Hugh of Saint Victor

Contents

Hugh of Saint Victor was a canon regular, theologian, philosopher, and spiritual writer who united the liberal arts, sacramental theology, and contemplation at the Abbey of Saint-Victor in Paris.[1][2]

Hugh of Saint Victor (c. 1096 – 11 February 1141) was a German canon regular and a leading theologian and writer on mystical theology.

Life

Hugh joined the newly founded Abbey of Saint-Victor and became its leading teacher. His origin is disputed, with Saxon, Flemish, and other proposals in the scholarship; the certainty lies in his Parisian career and his decisive influence on the Victorine school.

As with many medieval figures, little is known about Hugh's early life. He was probably born in the 1090s. His homeland may have been the Duchy of Saxony.[4] Some sources say that his birth occurred in the Harz district, being the eldest son of Baron Conrad of Blankenburg. Over the protests of his family, he entered the Priory of St. Pancras, a community of canons regular, where he had studied, located at Hamerleve or Hamersleben, near Halberstadt.[5]

Due to civil unrest shortly after his entry to the priory, Hugh's uncle, Reinhard of Blankenburg, who was the local bishop, advised him to transfer to the Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris, where he himself had studied theology. He accepted his uncle's advice and made the move at a date which is unclear, possibly 1115–18 or around 1120.[6] He spent the rest of his life there, advancing to head the school.[5]

Thought

The Didascalicon presents learning as a disciplined restoration of the human person after the Fall. The arts and practical sciences possess real value, but study reaches its proper end when wisdom forms the soul and opens it to contemplation.

Hugh described the works of creation and restoration through a broad sacramental vision in which visible realities signify and communicate divine gifts. His synthesis helped move Latin theology toward a more systematic treatment of the sacraments while remaining deeply scriptural and monastic.

Major works

The Didascalicon surveys reading and the arts; On the Sacraments offers a large theological synthesis; works on Noah's ark use architecture as a map of salvation and the soul. Attribution within the Victorine corpus requires care because related texts circulated under major teachers' names.

Catholic reception

Hugh is an eminent Catholic theologian but neither a canonized saint nor a Doctor of the Church. Benedict XVI commended the Victorine union of reason and faith while leaving individual medieval theses within the proper freedom of theological judgment.

Works

Hugh wrote many works from the 1120s until his death (Migne, Patrologia Latina contains 46 works by Hugh, and this is not a full collection), including works of theology (both treatises and sententiae), commentaries (mostly on the Bible but also including one of pseudo-Dionysius' Celestial Hierarchies), mysticism, philosophy and the arts, and a number of letters and sermons.[7]

Hugh was influenced by many people, but chiefly by Saint Augustine, especially in holding that the arts and philosophy can serve theology.

Hugh's most significant works include:

  • De sacramentis christianae fidei (On the Mysteries of the Christian Faith/On the Sacraments of the Christian Faith)[8] It is Hugh's most celebrated masterpiece and presents the bulk of Hugh's thoughts on theological and mystical ideas, ranging from God and angels to natural laws.
  • Didascalicon de studio legendi (Didascalicon, or, On the Study of Reading).[9] The subtitle to the Didascalicon, De Studio Legendi, makes the purpose of Hugh's tract clear. Written for the students at the school of Saint Victor, the work is a preliminary introduction to the theological and exegetical studies taught at the Parisian schools, the most advanced centers of learning in Europe in the 12th century. Citing a wide range classical and medieval sources, and with Augustine as his principal authority, Hugh sets forth a comprehensive synthesis of rhetoric, philosophy, and exegesis, designed to serve as a foundation for advanced theological study. The Didascalicon is primarily pedagogical, and not speculative, in nature. It provides the modern reader with a clear sense of the intellectual equipment expected of, if not always fully possessed by, high medieval theologians.
  • In 1125–30, Hugh wrote three treatises structured around Noah's ark: De arca Noe morali (Noah's Moral Ark/On the Moral Interpretation of the Ark of Noah), De arca Noe mystica (Noah's Mystical Ark/On the Mystic Interpretation of the Ark of Noah), and De vanitate mundi (The World's Vanity).[10] De arca Noe morali and De arca Noe mystica reflect Hugh's fascination with both mysticism and the book of Genesis. The description he conjectured of the ark, a ship's hull with a sloped roof and a side door, became the "standard description" of the ark, whose shape is not clearly described in Genesis.[11]
  • In Hierarchiam celestem commentaria (Commentary on the Celestial Hierarchy), a commentary on the work by pseudo-Dionysius, perhaps begun around 1125.[12] After Eriugena's translation of Dionysius in the ninth century, there is almost no interest shown in Dionysius until Hugh's commentary.[13] It is possible that Hugh may have decided to produce the commentary (which perhaps originated in lectures to students) because of the continuing (incorrect) belief that the patron saint of the Abbey of Saint Denis, Saint Denis, was to be identified with pseudo-Dionysius. Dionysian thought did not form an important influence on the rest of Hugh's work. Hugh's commentary, however, became a major part of the twelfth and thirteenth-century surge in interest in Dionysius; his and Eriugena's commentaries were often attached to the Dionysian corpus in manuscripts, such that his thought had great influence on later interpretation of Dionysius by Richard of St Victor, Thomas Gallus, Hugh of Balma, Bonaventure and others.[14]

