BIBLIOGRAPHY: Watttenbach, DGQ, i (1894), 305.
AVA: The first German poetess; d. at Melk (on the Danube, 50 m. w. of Vienna), or a neighboring convent of Lower Austria, Feb. 8, 1127. A number of poems are ascribed to her, of which the most important and most certainly genuine is described in one of the manuscripts as treating of "the life, passion, and resurrection of the Lord, and of the Holy Spirit, according to the gospels; of the Last Judgment and Antichrist, and of the delights of heaven."
A later manuscript includes the life of John the Baptist. Two sons are said to have helped in its composition, who are thought to have been two poets known from other works, named Hartmann and Heinrich. The former was educated for the priesthood at Passau, became prior of St. Blasien in 1094, then abbot of Gottweih, founded the monastery of Lambrecht in 1096, and died in 1114. The latter was a layman and probably survived Hartmann. Ava was a reclusa, but conjectures as to her sinful early life and later ascetic practises are based upon the doubtful works and are hardly justified by these. The poem as preserved is not composite. It displays real poetic gifts and, in the choice of incidents as well as in their treatment, indicates that the author was a woman, with no trace, however, of feminine enthusiasm. The material is drawn from the gospels and the Acts, for the presentation of Antichrist and the Last Judgment from Rev. xvii-xx. The aim seems to have been to present a simple narrative in poetic form of the great deeds of God in the new covenant similar to treatments of Genesis, Exodus, and other parts of the Pentateuch which are known to have been already in existence. There is no homiletical coloring, and moral reflections and allegory are avoided. The separation of the good and the bad at the Last Judgment gives opportunity for a brief but instructive picture of social conditions of the time, which indicates personal familiarity with the sins of the higher classes. The time of composition was probably about 1120. --A. FREYBE.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Diemer, Deutsche Gedichte des xi und xii Jahrhunderte, aufgefunden im regulierten Chorherrenstifte zu Vorau in der Steiermark, Vienna, 1849; W. Scherer, Giestliche Poeton der deutschen Kaiserseit, ii, in Quellen und Forschungen sur Sprache und Culturgeschichte der germanischen Volker, vii, pp 73-77, Stuttgart, 1875; and especially A. Langguth, Untersuchungen uber die Gedichte der Ava, Budapest, 1880.
AVARS, THE: A tribe related to the Huns, who from the middle
of the sixth century came into contact with the Christian nations -- first
with the Byzantine empire, and then with the Frankish kingdom; but they
learned Christianity from neither of these. Virgil of Salzburg seems to
have been the first to attempt their conversion, and Charlemagne supported
him. Duke Tassilo of Bavaria summoned them to Germany as allies
against him; in 788 they attacked the Frankish kingdom from two sides,
but were repulsed on both, and the struggle ended with their complete subjugation
in 796, when they accepted Christianity as one of the conditions of peace.
The territory thus won for Charlemagne and Christian missions extended
from the Enns and the slopes of the Styrian Alps to the Danube. It was
divided between the dioceses of Aquileia, Salzburg, and Passau. The Avars,
however, soon afterward disappeared from history, probably being absorbed
by the Slavic population which formed a majority in their territory.
--A. HAUCK.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Schiefner, Versuch uber das Awarische, St. Petersburg, 1862; Hauck, KD, ii, 419.
AVE MARIA. See ROSARY.
AVE MARIA BRETHREN. See SERVITES.
AVENARIUS, JOHANNES. See HABERMANN, JOHANN.
AVENGING OF THE SAVIOR. See APOCRYPHA, B,I,7.
AVERCIUS, a-ver'shiUs (AVIRCIUS, ABERCIUS), OF HIEROPOLIS (in the Glaucus valley, not Hierapolis on the Lycus): A Phrygian, the inscription on whose gravestone is preserved in a legendary life, written probably about 400, and was found, in part, on a portion of the actual stone by W. M. Ramsay in 1883 at the warm baths near Hieropolis. The inscription, with restorations, may be rendered as follows:
I, the citizen of a noble city, have made this (monument) in my lifetime that I might have here a resting-place in the eyes of men for my body, Avercius by name, the servant of a holy shepherd who pastures flocks of sheep upon the hills and meadows; whose eyes are large and all-seeing; for he taught me . . . writings worthy of faith. To Rome he sent me that I might see the king and the queen in golden apparel with sandals of gold. But I saw a people there bearing a shining seal. I saw likewise the plains of Syria and all its cities (as well as) Nisibis, after I had crossed the Euphrates. But everywhere I had a companion, for Paul sat in the chariot with me. And Faith led the way (as guide) and in all places set before me as food a fish from the spring, gigantic, pure, which a holy virgin had caught. And this (fish) he (Faith) gave at all times as food to friends,(Faith) who has good wine, giving mixed drink and bread. This have I, Avercius, while I stood by, ordered to be written down; seventy-two years old was I when it was done. You who understand the meaning of this, pray for Avercius, every one that is of the same mind. In my grave let no one lay another. But if any one do so, he shall pay to the treasury of the Romans 2,000, and to the loved native city Hieropolis 1,000, pieces of gold.
From this wording G. Ficker concludes that Avercius was a priest of Cybele, while Harnack would make him out the member of a sect partially Gnostic, partially heathen, wherein pagan mysteries were combined with one of the mysteries of the Christian faith, namely, the Lord's Supper. The weight of authority, however, is in favor of the Christian character of the inscription. It must be dated somewhere about 200, -- a time when it was not safe to make too open profession of Christian faith; hence Avercius phrases his confession in mysterious language which has a double meaning, yet is easily intelligible to one "who understands." The life already referred to supports this view, being based apparently on a well-established local legend corroborative in many details of the writing