De sacramentis christianae fidei, thus paving the way for the long series of summae that
would characterize much of medieval scholastic theology. His mystical writings,
especially the two treatises on the symbolic meaning of Isaiah’s vision of the seraphim
and the structure of Noah’s Ark (De arca Noe morali and De arca Noe mystica) are some
of the first attempts to systematize in treatises teaching on the ascetic-contemplative life.
De arca Noe mystica describes a complex drawing (meant to be used as a focus for
meditation) that presented a visualization of the cosmos, the unfolding of the history of
salvation, and the stages of the interior spiritual journey of the individual to
contemplative ecstasy. His commentary on the Celestial Hierarchy of Pseudo-Dionysius
the Areopagite (In hierarchiam coelestem) was a major moment in bringing the thought
of Pseudo-Dionysius into the mainstream of western theology and mysticism. Hugh
based his work upon the 9th-century translation and commentary by Johannes Scottus
Eriugena, but the interpretation was stamped with his own distinctive understanding of
Dionysius’s thought, an understanding deeply influenced by Hugh’s Augustinian
theology and his own view of the function of symbols in the mediation of divine truth to
human beings living in a material world. Hugh’s encyclopedic learning is reflected in his
Didascalicon: de studio legendi, that provides a guide for the student of philosophy
(Books 1–3) and the Bible (Books 4–6). In this work, Hugh presents the liberal arts as the
remedy for the loss of knowledge and goodness in the Fall, while the mechanical arts
(e.g., weaving) provide for the resulting weakness of the human body. The section on
reading Scripture outlines Hugh’s understanding of a sequence of disciplines of study
(history, allegory, and tropology), and gives for each discipline the proper order in which
to read the biblical books appropriate for that approach to the interpretation of the text.
For the student pursuing the discipline of history, Hugh compiled a Chronicon with
numerous chronological tables and historical aids; for the student of allegory, his
theological masterwork, De sacramentis christianae fidei, was intended to serve as an
introduction. De scripturis et scriptoribus sacris, the preface to Hugh’s collection of
literal comments on the Pentateuch and other Old Testament books (these comments are
printed as Notulae in Migne), is modeled on the form of the accessus ad auctores then
being used by the arts faculty to introduce classical authors and by biblical interpreters to
introduce their commentaries. The introduction to Hugh’s Chronicon contains a treatise
on the “art of memory,” an important contribution to the memory tradition. Hugh’s other
works include an unfinished series of sermons on Ecclesiastes; short pieces, extracts, and
fragments collected into several books of miscellania; short contemplative and
theological treatises; several letters; and numerous sermons scattered throughout
medieval collections and only recently fully identified.
Grover A.Zinn
[See also: ANDREW OF SAINT-VICTOR; BIBLE, CHRISTIAN
INTERPRETATION OF; ERIUGENA, JOHANNES SCOTTUS; LAURENT
D’ORLÉANS; MYSTICISM; PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE; SAINT-
VICTOR, ABBEY AND SCHOOL OF; THEOLOGY]
Hugh of Saint-Victor. Opera. PL 175–77.
——. Hugonis de Sancto Victore, Didascalicon: de studio legendi. A Critical Text, ed. Charles
Henry Buttimer. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University Press, 1939.
——. The “Didascalicon” of Hugh of St. Victor: A Medieval Guide to the Arts, trans. Jerome
Taylor. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961.
The Encyclopedia 881