Richard of St. Victor

Richardus a S. Victore

Biography

Born around 1110, originally from Scotland, Richard arrived in Paris probably before 1141 and entered the Abbey of St-Victor of the Augustinian Regular Canons, where he became prior from 1162 until his death in 1173. In the conflict between Thomas Becket and King Henry II, he sided with the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the author of scriptural commentaries, theological treatises, spiritual writings and pamphlets, sermons and letters, the chronology of which is difficult to establish.

In his work, for instance his treatise On the Trinity (SC 63), he deploys a powerful and firm theological synthesis, in a perfectly mastered style, marking his distance from contemporary thinkers (Gilbert de la Porrée, Abelard, Peter Lombard), referring to Augustine, Gregory the Great and Boethius among others, and preserving his originality despite his intellectual kinship with Anselm and Hugh of Saint-Victor. In Benjamin Major and Benjamin Minor, which are among his most widely distributed works and illustrate his practice of allegorical exegesis, he defines the stages of mystical contemplation, the path of the soul's ascent to God.