UGO di SAN VITTORE. — Theologian and philosopher, b. ca. 1096, probably at Hartenham in Saxony (his descent from the family of the counts of Blanckenburg is uncertain), d. in Paris on 11 Feb. 1141.
After a stay in the Augustinian abbey of Hamersleben (near Halberstadt), he arrived between 1115 and 1118 at S. Vittore in Paris (received by the abbot Gildulino [v.]), where he was Guglielmo di Champeaux (v.) and, from 1125, a professor. Having become director of the school in 1133, he shortly afterward also assumed the office of prior. Osberto, infirmarian of S. Vittore, recounts the edifying details of the death of the theologian, who was little more than forty years old (PL 175, 161-63); he was immediately regarded as a saint (miracles were attributed to him), although he never received public veneration.
Passing over the notable writings De Granutica (ed. J. Leclercq, in Archives d'hist. littér. et doctr. du moyen âge, 14 [1945], pp. 263-322), Epitoma Philosophiae (ed. B. Hauréau, Hugues de St-Victor, Nouvel examen de ses œuvres, Paris 1859, pp. 162-75), Chronica (ed. G. Waitz, in MGH, Scriptores, XXIV, pp. 86-97), and others of a similar kind, which reveal his interest in the whole of human knowledge, it is necessary to recall his numerous essays in biblical exegesis: De Scripturis et scriptoribus sacris praenotatinusulae (PL 175, 9-28), a treatise on hermeneutics; Adnotationes elucidatoriae in libros Regum (ibid. 95-114); In Salomonis Ecclesiastes homiliae 19 (ibid. 113-256); Adnotationes elucidatoriae in threnos Jeremiae (ibid. 255-322); Explanatio in Canticum B. Marie V. (ibid. 413-32); Orationis dominicae expositio (ibid. 774-89); a commentary on Hebr. 4:12-15, 2 is found in PL 177, 289-94. In the extensive and confused Miscellanea, in 7 books (PL 177, 469-900), further critical investigation may distinguish substantial exegetical portions belonging to U. (cf. C. Spicq, Esquisse d'une histoire de l'exégèse au moyen âge, Paris 1944, pp. 120-22 and passim).
The widespread reputation as a mystic that U. commonly enjoys, at the expense of his more deserved reputation as a dogmatic theologian, rests upon numerous and valuable writings. More than in the extensive commentary on Pseudo-Dionysius (Commentariorum in Hierarchiam caelestem s. Dyonisii Areopagitae: PL 175, 923-1154), U.’s spiritual doctrine emerges: a) from works on monastic life: De institutione novitorum (PL 176, 925-52), Expositio in Regulam s. Augustini (ibid. 881-924), in which he displays his spiritual balance in interpreting the letter and spirit of the rule; b) from treatises on prayer: De meditando (ibid. 993-98); De modo orandi (ibid. 977-88), on the conditions and degrees of prayer; Soliloquium de archa animae (ibid. 951-70); c) from minor works on the interior life, on which he composed an interesting trilogy: De vanitate mundi et rerum transeuntium usu (ibid. 703-40); De arca Noe morali (ibid. 617-80); he identifies the ark of salvation in the soul, the temple of God, the Church, and Wisdom; De arca Noe mystica (ibid. 681-704); he develops the same subject under the veil of symbolism, whose explanation he progressively provides. The same theme of the mystical ark recurs in the evocative contemplation De operibus trium dierum (ibid. 811-38). Mystical union is also described in De amore Sponsi ad sponsam (ibid. 987-94) and De laude caritatis (ibid. 969-76).
In the dogmatic-moral field U. established himself through numerous and important works: Eruditio didascalico, or Didascalion (ibid. 739-812; critical ed. by Ch. H. Buttimer, Washington 1939); an introduction to the study of the liberal arts, composed with broad-mindedness (=omnia disce: videbis postea nihil esse superfluum; coarctata scientia iucunda non est: ibid. 800 and 801), it constitutes one of the major works of medieval pedagogy; Institutiones in decalogum legis dominicae (ibid. 9-18); De Verbo Incarnato collationes tres (ibid. 177, 315-24); De quatuor voluntatibus in Christo (ibid. 176, 841-46); De sapientia animae Christi an aequalis cum divina fuerit (ibid. 845-56); De B. M. virginitate (ibid. 857-76); De Assumptione B. M. sermo (ibid. 177, 1209-1222); De quinque septenis seu septenariis (ibid. 175, 405-14); here the 7 capital vices are related to the 7 petitions of the Pater noster, to the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit, to the 7 principal virtues, and to the 7 beatitudes (the 7 Sacraments, however, are not mentioned).
With the name sacramentum U. generally designates the holy things revealed by Scripture, that is, the whole of theology (dota divinitas: Eruditio didascalica, I, VI, cap. 4; PL 176, 803); such is the meaning of the title of the dialogue De sacramentis legis naturalis et scriptae (ibid. 17-42) and of the masterpiece De sacramentis christianae fidei (ibid. 173-618), through which he acquired imperishable fame. The author proposes to set forth the theological content of the Bible and therefore divides the work into two books corresponding to the two Testaments: the first book studies the opus conditionis as a prelude to the Incarnation and consequently, in 12 treatises, develops the material concerning God, the creation of the Angels, the world, and man, original sin, reparations, and the law. The second book discusses the opus reparations in 18 treatises: Jesus Christ, the Church, ecclesiastical Orders and Offices, the Sacraments, the virtues, the end of the world, and the life to come. In this broad and harmonious exposition of theology, the centrality of Christ shines forth, strongly felt by the author and indicated with brilliance from the very prologue (PL 176, 183).
Unlike Anselmo di Laon (v.), which favored anthropology and soteriology, U. gives preference to theodicy, Christology, ecclesiology, and sacramental theology, without neglecting the rest. His style is limpid, his Latin dignified, his erudition unobtrusive yet underlying. This passionate student of the Fathers, especially of s. Agostino, rather than repeat their words, assimilates their thought and fuses it into a personal synthesis which, while fundamentally faithful to tradition, is connected with the new. U. perceives the problems emerging from his age, which was in profound ferment, and even if he does not resolve them, he advances new proposals, at times naïve, but often ingenious. Averse to the scholastic methods already in Abelardo (v.), he favors the spontaneous unfolding of ideas and problems, more Patrum. For these and other characteristics, the admirable De sacramentis (which even today remains an indispensable introduction to dogmatic theology) enjoyed well-deserved success. Through it its author, already in correspondence with the highest personalities of his time, made his authority felt by Pietro Lombardo and s. Tommaso and, through the two princes of the School, definitively entered into the development of the theological thought of the West. Exalted by Dante (Paradiso, XII, 133), admired by distinguished thinkers in the Renaissance, cited by the renewed Scholasticism of the 17th century, he still enjoys universal esteem today. — Vedi tav. LXX.