William of Auvergne (1180/90-1249) was a French priest who served as Bishop of Paris from 1228 until his death in 1249.
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Life
Very little is known of William's early life. He was born in Aurillac and the likely date range for his birth is reckoned from the fact that a professor of Theology normally needed to be at least 35 years old. If that holds good, then William could have been born as early as 1180 or as late as 1190.
He went to Paris to study and earned a master's degree in Theology at the University of Paris. A Scholastic philosopher, he was made a professor first in the faculty of arts and then in 1220 in that of theology. His theology was systematically Aristotelian, and he was the first of thirteenth century theologian to reconcile Aristotle with Christian doctrine, and especially with the teachings of Augustine of Hippo. The Aristotelian texts which were then available in Western Europe were few in number and mostly Arab translations. William sought to rescue Aristotle from the Arabians and worked to refute certain doctrines, such as the eternality of the world and the heresy of Catharism.
By 1223, William was a canon at the Notre Dame cathedral. In 1228, he was raised to the episcopate. As bishop of Paris, William was a strong supporter of the university school. He also took action against prostitution in the city. In 1248, he served on the Regency council during Louis IX's absence on the Seventh Crusade.
Works
- De virtutibus ('On the Virtues')
- De moribus ('On Customs')
- De sacramentis ('On the Sacraments')
- De trinitate ('On the Trinity')
- De universo ('On the World')
- De anima ('On the Soul')
- De immortalitate animae (On the Immortality of the Soul')
Sources
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
- Jordan, William Chester. Europe in the High Middle Ages. Penguin Books, 2001.
- Noone, Timothy B., Gracia, Jorge J. E.. A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages. Blackwell Publishing, 2005.
External links
- Entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Entry in the University of San Diego
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