Other works by Hugh of St Victor include:

  • In Salomonis Ecclesiasten (Commentary on Ecclesiastes).[15]
  • De tribus diebus (On the Three Days).[16]
  • De sapientia animae Christi.[17]
  • De unione corporis et spiritus (The Union of the Body and the Spirit).[18]
  • Epitome Dindimi in philosophiam (Epitome of Dindimus on Philosophy).[19]
  • Practica Geometriae (The Practice of Geometry).[19]
  • De Grammatica (On Grammar).[19]
  • Soliloquium de Arrha Animae (The Soliloquy on the Earnest Money of the Soul).[20]
  • De contemplatione et ejus speciebus (On Contemplation and its Forms). This is one of the earliest systematic works devoted to contemplation. It appears not to have been written by Hugh himself, but composed by one of his students, possibly from classnotes from his lectures.[21]
  • On Sacred Scripture and its Authors.[22]
  • Various other treatises exist whose authorship by Hugh is uncertain. Six of these are reprinted, in Latin in Roger Baron, ed, Hugues de Saint-Victor: Six Opuscules Spirituels, Sources chrétiennes 155, (Paris, 1969). They are: De meditatione,[23] De verbo Dei, De substantia dilectionis, Quid vere diligendus est, De quinque septenis ,[24] and De septem donis Spiritus sancti[25]
  • De anima is a treatise of the soul: the text will be found in the edition of Hugh's works in the Patrologia Latina of J. P. Migne. Part of it was paraphrased in the West Mercian dialect of Middle English by the author of the Katherine Group.[26]
  • Descriptio mappae mundi (Description of a World Map).[27]

Various other works were wrongly attributed to Hugh in later thought. One such particularly influential work was the Exposition of the Rule of St Augustine, now accepted to be from the Victorine school but not by Hugh of St Victor.[28]

A new edition of Hugh's works has been started. The first publication is: Hugonis de Sancto Victore De sacramentis Christiane fidei, ed. Rainer Berndt, Münster: Aschendorff, 2008.

Philosophy and theology

The early Didascalicon was an elementary, encyclopedic approach to God and Christ, in which Hugh avoided controversial subjects and focused on what he took to be commonplaces of Catholic Christianity. In it he outlined three types of philosophy or "science" [scientia] that can help mortals improve themselves and advance toward God: theoretical philosophy (theology, mathematics, physics) provides them with truth, practical philosophy (ethics, economics, politics) aids them in becoming virtuous and prudent, and "mechanical" or "illiberal" philosophy (e.g., carpentry, agriculture, medicine) yields physical benefits. A fourth philosophy, logic, is preparatory to the others and exists to ensure clear and proper conclusions in them. Hugh's deeply mystical bent did not prevent him from seeing philosophy as a useful tool for understanding the divine, or from using it to argue on behalf of faith.

Hugh was heavily influenced by Augustine's exegesis of Genesis. Divine Wisdom was the archetypal form of creation. The creation of the world in six days was a mystery for man to contemplate, perhaps even a sacrament. God's forming order from chaos to make the world was a message to humans to rise up from their own chaos of ignorance and become creatures of Wisdom and therefore beauty. This kind of mystical-ethical interpretation was typical for Hugh, who tended to find Genesis interesting for its moral lessons rather than as a literal account of events.

Along with Jesus, the sacraments were divine gifts that God gave man to redeem himself, though God could have used other means. Hugh separated everything along the lines of opus creationis and opus restaurationis. Opus Creationis was the works of the creation, referring to God's creative activity, the true good natures of things, and the original state and destiny of humanity. The opus restaurationis was that which dealt with the reasons for God sending Jesus and the consequences of that. Hugh believed that God did not have to send Jesus and that He had other options open to Him. Why he chose to send Jesus is a mystery we are to meditate on and is to be learned through revelation, with the aid of philosophy to facilitate understanding.

