Richard of Saint Victor

Richard of Saint Victor (died 1173), was one of the most important mystical theologians of 12th century Paris, then the intellectual center of Europe. Richard, a Scot, was prior of the famous Augustinian abbey of Saint-Victor in Paris from 1162 until his death in 1173.

Richard was a student of the great German mystic Hugo of St. Victor, whose principles and methods he adopted and developed. His most important work, De Trinitate ("On the Trinity") contains his best-known philosophical work in which he stressed that it was possible to reach the essentials of the doctrine of the Trinity by the process of speculative reasoning. Richard had great influence on Bonaventure and the Franciscan mystics. His writings on mystical contemplation earned for him the title "Magnus Contemplator", the great contemplator.

In Dante's Paradise (Paradiso' X.130), he is mentioned among theologians and doctors of the church alongside Isidore of Seville and the Englishman Bede (the latter is the only other Briton in Dante's Paradise).

References

• The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIII: "Richard of St. Victor, Robert Appleton Company, (1912).
• Schaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church, Volume V: The Middle Ages A.D. 1049–1249, Hendrickson Publishers; 3rd edition (July 1, 1996) ISBN 1-56563-196-X. [1]
• Richard of St. Victor, Richard of St. Victor: The Twelve Patriarchs, The Mystical Ark, Book Three of the Trinity; Classics of Western Spirituality Series, New York, Paulist Press, 1979. Translated and introduced by Grover Zinn. ISBN 0809121220.

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