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ODO OF CHERITON
(+1247)
This English preacher and fabulist visited Paris and it was
probably there that he gained the degree of Master. There is a tradition
that Odo was a Cistercian or a Premonstratensian. It seems that this writer
was the Master Odo of Cheriton mentioned in Kentish and London records from
1211 to 1247, the son of William of Cheriton, lord of the manor of Delee in
Rochester. In 1233, Odo inherited his father’s estates. A charter of
1235/1236, by which he relinquished the rent of a shop in London, has his
seal attached: the figure of a monk, seated at a desk, with a star above
him. Like Jacques de Vitry, Odo introduced exempla freely into his
sermons. His best known work, a collection of moralized fables and
anecdotes, sometimes entitled Parabolae from the opening words of
the prologue (Aperiam in parabolis os meum), was evidently designed
for preachers. Though partly composed of commonly known adaptations and
extractions, it shows originality. The moralizations are full of strong
denunciations of the prevalent vices of clergy and laity. The Parabolae
exist in numerous manuscripts and have been printed by Hervieux
(Etudes de Cheriton et ses Dérivés
in Fabulistes Latins IV <Paris: 1896> 177-255).
Some of the contents reappear, along with many other exempla, in his
sermons on the Sunday Gospel readings, completed in 1219, extant in several
manuscripts. The only other extant works are Tractatus de Penitentia
and Tractatus de Passione and Sermones de Sanctis.
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