Legacy

Within the Abbey of St Victor, many scholars who followed him are often known as the 'School of St Victor'. Andrew of St Victor studied under Hugh.[29] Others, who probably entered the community too late to be directly educated by Hugh, include Richard of Saint Victor and Godfrey.[30] One of Hugh's ideals that did not take root in St Victor, however, was his embracing of science and philosophy as tools for approaching God.

His works are in hundreds of libraries all across Europe. He is quoted in many other publications after his death, and Bonaventure praises him in De reductione artium ad theologiam.

He was also an influence on the critic Erich Auerbach, who cited this passage from Hugh of St Victor in his essay "Philology and World Literature":[31]

It is therefore, a source of great virtue for the practiced mind to learn, bit by bit, first to change about in visible and transitory things, so that afterwards it may be able to leave them behind altogether. The person who finds his homeland sweet is a tender beginner; he to whom every soil is as his native one is already strong; but he is perfect to whom the entire world is as a foreign place. The tender soul has fixed his love on one spot in the world; the strong person has extended his love to all places; the perfect man has extinguished his.

Works

Modern editions

  • Latin texts of Hugh of St. Victor are available in the Migne edition at Documenta Catholica Omnia
  • Henry Buttimer, Hugonis de Sancto Victore. Didascalicon. De Studio Legendi (Washington, DC: Catholic University Press, 1939).
  • Hugh of St Victor, L'oeuvre de Hugues de Saint-Victor. 1. De institutione novitiorum. De virtute orandi. De laude caritatis. De arrha animae, Latin text edited by H.B. Feiss & P. Sicard; French translation by D. Poirel, H. Rochais & P. Sicard. Introduction, notes and appendices by D. Poirel (Turnhout, Brepols, 1997)
  • Hugues de Saint-Victor, L'oeuvre de Hugues de Saint-Victor. 2. Super Canticum Mariae. Pro Assumptione Virginis. De beatae Mariae virginitate. Egredietur virga, Maria porta, edited by B. Jollès (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000)
  • Hugo de Sancto Victore, De archa Noe. Libellus de formatione arche, ed Patricius Sicard, CCCM vol 176, Hugonis de Sancto Victore Opera, I (Turnhout: Brepols, 2001)
  • Hugo de Sancto Victore, De tribus diebus, ed Dominique Poirel, CCCM vol 177, Hugonis de Sancto Victore Opera, II (Turnhout: Brepols, 2002)
  • Hugo de Sancto Victore, De sacramentis Christiane fidei, ed. Rainer Berndt (Münster: Aschendorff, 2008)
  • Hugo de Sancto Victore, Super Ierarchiam Dionysii, CCCM vol 178, Hugonis de Sancto Victore Opera, III (Turnhout: Brepols, forthcoming)
  • Hugh of St Victor, Explanation of the Rule of St. Augustine, translated by Aloysius Smith (London, 1911)
  • Hugh of St Victor, The Soul's Betrothal-Gift, translated by FS Taylor (London, 1945) [translation of De Arrha Animae]
  • Hugh of St Victor, On the sacraments of the Christian faith: (De sacramentis), translated by Roy J. Deferrari (Cambridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy of America, 1951) [reprinted 2007]
  • Hugh of Saint-Victor: Selected spiritual writings, translated by a religious of C.S.M.V.; with an introduction by Aelred Squire. (London: Faber, 1962) [reprinted in Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2009] [contains a translation of the first four books of De arca Noe morali and the first two (of four) books of De vanitate mundi].
  • The Didascalicon of Hugh of St. Victor, translated by Jerome Taylor (New York and London: Columbia U. P., 1961) [reprinted 1991] [translation of the Didascalicon]
  • Soliloquy on the Earnest Money of the Soul, trans Kevin Herbert (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 1984) [translation of Soliloquium de Arrha Animae]
  • Hugh of St Victor, Practica Geometriae, trans. Frederick A Homann (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1991)
  • Hugh of St Victor, extracts from Introductory Notes on the Scriptures and on the Scriptural Writers, trans Denys Turner, in Denys Turner, Eros and Allegory: Medieval Exegesis of the Song of Songs (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1995), 265-274
  • Boyd Taylor Coolman and Dale M Coulter, eds, Trinity and creation: a selection of works of Hugh, Richard and Adam of St Victor (Turnhout: Brepols, 2010) [includes translation of Hugh of St Victor, On the Three Days and Sentences on Divinity]
  • Hugh Feiss, ed, On love: a selection of works of Hugh, Adam, Achard, Richard and Godfrey of St Victor (Turnhout: Brepols, 2011) [includes translations of The Praise of the Bridegroom, On the Substance of Love, On the Praise of Charity, What Truly Should be Loved?, On the Four Degrees of Violent Love, trans. A.B. Kraebel, and Soliloquy on the Betrothal-Gift of the Soul]
  • Franklin T. Harkins and Frans van Liere, eds, Interpretation of scripture: theory. A selection of works of Hugh, Andrew, Richard and Godfrey of St Victor, and of Robert of Melun (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2012) [contains translations of: Didascalion on the study of reading, introduced and translated by Franklin T Harkins; On Sacred Scripture and its authors and The diligent examiner, introduced and translated by Frans van Liere; On the sacraments of the Christian faith, prologues, introduced and translated by Christopher P Evans]

