Synopsis
HUGO OF ST. VICTOR, with his
contemporaries Abelard amid Bernard, one of the most influential theologians of
the twelfth century; was b about 1097; d. Feb. 11, 1141. He gave himself up to
a contemplative conventual life, and shone in consequence of piety amid
speculative thought, rather than of active participation in the ecclesiastical
affairs of his day. He must be regarded as the real founder of the
mediæval mysticism of France, for Bernard of
Clairvaux is dependent upon him for the essential features of his mystical
speculations. The same may be affirmed of Peter
Lombard. After-generations gave him the title of Didascalus
("teacher"), or Alter Augustinus ("the second Augustine"). Two
localities claim the honor of being if Hugo’s birthplace, - the vicinage
of Ypres in Flanders, and Saxony. The Benedictines, in vol. xii. of the
Hist. litér. de la France, bring forward three testimonies from
old authors in favor of the former. But there are weightier testimonies for
Saxony. His tombstone declared Hugo to be of Saxon birth (origine Saxo).
This view easily explains his attendance upon the cloistral school of
Hamersieben in 1115. To these must be added the testimonies of early Saxon
writers who speak of Hugo as belonging to the families of Von Blankenburg and
Regenstein in the Hartz Mountains. After passing through the school at
Hamersleben, he went with his uncle, archdeacon Hugo of Halberstadt, to France,
and entered the famous cloistral institution of St. Victor, near Paris. Fifteen
years afterward he was made preceptor of the school, - a position which he
continued to fill for eight years. Among his scholars were the afterwards
celebrated Adam and Richard of St. Victor. Hugo stood in intimate relations
with Bernard, but took no prominent part in the public affairs of Church and
State. He was of delicate and sickly constitution.
Hugo’s writings are quite numerous.
Those of a more mystical tendency belong to his earlier period. Among these are
the three tracts, - De Arca Morali, De Arca Mystica, and De
Vanilale Mundi, - in which he compares Noah’s ark with the church, the
soul in this world with the soul at peace with God, etc. His exegetical works
are confined to no single period of his life. They have only a homiletical
interest, and are the least original of his writings. They include a short
Introduction to the Scriptures, Commentaries on the Pentateuch, and the other
historical books of the Old Testament, on the Psalms and Lamentations, and
nineteen Homilies on Ecciesiastes. The other commentaries ascribed to him
(Luke, John, etc.) are of very doubtful authenticity. To the last period of
Hugo’s life belong his three most valuable works. The Eruditio
Didascalia is encyclopedic, and treats in three books of the natural
sciences, and in an equal number gives a sort of introduction to church history
and the Scriptures. Leaning upon the authority of Jerome, he distinguishes in
this second section sharply between the canon and the Apocrypha, but
nevertheless seems to give to the writings of the church fathers an equal
authority with the canonical books.
The other two works of the last period (the
Summa Senlentiarum and the De Sacramentis Christ. Fidei) give the
outline of Hugo’s theological views. In the latter he defines his relation
to Abelard, to whom, and Anselm, he is under
obligations for some of his speculations. The works of God he treats under
Works of creation, and Works of’ Restoration. He discusses
the Trinity and the three fundamental divine attributes, - power, wisdom, and
love. In the treatment of the origin of evil, he is far from the superfluous
subtleties of the scholastics of a later period. Original sin he agrees, with
Melanchthon, to consist in ignorance and concupiscence. He mentions five
sacraments, - baptism, the Eucharist,
confirmation, extreme unction, and marriage. They confer grace. In the three
sections on eschatology he commends prayers to
the saints.
Zöckler, "Hugo of St Victor,"
Philip Schaff, ed., A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical,
Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology, 3rd edn, Vol. 2. Toronto,
New York & London: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1894. pp.1030-1031.
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Roger
Bacon, Hugh of St. Victor. University of Notre Dame Press, 1966. Hbk.
ISBN: 0268001219. {Amazon.com} |
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Michael T.
Girolimon, "Hugh of St. Victor's De sacramentis Christianae fidei: The
Sacraments of Salvation," Journal of Religious History 18.2 (1994):
127-138. |
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Rebecca
Moore, "Hugh of St Victor and the Authorship of Threnos Ieremiae," Journal
of Religious History 22.3 (1998): 255-269. |
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Ray C. Petry,
"Three Medieval Chronicles: Monastic Historiography and Biblical Eschatology in
Hugh of St. Victor, Otto of Freising, and Ordericus Vitalis," Church
History 34 (1965): 282-293. |
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Dominique
Poirel, "Love of God, Human Love: Hugh of St Victor and the Sacrament of
Marriage," Communio: International Catholic Review 24.1 (1997):
99-109. |
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Grover A.
Zinn, "Hugh of St. Victor and the Ark of Noah: A New Look," Church
History 40.3 (1971): 261-272. |
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Grover A.
Zinn, 'Mandala Symbolism and Use in the Mysaticism of Hugh of St.Victor,"
History of Religions 12 (1972-3): 317-41. |
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Grover A.
Zinn, "Mandala Symbolism and Use in the Mysticism of Hugh of St. Victor,"
History of Religions 12.4 (1973): 317-341. |
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Hugh of St. Victor, The Didascalicon of
Hugh of St Victor. A Medival Guide to the Arts, Jerome Taylor, translator,
new edn. Columbia University Press, 1991. Pbk. ISBN: 0231096305. pp.254.
