ANDREA DI SAN VITTORE

ANDREW of SAINT-VICTOR. - Augustinian canon, born in England around the beginning of the 12th century. He entered the Abbey of Saint-Victor in Paris, where he became a disciple of Hugh (q.v.). He later held the office of prior there and was then elected first abbot of Wigmore in Herefordshire, a monastery dependent on Saint-Victor; but, due to difficulties and disagreements arising within the newly founded community, he returned to Paris. Later, he was reinstated in his abbatial see, where he probably died on 20 October 1175. Andrew belongs to that theological current known as the "biblical-moral" school, which began in Paris around the mid-12th century. His unpublished commentary on a large portion of the sacred books of the Old Testament is notable for its scrupulous literalness, the author also making use of contemporary rabbinic exegesis. His influence on Stephen Langton, Peter Comestor, Peter Cantor, and others, as well as on many medieval correctoria, is significant.