The Compendium of Philosophy (Compendium Philosophiae) attributed to Hugh of St Victor in several medieval manuscripts, upon rediscovery and examination in the 20th century, has turned out to have actually been a recension of William of Conches's De Philosophia Mundi.[32][33]

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Medieval philosopher, theologian, and mystical writer; b. 1096, at the manor of Hartingham in Saxony; d. 11 March, 1141. The works of Derling and of Hugonin leave no doubt that Mabillon was mistaken in declaring his birthplace to be Ypres in Flanders. He was the eldest son of Conrad, Count of Blankenburg. His uncle, Reinhard who had studied in Paris under William of Champeaux, had on his return to Saxony been made Bishop of Halberstadt. It was in the monastery of St. Pancras, at Hamerleve near Halberstadt, that Hugh received his education. In spite of the opposition of his parents, he took the habit of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine at Hamerleve; before his novitiate was completed, the disturbed state of the country led his uncle to advise him to go to the monastery of St. Victor in Paris, where he arrived about 1115. William of Champeaux, its founder, on his election to the See of Châlons, in 1112, had been succeeded by Gilduin, under whom it lost none of its reputation for piety and learning. Under his rule and guidance Hugh spent the rest of his life, studying, teaching, and writing. On the tragic death of Thomas (20 Aug., 1133) Hugh was chosen to succeed him as head of the School of St. Victor, and under his direction it attained to brilliant success. He is sometimes spoken of as alter Augustinus, because of his familiarity with the works of the great Father of the Church.[3]

Reputation and range of works

His own works cover the whole range of the arts and sacred science taught in his day. Until a few years ago, however, most historians of philosophy put him down as a narrow-minded mystic out of touch with the world of thought and study, who hampered rather than helped scientific progress, and whose fantastic symbolism misled subsequent generations. A careful examination of his works has led to a truer appreciation of one whom Harnack (History of Dogma, tr. London, 1899, VI, 44) terms "the most influential theologian of the twelfth century". A great mystical writer, he was also a philosopher and a scholastic theologian of the first order. Primarily, he was a great lecturer, and that fact accounts for the early dispersal of his works as his hearers dispersed, their frequent incorporation in later treatises, and the publication under his name of so many unauthentic treatises. His teaching was one of the foundations of Scholastic theology, and his influence has affected the whole development of Scholasticism, for he was the first who after synthesizing the dogmatic treasures of the patristic age systematized them and formed them into a coherent and complete body of doctrine. That was the work of a genius. But his great merit as head of the school of St. Victor is that, when the heterodoxy and doctrinal temerity of Abelard endangered the new method which was being applied to the study of theology, Hugh and his followers, by their prudent moderation and unimpeachable orthodoxy, reassured alarmed believers and acclimatized the new scientific method in the Catholic schools.

Theological method

The work of theological classification made great progress in the time of Abelard, and in the "Summæ" were condensed encyclopedic summaries of the whole of theology. Abelard's "Sic et Non" traced the lines upon which the "Summæ" were built up; but they reproduced the drawbacks of the parent work in that the difficulties stated in the pros and cons were frequently left unsolved. The introduction of more strictly logical processes culminated in the fusion of patristic erudition and rational speculation in the new constructive dialectical method. After the dogma had been established by the interpretation of the Scriptures and the Fathers, the assistance of philosophy was sought to show the rational character of the dogma. That application of dialectics to theology led Abelard into heresy and theologians of the twelfth century were deeply divided as to its legitimacy. It was defended by the Abelardian and Victorian Schools, and from them is descended what is properly known as Scholastic theology. The Abelardian School of theology continued to exist even after its founder's condemnation in 1141, but was influenced by the Victorian School, which in turn felt the influence of the Abelardian School, but kept well within the limits of orthodoxy. Thus both contributed to the triumph of Scholasticism.

