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RICHARD OF ST VICTOR (d. 1173)

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 298 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RICHARD OF ST See also:VICTOR (d. 1173)  , theologian and mystic of the 12th See also:century . Very little is known of his See also:life; he was See also:born in See also:Scotland or in See also:England, and went to See also:Paris, where he entered the See also:abbey of St See also:Victor and was a See also:pupil of the See also:great mystic, See also:Hugh of St Victor . He succeeded as See also:prior of this See also:house in 1162, and was continually contesting the tyrannical authority of the See also:abbot Ervisius . His- writings, some of which are still in See also:manuscript, are very numerous, the best known being his mystical See also:treatises: De statu hominis interioris, De praeparatione animi ad contemplationem, De gratia contemplationis, De gradibus caritatis, De arca nuptica, and his two See also:works on the Trinity: De trinitate libri See also:sex, De tribus appropriatis personis in Trinitate . As is the See also:case with all the Victorines, his See also:mysticism was a reaction against the See also:philosophy of the See also:schools of his See also:time, a perpetual See also:justification of contemplation as opposed to logical reasoning . According to him, six steps See also:lead the soul to contemplation: (1) contemplation of visible and tangible See also:objects; (2) study of the productions of nature and of See also:art; (3) study of See also:character; (4) study of souls and of See also:spirits; (5) entrance to the mystical region which ends in (6) See also:ecstasy . His theory of the Trinity is chiefly based on the arguments of See also:Anselm of Canter-See also:bury, although a certain deification of the social sense is evident .

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