Adam of St Victor

Complete Sacramental Poetry Vol. 1 Adam of St Victor First edition

ADAM of ST. VICTOR: The Abbey of St. Victor, from which the great Latin hymnologist takes his name, and which, originally, was in the suburbs of Paris, was later on absorbed into the city itself, as she enlarged her borders, was celebrated, especially in the twelfth century, as a school of theology. Probably no other religious foundation could boast of such a brilliant triad of doctors of divinity, as the one that graced this Abbey during that century in the persons of Hugh of St. Victor, known to his generation as the Second Augustine; his pupil, Richard of St. Victor, named Alter Augustine; and Adam of St. Victor, the author of the Sequences in these volumes, who, as will be apparent to the most cursory reader was even deeply versed in the learning of the school to which he belonged. If you were to place a Greek perspective, Hugh could be considered as Socrates, followed by his pupil Plato (Richard) and subsequently, Aristotle, (Andrew). The rational that I assert here is quite simple really; Hugh and Richard both followed an allegorical analysis of the scriptures, where as Andrew, like Chrysostom and Jerome, took a more straight forward approach. In the early days of the Christian church, there were two fundamental schools of thought: those who were form the Antioch side, and those of the Alexandrian segment. The Antioch s were literal, while the Alexandrian s were metaphorical. Thus, down through the ages and on into today s church, there remain these two formulary schools. Within these three volumes are the most extant copies of this 12th century Hymnist. He is unsurpassed in this era regarding his accomplishments and plethora of works.