Authenticity and interpretation

Any attempted synthesis of Hugh's teaching should be preceded by a critical examination of the authenticity of the treatises which have been included in the collected edition of his works, and some of the most authoritative historians of philosophy and theology have gone astray through non-observance of this elementary precaution. Others again have concentrated their attention on his writings on mystical theology, where the supernatural reigns supreme¯to attempt to appreciate an author's philosophical teaching upon data furnished by his endeavours to explain what passes in the soul possessed of perfect charity can only lead to confusion. Hugh has left us sufficient material, philosophical and theological, in which rational explanations stand side by side with revealed teaching, to enable us to form a sound opinion of his position as a philosopher, a theologian, and a mystic.

Philosophy

As a Philosopher, he has a clear idea, frequently emphasized, of the subject-matter of a purely rational science, different from theology; and the two orders of knowledge are as clearly differentiated in his writings as in those of St. Thomas. By philosophy he meant the whole range of knowledge attained by natural reason. The assigning of a definite place to philosophy in the plan of studies was the result of a long and gradual process; but its place above the liberal arts and below theology is clearly defined by Hugh in the "Eruditionis Didascaliæ". Abandoning the old outgrown framework, Hugh sets forth a new division of knowledge: "Philosophia dividitur in theoreticam, practicam, mechanicam et logicam. Haec quatuor omnem continent scientiam."¯"Philosophy is divided into theoretical, practical, mechanical, and logical. These four [divisions] comprise all knowledge."¯(Erud. Didasc., II, 2). This new division of knowledge into speculative science, concerned with the nature and laws of things, ethics, the products of man's activity, thoughts and words, is well and logically thought out. The whole of his exposition of what is meant by knowledge, its object, divisions, and the order in which they ought to be dealt with, is a study unique in the Middle Ages before the second half of the twelfth century, and had Hugh never written more than the early books of the "Didascaliæ", he would still deserve a place among the philosophers of Scholasticism. It is interesting to note that, although the question of universals in his day filled the schools, and at St. Victor's William of Champeaux had many faithful followers, Hugh systematically avoids the whole question, although in places he rejects some of the principal arguments put forward by the Realists. The markedly psychological trend of the whole of his philosophical system has recently been the subject of careful study by Ostler. Hugh's teaching concerning God has been fully analysed by Kilgenstein, and gives us the key to the whole of his teaching: by the use of reason man can and must arrive at the knowledge of God: aseitas, pure-spirituality, absolute simplicity, eternity, immensity, immutability of being and of action¯such are the conceptions he discovers in his Maker, and which furnish him with a synthetic and well-reasoned idea of the Divine essence. At the same time he maintains the moral necessity of revelation, so that the teaching of St. Thomas, as set forth in the early chapters of the "Contra Gentiles", adds nothing to Hugh. It is interesting to note that, following St. Anselm's "Monologium", he takes the human soul as the first element of observation as to the contingence of nature, and thence rises to God. (See P. L., CLXXVI, 824.)

Theology

As a Theologian.¯His valuable work as a sound thinker has already been mentioned; he had a keen appreciation of the merits of much of Abelard's theological work and always cites him with respect; at the same time he combated his errors. Thus, when Abelard, in treating of creation, had replaced the freedom and omnipotence of God by a most exaggerated Optimism, Hugh attacked the error in his "De Sacr.", Bk. I, P. II, c. xxii. His Christological teaching is marked by a semi-Apollinarist error in attributing to the humanity of Christ not only the uncreated knowledge of the Word, but omnipotence and other Divine attributes. But he vigorously combats Abelard's erroneous conceptions of the hypostatic union which led to a revival of Adoptionism that troubled the schools until its condemnation 18 Feb., 1177, by Alexander III (1164-77). Hugh's sacramental teaching is of great importance in that he begins the final stage in the formulation of the definition of a sacrament; synthesizing the scattered teaching of St. Augustine, he set aside the Isidorian definition and gave a truer and more comprehensive one, which, when perfected by the author of the "Summa Sententiarum", was adopted in the schools. His works contain an extensive body of moral doctrine based upon a solid patristic basis, in the grouping of which the influence of Abelard is visible; but in his accurate analysis of the nature of sin, he combats Abelard's error as to the indifferent character of all acts in themselves apart from the will of the doer. At the same time he held an erroneous view as to the reviviscence, after a fall, of previously pardoned mortal sins (De Sacr., Bk. II, P. XIV, c. viii).

