Who is Rabanus?
 

Rabanus Maurus (Hraban Maur) was a ninth-century monk regarded for his scholarship (he wrote an encyclopedia entitled "On the Universe"), his poetry (he is known as the author of many hymns, including the Veni Creator Spiritus), for his generosity toward the poor (he fed over 300 people a day during the famines of 850 AD), and for his theological works (when Rabanus was the archbishop of Mainz he argued against Gottschalk, a proponent of predestination to damnation). He was also a forward-thinking biblical commentator, who wrote one of the few commentaries on the book of Judges. His commentary on Judges insisted on the equal place of women in the ministry of the Church.  Gustav Mahler interpreted one of Maurus's poems in his 8th Symphony.  The image to your right inserts the humble figure of Rabanus in one of his visual poems in praise of the holy cross.

Links to Rabanus sites:

A Latin transcription of Rabanus's encyclopedia "On the Universe"
http://www.mun.ca/rabanus/

An image of a fifteen-century manuscript, at the Vilnius University Library
http://www.mb.vu.lt/bukletas/kol/angl/reti2.htm

The 1900 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia, entry on Rabanus:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12617a.htm