PETER LOMBARD. - Theologian and bishop, known as the Master of the Sentences, was born in Novara at the end of the 11th century and died in Paris on July 21 (or 22), 1160.
I. Life
Little is known of his life. Of humble origins, he was recommended by St. Bernard (Ep., 410; PL 182,619; *veri venerabilis*) to the canons of St. Victor in Paris, where he arrived around 1135-36 after a brief stay in Reims. A few years later (c. 1142-43) he is mentioned by Gerhoh of Reichersberg among the most notable commentators on St. Paul’s *Libellus de ordine donorum Spiritus Sancti*, in MGH, *Libelli de lite*, III, Hanover 1897, p. 275; it may therefore be assumed that P. L. already held a chair in Paris, probably at Notre Dame. His prestige must have grown rapidly, for in 1148 he was numbered among the *magistri scolares* who, together with Pope Eugenius III, judged the theological doctrine of Gilbert of Poitiers at the Council of Reims (John of Salisbury, *Historia pontificalis*, ch. 8; ed. Poole, Oxford 1927, p. 17). In a Bamberg manuscript, a gloss attributed to Peter of Poitiers (q.v.) refers to a journey P. L. made to Rome, which certainly took place in 1151-52, since on January 19, 1152, Eugenius III, in a letter to Henry, Bishop of Beauvais, commends the *lator praesentium*, namely “magister Petrus” (PL 180, 158-59). Elected Bishop of Paris toward the end of June 1159, he died the following year. An unknown annotator of the chronicle of Robert of Torigni composed this eulogy of the new bishop: “Magister Petrus Lombardus, vir magnae scientiae et super Parisiensium doctores dimirabilis” (MGH, *Scriptores*, VI, p. 509).II. MINOR WORKS
*In Psalmos davidicos commentarii* (PL 191, 55-1296), also called *Glossae continuae* or *Glossae Psalterii*, probably written before 1140: an explanation of individual verses, drawn from the Latin Fathers, with a marked tendency toward allegorism; *Collectanea in omnes Divi Pauli epistolas* (published under this title by J. Bade [Paris 1535] and reproduced by Migne [PL 191, 207-1696; 192, 9-520]), commonly called *Maiores glossae epistolarum* or *Magna Glossatura*; composed before 1142-43 (according to van den Eynde between 1138 and ’40), it enjoyed wide diffusion, though it is no more original than the preceding work; the author, however, introduced a new method: the insertion of *quaestiones theologicae* at verses that lent themselves to such treatment. This work may therefore be considered the immediate preparation for the *Book of Sentences* (cf. C. Spicq, *Esquisse d’une histoire de l’exégèse latine*, Paris 1944, pp. 125-27); *Sermons*: according to the researches of B. Hauréau (*Notice sur les sermons attribués à Hildebert de Lavardin*, in *Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque nationale*, 32 b [1888], pp. 107-166), about thirty festive discourses are attributed to him, interspersed among those of Hildebert of Lavardin and Peter Comestor (PL 171, 339-364); they belong to the genre of scholastic oratory, with artificial divisions (always tripartite) and exaggerated allegorism; otherwise, they display the piety and learning of the author. For other doubtful or spurious works cf. De Ghellinck, in DThC, XII, cols. 1974-78.III. THE “BOOK OF SENTENCES.” - The proper title is *Libri IV Sententiarum*. The work, probably begun around 1148, was completed in 1151-52 (cf. F. Pelster, *Wann hat Petrus Lombardus die “Libri IV Sententiarum” vollendet?*, in *Gregorianum*, 2 [1921], pp. 387-92) and was somewhat revised in the following years; it has been claimed, perhaps erroneously, that the author prepared a second edition.
The *Sentences* became the work with the most manuscripts and editions after the Bible: there are 20 incunabula; first printed in Strasbourg (c. 1471), after 1500 it had numerous other editions (e.g., PL 191, 521-962), down to the critical edition prepared by the Minorite Fathers (2 vols., Quaracchi 1916) with valuable historical prolegomena.