Mysticism

As a Mystic.¯Historians of philosophy are now coming to see that it betrays a lack of psychological imagination to be unable to figure the subjective coexistence of Aristotelian dialectics with mysticism of the Victorine or Bernardine type¯and even their compenetration. Speculative thought was not, and could not be, isolated from religious life lived with such intensity as it was in the Middle Ages, when that speculative thought was active everywhere, in every profession, in every degree of the social scale.¯After all, did not the same mind give us the two "Summæ" and the Office of the Blessed Sacrament?¯Hugh of St. Victor was the leader of the great mystical movement of which the School of St. Victor became the centre, and he formulated, as it were, a code of the laws governing the soul's progress to union with God. The gist of his teaching is that mere knowledge is not an end in itself, it ought to be but the stepping-stone to the mystical life¯through thought, meditation, and contemplation; thought seeks God in the material world, meditation discovers Him within ourselves, contemplation knows His supernaturally and intuitively. Such are the "three eyes" of the rational soul. Hugh's mystical teaching was amplified by Richard of St. Victor, whose proud disdain for philosophy has been wrongly attributed to Hugh.

Hugh's chief works are:¯

Major works

(1) "De Sacramentis Christianæ Fidei" (c. 1134), his masterpiece and most extensive work, a dogmatic synthesis similar to, but more perfect than the "Introductio ad Theologiam" of Abelard (c. 1118), which was only concerned with the knowledge of God and of the Trinity. It is of a more literary character: in it the first place belongs to the argument from authority, but the utilization of the dialectical method binds the discussion together. It is at once a summary and a corrected version of his earlier works. The work is divided into two books comprising twelve and eighteen parts respectively each containing numerous chapters. The following analysis of its contents will convey some idea of its range: Book I: 1. The Creation; 2. The end of man's creation; 3. The knowledge of the Triune God; 4. The will of God and its signs; 5. Angels; 6 Man before the Fall; 7. The Fall and its consequences; 8. The restoration of man and the use of sacraments; 9. The sacraments in general; 10. Faith; 11. The sacraments in particular and primarily those of the natural law; 12. Sacraments of the written law. Book II: 1. Incarnation of the Word; 2. Grace and the Church; 3. The orders of the ecclesiastical hierarchy; 4. A mystical explanation of the sacred vestments; 5. Dedication of churches (in which the sacraments are conferred); 6. Baptism; 7. Confirmation; 8. Holy Eucharist; 9. The lesser sacraments (sacramentals); 10. Simony; 11. Matrimony; 12. Vows; 13. Virtues and vices; 14. Confession and absolution; 15. Extreme unction; 16. The state of souls after death; 17. Christ's second coming and the resurrection of the dead; 18. The state of things to come.¯It is the first complete theological work of the schools.

Didascalicon

(2) "Eruditionis Didascaliæ, libri septem" comprises what we should now speak of as encyclopedics, methodology, introduction to Sacred Scripture, and an indication of how we may rise from things visible to a knowledge of the Trinity.

Scriptural commentaries

(3) Scriptural commentaries (important both for his theological and mystical doctrines): "Adnotationes Elucidatoriæ in Pentateuchon"; "In librum Judicum"; "In libros Regum" (notes on the literal meaning of the texts); "In Salomonis Ecclesiasten Homiliæ xix" (practical rather than exegetical); "Adnotationes Elucidatoriæ in Threnos Jeremiæ; in Joelem prophetam" (working out the literal, allegorical, and moral meanings); "Explanatio in Canticum Beatæ Mariæ" (allegorical and tropological). The "Quæstiones et Decisiones in Epistolas S. Pauli", printed among his works in Migne, are certainly posterior to Hugh.

Dionysian commentary

(4) "Commentariorum in Hierarchiam Cœlestem S. Dionysii Aeropagitæ secundum interpretationem Joannis Scoti libri x."

Mystical works

(5) His chief mystical works are: "De Arcâ Noe Morali et Mysticâ" "De Vanitate Mundi"; "De Arrhâ Animæ"; "De Contemplatione et eius speciebus" (first published by Hauréau as an appendix to his book in 1859).

