He was condemned for heresy by the Council of Soissons, 1121, and again by that of Sens, 1140; died at St. Marcel, near Chalons-sur-Saône, April 21, 1142. For a long time, although his poetry had been referred to both by himself and by Heloise, little of any moment was known except the Advent hymn, Mittit ad Virginem, (q.v.). In 1838 Greith published in his Spicihgium… Go to person page >

Translator: E. A. Washburn

Washburn, Edward Abiel, D.D., was born April 16, 1819; graduated at Harvard, 1838; studied theology at Andover and New Haven, and entered the Congregational ministry. In 1844, having been ordained in the Protestant Episcopal Church, he became Rector of St. Paul's, Newburyport, Mass., where he remained till 1851. Spending 1851-52 in Europe, on his return he became Rector of St. John's, Hartford, 1853-62, and Professor of Church Polity in Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Connecticut; also Rector of St. Mark's, Philadelphia, 1862-65; and Calvary, New York, 1865-81. He died Feb. 2, 1881. His works include Social Law of God, 1874, and translations of Latin hymns. A selection from his poems was published in New York in 1881. Some of his t… Go to person page >