GUERRIC OF IGNY (of TOURNAI), Blessed. - Ascetical writer and Cistercian abbot, born at Tournai ca. 1075, died at Igny (diocese of Reims) on 19 Aug. 1157. A disciple of ODO OF CAMBRAI (v.), he was soon appointed canon and “magister scholarum” of Tournai. After a conversation with St BERNARD ca. 1125, he became a monk at Clairvaux, and in 1138, at the Saint’s wish, was sent to Igny as abbot. Guerric’s cult was approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1899.
His exegetical writings (Postillae super Psalmos, Commentaria in Mt., in Paul., in epistolas canonicas) are lost. What remain are: De languore animae amantis, of little worth, and the Sermones de tempore (PL 185, 11-214), to which Guerric owes his fame. Composed in polished Latin, suffused with singular sweetness, while developing the Marian and Christological themes dear to St Bernard, they are rich in personal insights, truly worthy of the praise bestowed by Mabillon: “bernardinis stilo et pietate affines, non minori reverentia legendi” (Prefatio: PL 185, 9).