Summa Sententiarum

(6) As regards the "Summa Sententiarum", usually ascribed to Hugh of St. Victor, considerable discussion has recently taken place. Hauréau, Mignon, Gietl, Kilgenstein, Baltus, Ostler attribute it to Hugh. Denifle, arguing from the anonymity of the MSS., left the question open. But Portalié, basing his argument upon important doctrinal differences, appears to have shown that it is not the work of Hugh, although it belongs to his school. The general line of his argument is that the "Summa Sententiarum" is certainly posterior to the "De Sacramentis", upon which it frequently draws; doctrines, methods, and formulæ show evident progress in the "Summa". It would seem that it is absolutely impossible that Hugh should have written the "Summa" after the "De Sacramentis", for the "Summa" borrows from the Abelardian School errors Hugh would not have taught, and even errors and formulæ which he expressly attacked. De Wulf agrees with this, and Pourrat has brought additional evidence, based upon an examination of the sacramental teaching of the two works, in support of the same thesis. None of the writers cited above, as being in favour of Hugh's authorship, have dealt with Portalié's evidence.

Editions

The best edition of the works of Hugh of St. Victor is that of the Canons of St. Victor, printed at Rouen in 1648. It is not a critical edition, however, and genuine, spurious, and doubtful works are found side by side. It was republished in 1854, with slight modifications, by the Abbé Migne in P. L., CLXXV-CLXXVII, but it is neither complete nor critically satisfactory, and should be used in conjunction with J.-B. Hauréau;'s ":Hugues de St-Victor et l'edition de ses œuvres" (Paris, 1859) and the same writer's "Les Œuvres de Hugues de Saint-Victor: Essai Critique" (Paris, 1886), in which he supplements and corrects many of the conclusions of the earlier work. But Hauréau's rationalistic bias renders his exposition of Hugh's doctrine unreliable, without careful checking.

DERLING, Dissertatio de Hugone a S. Victore (Helmstadt, 1745); LIEBNER, Hugo von S. Victor und die theolog. Richtungen s. Zeit (Leipzig, 1832); WEIS, Hugonis de S. Victore Methodus Mysticus (Strasbgurg, 1839); HUGONIN, Essai sur la fondation de l'Ecole de Saint-Victor in P. L., CLXXV; HAURÉAU, Hugues de Saint-Victor: Nouvel Examen de l'edition de ses œuvres (Paris, 1886); HETWER, De Fides et Scientiæ discrimine ac consortio juxta mentem Hugonis a S. Victore, Commentarius (Breslau, 1875); Denifle, Archiv für Literatur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, I (1885), 402, 584; III (1887), 634-40; GIFTL, Die Sentenzen Rolands (Freiburg im Br., 1891); MIGNON, Les origines de la Scholastique et Hugues de Saint-Victor (Paris, 1895); SCHMIDT, Hugo von St. Victor als Pädagog (Meissen, 1893); KILGENSTEIN, Die Gotteslehre des Hugo von St. Victor (Würzburg, 1897); Summarized by BALTUS, Dieu d'après Hugues de St-Victor in Rev. Bénédictine, XV (1898), 109-123; 200-214; SANTINI, Ugo da S. Vittore: Studio Filosofico (Alatri, 1898); PORTALIÉ in Dict. de théol. cath., s. v. Abélard, I (Paris, 1903), 36 sq. (i. Fasc was published in 1899); DE WULF, Histoire de la philosophie médiévale (Louvain, 1905), 212-15; 228-30; OSTLER, Die Psychologie des Hugo von St. Viktor (1906); POURRAT,La théologie sacramentaire (Paris, 1907); BOUUAERT, Rev. d'Hist. Eccl., X (1909), 278 sq.

