RICHARD OF SAINT VICTOR — Portrait. Painting from the 16th century. Lucca, church of S. Frediano.
He was prior of the abbey before 1159, and in 1162 became prior, holding the office until his death. In 1164 he hosted Pope Alexander III at Saint-Victor, and in 1170 St Thomas Becket; he excelled in almost all fields of theology. Among his numerous works, the exegetical ones (*Expositio difficultatum suborientium in expositione tabernaculi foederis*; *In visionem Ezechielis*; *In Apocalypsim*; *De Emmanuele*, etc.) are of lesser value; instead, his dogmatic essays reveal him as a robust and original thinker, especially the *De Trinitate* in 6 books. After setting out his method, more concerned with the “profunda et subtilissima indagatio” than with patristic texts (I, 1), he first treats of the intimate nature of God, showing the intimate connection of His attributes (I, 2), then of the Trinity of the Divine Persons (I, 3), delving into acute speculations to demonstrate the non-contradiction with the unity of nature (I, 4); finally he addresses the problem of the divine processions (I, 5) and illustrates their distinction (I, 6).
This treatise is one of the most original and striking syntheses of the 12th century; because of its vigorous pursuit of “rationes necessariae” to show the intrinsic non-repugnance of the lofty mystery, it later aroused suspicion (Pohle, Heitz) of a rationalistic tinge in Richard’s theology. Today criticism is more favourable, but in the golden age of scholasticism his speculation, of Greek tendency, was more admired than followed (cf. A.-M. Ethier, *Le «De Trinitate» de Richard de Saint-Victor*, Paris-Ottawa 1939); indeed, taken up by Alexander of Hales, it was neglected by St Bonaventure and St Thomas.
Works inspired by the same method of “rationes necessariae”, in the manner of St Anselm and without rationalistic tinge, include: *De tribus appropriatis personis in Trinitate*; *Liber de Verbo Incarnato*; *Quomodo Spiritus Sanctus est amor Patris et Filii*; *De superexcellenti Baptismo Christi*; *De potestate ligandi atque solvendi*; *Tractatus de Spiritus blasfhemia*; *De differentia peccati mortalis et venialis*. Yet R. is chiefly renowned in the field of mysticism, where he shared with St Bernard an undisputed primacy in almost all of II.
RICHARD RUFUS OF CORNWALL — Franciscan theologian, b. in England, d. at Oxford c. 1260.
He entered the Franciscan Order, already a master of arts, in Paris c. 1238, but in 1239 moved to England. Having obtained the baccalaureate in theology, he lectured on the Sentences first at Oxford (1250), then at Paris (1253), until in 1256 he became regent master of the Franciscan Studium at Oxford. Roger Bacon, perhaps for personal reasons, attributes several errors to him, yet other contemporaries such as Adam Marsh and Thomas Eccleston speak of him as a pious man and a philosopher of great renown. His writings confirm this judgment. At Oxford he wrote a commentary on the first three books of the Sentences, in which, in a personal style, he criticises HALLEL (v.), Hugh of Saint-Cher and Richard Fishacre; at Paris instead he produced a critical abridgement of St Bonaventure’s commentary on the Sentences. He also wrote various Quaestiones.