French Benedictine (Maurist), born 1609 at Saint
Quentin in Picardy; died in the monastery of St. Germain des Prés
at Paris, 29 April, 1685. He was a profound student of medieval
historical and theological materials, mostly in original
manuscripts, to the collection, elucidation, and printing of which
he devoted his whole life. He entered the Order of St. Benedict at
an early age, was professed at the Abbey of the Blessed Trinity,
Vendôme, 4 October, 1632, but his health soon obliged him to
remove to Paris. He became a member (1637) of the monastery of St.
Germain des Pré, and in his long sojourn of nearly fifty
years scarcely ever quitted its walls. As librarian of the monastery
he was soon acquainted with its rich treasures of medieval history
and theology, and by a continuous correspondence with other
monasteries, both in and out of France, he soon made himself a
bibliographical authority of the first rank, especially in all that
pertained to the unedited or forgotten writings of medieval
scholars. His first important work was an edition (Paris, 1645) of
the "Epistle of Barnabas", whose Greek text had been
prepared for the press, before his death, by the Maurist Hugo
Ménard. D'Achéry's "Asceticorum vulgo
spiritualium opusculorum Indiculus" (Paris, 1645) served as a
guide to his confrè, Claude Chantelou, in the preparation of
the five volumes of his "Bibliotheca Patrum ascetica"
(Paris, 1661). In 1648 he published all the works of Blessed Lanfrac
of Canterbury (P. L., CL, 9). He published and edited for the first
time the works of Abbot Guibert of Nogent (Paris, 1661) with an
appendix of minor writings of an ecclesiastical character. In 1656
he edited the "Regula Solitaria" of the ninth century
priest Grimlaicus (Grimlaic), a spiritual guide for hermits. His
principal work, however, is the famous "Spicilegium, sive
Collectio veterum aliquot scriptorum qui in Galliae bibliothecis,
maxime Benedictinorum, latuerunt" (Paris, 1655-77), continued
by Baluze and Martène, to whom we owe and enlarged and
improved edition (Paris, 1723). D'Achéry collected the
historical materials for the great work known as "Acta Ordinis
S. Benedicti" but Mabillon added so much to it in the way of
prefaces, notes, and "excursus" that it is justly
accounted as his work. D'Achéry was the soul of the noble
Maurist movement, and a type of the medieval Benedictine, humble and
self-sacrificing, virtuous and learned. Despite continued illness he
was foremost in all the labours of the French Benedictines of St.
Maur, and was the master of many of the most illustrious among them,
e. g. Mabillon. His valuable correspondence is preserved in the
Bibliothéque Nationale at Paris.
THOMAS J. SHAHAN
