Adalbert

Aldebert, or Adalbert, was a preacher in 8th century Gaul. He claimed that an angel had conferred miraculous powers on him at birth, and that another had brought him relics of great sanctity from all parts of the earth. He 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. Life Adalbert appeared in the district of Soissons in the 8th century and practised and preached a life of Apostolic poverty. He was banned by his bishop from preaching in churches, and worked in the countryside, in the open air and later in churches that his followers (he had acquired many of them) built for him. According to St Boniface, he erected crucifixes at fields and springs and claimed to have received a letter that Jesus Christ had given from heaven to Jerusalem, which Aldebert used in his own preachings. He used mystic prayers of his own composition to call on angels who were not accepted by church canon (Uriel, Raguel, Tubuel, Adinus, Tubuas, Sabaoc and Simiel), and who his detractors alleged were demons (some of these names had gnostic connections). One of his prayers invoked 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 amulets. He managed to get 'unlearned' (indoctri) bishops to consecrate him a bishop. He erected crosses and built small chapels in the countryside and at springs and ordered public prayers to be offered there.