RICHARD OF SAINT VICTOR. - Theologian and mystic, b. probably in Scotland at the beginning of the 12th century, d. in Paris on 10 March 1173. Having entered the Canons Regular of St. Victor (Paris) in the time of Abbot Gilduin, he was a disciple of Hugh of St. Victor (v.) and probably succeeded him in the teaching of theology in the monastic school.
Sub-prior of the abbey before 1159, in 1162 he became prior, holding the office until his death. In 1164 he hosted at St. Victor Pope Alexander III and in 1170 St. Thomas Becket; he distinguished himself successfully 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; the dogmatic essays, on the other hand, reveal him as a robust and original thinker, especially the De Trinitate in 6 books. After indicating his method, more concerned with the "profunda et subtilissima indagatio" than with patristic texts (bk. I), he treats first of the intimate nature of God, showing the intimate connection of his attributes (bk. II), then of the trinity of the Divine Persons (bk. III), advancing into acute speculations to demonstrate its non-contradiction with the unity of nature (bk. IV); finally he touches on the problem of the divine processions (bk. V) and illustrates their difference (bk. VI).
This treatise is one of the most original and most surprising syntheses of the 12th century, which, because of its vigorous search for "rationes necessariae," to show the intrinsic non-repugnance of the lofty mystery, gave rise in more recent times (Pohle, Heitz) to the suspicion of a rationalistic tinge in Richard's theology; today criticism is more favorable to him, 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); in fact, welcomed by Alexander of Hales, it was neglected by St. Bonaventure and by St. Thomas.
Inspired by the same method of rationes necessariae, in the manner of St. Anselm and without a rationalistic tinge, are: 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 blasphemia; De differentia peccati mortalis et venialis. But R. established himself above all in mysticism, in which he shared with St. Bernard an uncontested primacy throughout almost the entire
Middle Ages, through a series of works that constitute a complete theoretical treatment of the subject: De praeparatione animi ad contemplationem, liber dictus Beniamin minor: it indicates in the mortification of the passions and in the exercise of the virtues the way to reach contemplation; De gratia contemplationis, seu Beniamin maior: it is R.'s masterpiece, his most celebrated work and the one most used by posterity.
He treats of charity in the opuscules: De gradibus caritatis, De quattuor gradibus violentae caritatis. Important is the extensive treatise on the interior life: De conditione interiori hominis. Among the numerous opuscules of the same kind, mention should be made of the Exit edictum or De tribus processionibus (ed. I. Chatillon-W. J. Tulloch, in Richard de St-Victor, Sermons et opuscules spirituels inédits, I, Paris 1951, at pp. XV-XVII complete bibliography). Although R. abandoned himself more victorino to an extreme allegorism and his style is at times too laden with words and images, nevertheless his thought is limpid, sustained by an extraordinary speculative force, which Dante acknowledged in him in the well-known verse: "Che a considerar fu più che viro" (Parad., X, 132).
Bibliography9 works
Antonio Pielanti