PIETRO di POITIERS (Petrus Pictaviensis). – Theologian, b. in the first half of the 12th century, d. in Paris in 1205. A disciple of Pietro Lombardo, in 1169 Pietro Comestore (v.) in teaching theology at Notre-Dame, and in 1193 Ilduino as chancellor (cancellarius Parisiensis); he held both offices until his death. Highly esteemed, he was entrusted with delicate assignments by Celestine III and Innocent III.
Before 1175 he wrote the Libri quinque Sententiarum (PL 211, 789–1280; new ed. Ph. S. Moore–J. N. Garvin, M. Dulong, Sententiae Petri Pictaviensis [I, I and II, Publications in Mediaeval Studies, 7 and 11], Notre Dame, Indiana 1943–50), in which he treats, with a somewhat different division, the same subject matter Pietro Lombardo (v.), whose orientation and method he follows. Particularly noteworthy are the clarifications concerning the sacraments (e.g., Sacramentum, res Sacramenti, with regard to the Eucharist) and the mention of Aristotle’s Metaphysica. Attacked by Gualtiero di S. Vittore (v.) in 1180 as one of the “four labyrinths of France,”
he honorably maintained the positions of the school of Pietro Lombardo. He also wrote: Genealogia et chronologia sanctorum Patrum ab Adamo ad Christum, also called Compendium historiae Veteris et Novi Testamenti (Basel 1592): a dry and inaccurate summary of sacred history; Allegoriae super Tabernaculum Moysi (ed. Ph. S. Moore and J. A. Corbett, Indiana 1938): the author gleans from the verses of Exodus whatever lends itself to allegorical considerations; other commentaries (glosses, allegories, distinctions) on Scripture remain unpublished.