EDWARD MYERS

References

  1. 1.Hugh of Saint Victor — Biographical overview, chronology, works, and bibliography
  2. 2.Benedict XVI on Hugh and Richard of Saint-Victor — General audience on Victorine learning, contemplation, Scripture, and sacramental theology
  3. 3.1913 Catholic Encyclopedia: Hugh of St. Victor
  4. 4.Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hugh of St Victor". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 858.
  5. 5.[5.2]Catholic Encyclopedia:Hugh of St. Victor
  6. 6.McGinn (1994), p365, gives 'around 1120' as the date.
  7. 7.A helpful, though not necessarily complete, list of Hugh's work – along with modern editions and translations – is printed in Hugh Feiss, ed, On Love, (2010), pp15-20.
  8. 8.Reprinted in PL 176:173-618 and in Hugonis de Sancto Victore De sacramentis Christiane fidei, ed. Rainer Berndt, Münster: Aschendorff, 2008. There is an English translation in Hugh of St Victor, On the sacraments of the Christian faith: (De sacramentis), translated by Roy J Deferrari, (Cambridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy of America, 1951). An English translation of the Prologues is made in Franklin T. Harkins and Frans van Liere, eds, Interpretation of scripture: theory. A selection of works of Hugh, Andrew, Richard and Godfrey of St Victor, and of Robert of Melun, (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2012), pp253-268.
  9. 9.The Latin text is in Henry Buttimer, Hugonis de Sancto Victore. Didascalicon. De Studio Legendi, (Washington, DC: Catholic University Press, 1939). An older English translation is in Jerome Taylor, The Didascalicon of Hugh of St Victor, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961). A more recent translation is Franklin T. Harkins and Frans van Liere, eds, Interpretation of scripture: theory. A selection of works of Hugh, Andrew, Richard and Godfrey of St Victor, and of Robert of Melun, (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2012), pp61-202.
  10. 10.These three treatises are printed in PL 176:617-740.
  11. 11.Bevilacqua, Alexander (2026-03-05). "We need a better plan". London Review of Books. Vol. 48, no. 04. ISSN 0260-9592. Retrieved 2026-03-09.
  12. 12.An older edition of the Latin text is in PL 175:928A. The modern edition is Hugonis de Sancto Victore Opera III: Super Ierarchiam Dionysii, (Turnhout: Brepols), CCCM, vol. 178.
  13. 13.David Luscombe, "The Commentary of Hugh of Saint-Victor on the Celestial Hierarchy", in T. Boiadjiev, G. Kapriev and A. Speer, eds, Die Dionysius-Rezeption im Mittelalter, (Turnholt:Brepols, 2000), pp160-164; D. Poirel, "Le 'chant dionysien' du IXe au XIIe siècle", in M. Goullet and M. Parisse (eds), Les historiens et le latin medieval, (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2001), pp151–176.
  14. 14.For further commentary on this work, see Rorem, Paul (2008). "The Early Latin Dionysius: Eriugena and Hugh of St. Victor". Modern Theology. 24 (4): 601–614. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0025.2008.00488.x.
  15. 15.Reprinted in PL 175:115A.
  16. 16.Reprinted in PL 176. A detailed study of this work exists in Dominique Porel, Livre de la nature et débat trinitaire au XXe siècle, Le De tribus diebus de Hugues de Saint-Victor, (Turnhout: Brepols, 2002), 169-198. Much of this introduction is summarised in the introduction to the English translation in Boyd Taylor Coolman and Dale M Coulter, eds, Trinity and creation: a selection of works of Hugh, Richard and Adam of St Victor, (Turnhout: Brepols, 2010).
  17. 17.Reprinted in PL 176:845-856.
  18. 18.Reprinted in PL 177:285-294.
  19. 19.[19.2][19.3]Reprinted in Roger Baron, ed., Hugonis de Sancto Victore Opera Propaedeutica (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1966).
  20. 20.Reprinted in Muller, Karl, ed., Hugo von St. Victor: Soliloquium de Arrha Animae Und De Vanitate Mundi (Bonn: A. Marcus Une E. Weber's Verlag,1913). There is an English translation in Soliloquy on the Earnest Money of the Soul, trans Kevin Herbert, (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 1965).
  21. 21.See Bernard McGinn, The Growth of Mysticism, (1994), pp384-390. Latin text: Barthélemy Hauréau, Hugues de Saint-Victor. Paris, 1859 (pp. 177−210). A French translation is in Roger Baron, Hugues de Saint-Victor: La contemplation et ses espèces, (Tournai-Paris: Desclée, 1958).
  22. 22.An English translation is in Franklin T. Harkins and Frans van Liere, eds, Interpretation of scripture: theory. A selection of works of Hugh, Andrew, Richard and Godfrey of St Victor, and of Robert of Melun, (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2012)
  23. 23.Printed in PL176:993-998
  24. 24.Printed in PL175:405-414.
  25. 25.Printed in PL176:405-414.
  26. 26.Eggebroten, Anne. ""Sawles Warde": a retelling of "De Anima" for a female audience" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
  27. 27.Gautier Dalché, Patrick. La “Descriptio mappe mundi” de Hugues de Saint-Victor. Texte inédit avec introduction et commentaire. (Paris: Études Augustiniennes, 1988).
  28. 28.Thomas F Martin OSA, Our Restless Heart: The Augustinian Tradition, (2003), p82
  29. 29.Berndt, Rainer (2002). "Andrew of Saint-Victor". In André Vauchez (ed.). Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. James Clarke & Co.
  30. 30.B McGinn, The Growth of Mysticism, (1994), p366
  31. 31.Erich Auerbach (2009). Damrosch, David; Melas, Natalie; Buthelezi, Mbongiseni (eds.). The Princeton Sourcebook in Comparative Literature. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 124.
  32. 32.Ottaviano (1935).
  33. 33.Ferrara (2016), pp. 39–41.