WILLIAM OF SAINT-THIERRY. - Cistercian theologian, b. at Liège ca. 1085, d. at Signy on 8 Sept. 1148. Of a distinguished family, he probably studied at the school of Anselm of Laon. Having entered the Benedictine abbey of St-Nicaise (Reims), he later became a monk there, and in 1119 he was elected abbot of St-Thierry, near Reims, where he governed with wisdom. Won over by the affectionate friendship of St. Bernard, although dissuaded by him, he resigned as abbot and entered, in 1135, among the Cistercians of Signy (diocese of Reims), where he spent his last years in fervent contemplation, yet always vigilant concerning the dangers to which the faith could be exposed in that period of intellectual ferment. It was precisely in 1138 that, with a moving letter (PL 182, 531-39), he provoked the timely intervention of St. Bernard against the errors of Abelard (v.), later condemned at the Council of Sens (1140) and by Rome. With equal zeal he opposed the doctrinal deviations of William of Conches in the De erroribus Guillelmi de Conchis (ibid. 180, 333-40) and of Gilbert de la Porrée (v.). In the Cistercian Order he holds the title of blessed.
Before retiring to Signy he had written various works: the De contemplando Deo (ibid. 185, 365-80), attributed to St. Bernard; the De natura et dignitate amoris (ibid. 185, 379-408); the De Sacramento altarii (ibid. 180, 345-66), which treats of transubstantiation, the multipresence of the body of Christ, of the accidents and of the duplex manducatio, with the aim of reconciling the apparent antinomies of the patristic texts concerning the eucharistic mystery. This work, in the Migne edition (ibid. 341-44), is preceded by G.'s eucharistic letter to Rupert of Deutz; Excerpta ex libris s. Gregorii papae super cantica canticorum (ibid. 411-74) and the Commentarius in Cantica Canticorum ex scriptis s. Ambrosii (ibid. 15, 1947 ff.): two skillfully compiled florilegia; De natura corporis et animae libri duo (ibid. 180, 695-726): in the first he offers an almost anatomical analysis of the human body along the lines of Constantine the African and the Arab physicians, in the second an anthropology three quarters drawn from the De hominis opificio of St. Gregory of Nyssa, in the Latin translation of Scotus Eriugena; Meditativae orationes (ibid. 205-47): a personal work, a faithful mirror of his fervent soul. These last writings were certainly completed at Signy, where circumstances imposed a new rhythm on his pen: Expositio altera super Cantica Canticorum (ibid. 473-546): it reaches as far as ch. 3, v. 3; the idea of the influence of love on the knowledge of God governs the whole work, which is inspired by Origen, of whom G. had before his eyes the partial translation by Rufinus, and by the celebrated commentary of St. Bernard; Expositio in epist. ad Romanos (ibid. 547-694): a vast commentary largely derived from St. Augustine; Disputatio adversus Abaelardum (ibid. 249-82): it refutes the errors of Abelard on the principal Christian dogmas: important is the doctrine on the Redemption. After the condemnation of the audacious philosopher, his former fellow disciple, G. attempted an elaboration of theology in the desire to better guide minds led astray by error; thus were born the Sententiae de fide
(lost), a kind of treatise De Deo Uno et Trino inspired by the doctrine of St. Augustine and of Boethius; the Speculum fidei (ibid. 365-98): an original psychology of faith, where the motif of amor ipse intellectus est is dominant; the Aenigma fidei (ibid. 397-440): a concise synthesis, suffused with piety, on the transcendence of the Trinitarian mystery, in antithesis to the attempts of Abelard and of William of Conches to rationalize its content. Shortly before dying he composed the Epistola ad fratres de Monte Dei, called the Epistola aurea (ibid. 184, 307-54), at the request of the Carthusians of Mont-Dieu, among whom he had spent days delightful for his spirit: it is a true treatise de vita solitaria, based on the Origenian trichotomy of the psychics (beginners), gnostics (proficients), pneumatics (perfect). Soon attributed to St. Bernard, it enjoyed the popularity of the works of the holy Doctor; used by St. Anthony of Padua, David of Augsburg, Ruysbroeck, Tauler, only in 1662 was it restored to its true author by Tissier, immediately followed by Mabillon. The Vita Bernardi (ibid. 185, 225-66), composed with vigilant critical sense, reaches as far as 1130; death prevented G. from finishing this sincere homage to his great friend. Other writings were attributed to him, particularly the Disputatio catholicorum patrum adversus dogmata Petri Abaelardi, but it is the work «cuiusdam abbatis nigrorum monachorum» (Geoffrey of Auxerre, ibid. 185, 596).
A man of tradition, G. lived in constant communion of ideals with the Fathers, creating around himself a «paradisus claustralis», a warm and luminous climate, in which the origin and development of his spiritual doctrine is enveloped. Although subdued by the strong personality of St. Bernard, he preserved his doctrinal autonomy, which is reflected in unmistakable attitudes and movements. This Cistercian, who lacked neither genius nor art, whose religious lyricism was sustained by a singular purity of life, after eight centuries of undeserved oblivion, sees re-established around his person and his work that atmosphere of admiration of which his contemporaries were lavish toward him, and his candid figure advances beside that of his great friend, the Mellifluous Doctor.
Bibliography19 works
Antonio Piolanti