The division into books and chapters is original, while the distinctions were introduced later and not always consistently, so that individual commentators show varying degrees of adaptation (cf., e.g., P. Philippe, *Plan des Sentences de Pierre Lombard d’après s. Thomas*, Juvisy n.d.). The four-part division of the work is based on a passage from St. Augustine (*De doctrina christiana*, I, chs. 2 and 4: PL 34, 19-20) that treats of *res* and *signa*. Book I: *res quibus fruendum*: the Trinity and the unity of God, 48 distinctions; Book II: *res quibus utendum*: creation and grace, 44 distinctions; Book III: *res quae fruuntur et utuntur*: the Incarnation, Redemption, theological virtues, commandments (only this last part can be so divided, since men and angels both *fruuntur et utuntur*), the last things, 40 distinctions; Book IV: *signa, quae adhibentur in significando*: sacraments of the Old and New Law, 50 distinctions. The Augustinian inspiration that appears here and there, though not developed into a deep unity of the entire theological system, imposes on the vast material only a purely external framework; thus in this artificial scheme there is no place for the *De tribus rerum subsistentiis* (whose elements were widely elaborated in the anti-Guibert polemic) nor for the *De Ecclesia* (which had been treated especially by canonists), and the questions, often not coherently connected, follow one another in an artificial manner. Nevertheless, P. L. surpasses the four schools that preceded him (Anselmian, Abelardian, Victorine, Porretan) in the logical order of his questions and the completeness of his program (especially with regard to the sacraments and the last things).
P. L. is a great compiler and *gregius sententiarum collector* (Gerhoh of Reichersberg, *Liber de gloria et honore Filii hominis*, ch. 19: PL 194, 1143), who draws extensively from the Fathers, indirectly (through catenae) and directly (from St. Augustine, St. John Damascene [he uses the translation made by Burgundio of Pisa in 1150 at the order of Eugenius III] and perhaps from St. Hilary) and from his immediate predecessors (Anselm of Laon, Abelard, *Summa Sententiarum*, Hugh of St. Victor, Gratian’s *Decretum*, and even the Glossa of Walafrid Strabo); his selection, however, is judicious, guided by a clearly conceived plan; he chooses wisely, even in apparent indecision, and moves between the unbridled dialecticians (Abelard) and the tenacious conservatives (Anselm of Laon and Hugh of St. Victor); rejecting the garrulous *ratiocinatores* (also called *scrutatores*, dialecticians, *elatiores*), he avoids the pitfall of rationalism, but also guards against that kind of fideism, widespread in various quarters, which was the necessary counterbalance to the bold innovations of the dialecticians; eclectic in philology (which he uses only as far as his *status quaestionis* requires), he was well informed about the theological movement of his time.
Blessed Peter Lombard - The Blessed passes unharmed through the flames. Sculpture by Benedetto da Rovezzano (15th cent.) - Florence, National Museum.
Peter Lombard - *Liber Sententiarum*, IV, dist. xxxix - Vatican Library, cod. Vat. Lat. 682, fol. 149v (13th cent.).
Bm.: Acta SS. Iulii, I, Venezia 1746, pp. 486-628; Gallia Christ., XIII, Parigi 1874, coll. 777-80; BHL, 6718-20; N. Va-
lois, France et Grand Schisme, II, Parigi 1896, pp. 362-65; St. Ba-
luz-C. Mollat, Vitae Pap. Aven., II, 1872, pp. 834-37; Notae
ad vitas. Recent studies: H. François, Vie du b. P. de L., Nancy 1927; A. Diderrich, Un saint égard dans la politique, in Longhémont, 9 (1934-35), pp. 5-8, 61-65, 99-102, 150-52, 189-92; on his literary output, devotional booklets and correspondence: V. C. Wahlund, Sel. Peter of Lux., in Studier i Modern Spraakvetenskap utgivna av Nyflologiska Sällskapet i Stokholm, 4 (1908), pp. 27-42.