Achard of Saint Victor ( 1100 – 29 March 1171) was a
canon regular
Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a ...
and
abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...
of the
Abbey of St. Victor, Paris, and later
Bishop of Avranches
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Coutances (–Avranches) (Latin: ''Dioecesis Constantiensis (–Abrincensis)''; French: ''Diocèse de Coutances (–Avranches)'') is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in France. Its mother church is the Cathe ...
.
Life
Achard is thought to have been born in England and educated in France, based on evidence from an early collection of Victorine epitaphs.
[Margaret Gibson, "St Victor, Achard of (c.1100–1171)", rev. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004] Another theory is that he came from the noble Norman family of de Pertins of
Domfront.
He completed his studies at the monastery school of St. Victor, and entered the cloister there. On the death (1155) of the first abbot,
Gilduin, he was elected to fill the vacant post, becoming the second abbot of the abbey (a post he held until 1161), at a time when the royal abbey was almost at the zenith of its glory and power.
In 1157 the
cathedral chapter
According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...
of
Sées
Sées () is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France.
It lies on the river Orne from its source and north-by-northeast of Alençon. Sées station has rail connections to Argentan, Caen and Le Mans.
Name
The town's name derives ...
, composed of canons regular, elected Achard as their bishop, and the choice was duly confirmed by
Pope Adrian IV
Pope Adrian IV ( la, Adrianus IV; born Nicholas Breakspear (or Brekespear); 1 September 1159, also Hadrian IV), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 4 December 1154 to his death in 1159. He is the only Englishman t ...
. But
Henry II of England
Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...
intervened and named his personal
chaplain
A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...
, Frogier, or Roger, to the office, thereby vetoing Achard's election. Subsequent relations between Achard and the Plantagenet king were quite cordial, however, with the abbot using (as revealed by a surviving letter from Achard to Henry II) his influence at the English Court to compel the royal treasurer,
Richard of Ely, to disburse for the benefit of the poor some moneys which he was unjustly detaining.
In March 1161 Achard was consecrated Bishop of Avranches. Henry made no objection to his consecration, and later that same year Bishop Achard stood as godfather to Henry's daughter,
Eleanor
Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
The name was introd ...
, born at Domfront. But the French king,
Louis VII, was by no means pleased to see such a shining light of the Parisian church pass over into Norman territory, as is evident from a letter he then addressed to the prior of St. Victor's. In 1163 Achard was in England assisting at the solemn
translation
Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
of
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066.
Edward was the son of Æth ...
in
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
.
He was a generous patron of the
Premonstratensian
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
La Lucerne Abbey
La Lucerne Abbey (''Abbaye Sainte-Trinité de La Lucerne''later also known as "La Lucerne-d'Outremer", from its connection to the English crown, whence the name of the present commune) is a Premonstratensian monastery situated in the forests of th ...
, in the diocese of Avranches (the foundation stone of which he laid in 1164), in which his tomb and a fine, though damaged, contemporary effigy can still be seen. He was buried with the simple inscription ''Hic jacet Achardus episcopus cujus caritate ditata est paupertas nostra.''
His brethren of St. Victor's celebrated his memory in the following lines:
::''Hujus oliva domus, Anglorum gloria cleri''
::''Jam dignus celesti luce foveri''
::''Felix Achardus florens etate senile''
::''Presul Abrincensis ex hoc signature ovili''.
Not the least gem in Achard's crown is the memory of his unwavering friendship for
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...
through the years. In the chronicles of St. Victor's, Achard is termed "Blessed".
Works
One treatise (Latin original and 18th-century French translation) of Achard's is extant in the
Bibliothèque Nationale
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
. It is a long commentary or sermon on the
Temptation of Christ
The temptation of Christ is a biblical narrative detailed in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. After being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus was tempted by the devil after 40 days and nights of fasting in the Judaean Desert. At the time, ...
in the wilderness, and in it Achard discusses seven degrees of self-renunciation, which he calls the seven deserts of the soul.
Hauréau in his ''Histoire littéraire du Maine'', I, quotes several passages.
* Fragments of his dogmatic treatise ''The Trinity'' survive. These are edited in André Combes, ''Un inédit de Saint Anselme? Le traité 'De unitate divinae essentiae et pluralitate creaturarum' d’après Jean de Ripa'', (Paris: Vrin, 1944), with supplements by
M-T d’Alverny, 'Notes 2. Achard de Saint-Victor. De Trinitate-De unitate et pluralitate creaturarum', ''Recherches de théologie ancienne et medieval'' 21, (1954), 299–306
*''De discretione animae, spiritus et mentis'' (''The Discrimination of Soul, Spirit and Mind'') is often attributed to Achard. This is translated in Nicholas M Haring, 'Gilbert of Poitiers, Author of the De discretione animae, spiritus et mentis commonly attributed to Achard of Saint-Victor', ''Mediaeval Studies'' 22, (1960), 148–191
*Fifteen sermons by Achard survive. The last of these is really a mystical tract, sometimes entitled ''The Treatise on the Seven Deserts''. They are reproduced in PL196:1381–1382. A French translation exists in Jean Chatillon, ed, ''Achard de Saint-Victor: sermons inédits'', (Paris: J Vrin, 1970)
Translations
*Hugh Feiss, ed, ''On love: a selection of works of Hugh, Adam, Achard, Richard and Godfrey of St Victor'', (Turnhout: Brepols, 2011)
ncludes translation of ''Sermon Five: On the Sunday of the Palm Branches''*Hugh Feiss, ed, ''Achard of Saint Victor: Works'', (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2001)
References
Further reading
*
Alban Butler
Alban Butler (13 October 171015 May 1773) was an English Roman Catholic priest and hagiographer.
Biography
Alban Butler was born in 1710, at Appletree, Aston le Walls, Northamptonshire, the second son of Simon Butler, Esq. His father died when ...
, ''Lives of the Saints'', 2 May
*
Fourier Bonnard Fourier may refer to:
People named Fourier
*Joseph Fourier (1768–1830), French mathematician and physicist
*Charles Fourier (1772–1837), French utopian socialist thinker
*Peter Fourier (1565–1640), French saint in the Roman Catholic Church a ...
, ''Histoire de l'abbaye royale et de l'order des chanoines reguliers de St.-Victor de Paris'' (Paris, 1907)
*
Mohammad Ilkhani
Mohammad Ilkhani (born 1958) (Persian: محمد ایلخانی) is an Iranian philosopher and professor and chair of the department of philosophy at the Shahid Beheshti University. He is known for his research on Achard of St. Victor, Boethius an ...
, ''La philosophie de la création chez Achard de Saint-Victor'', Bruxelles, Ousia, 1999 (coll. Ousia, 38), 394 p.
*
Bernard McGinn, ''The Growth of Mysticism'', (1994), pp395–8
*
Gabriele Pennotto Gabriele is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Given name
Surname
*Al Gabriele, American comic book artist
*Angel Gabriele (1956–2016), American comic book artist
* Corrado Gabriele (born 1966), Italian polit ...
, ''Generalis totius sacri ordinis clericorum canonicorum historia tripartita'' (Rome, 1642)
*
Richard Stanton
Richard Stanton (October 8, 1876 – May 22, 1956) was an American actor and director of the silent era. He appeared in 68 films between 1911 and 1916. He also directed 57 films between 1914 and 1925. He was born in Iowa and died in Los An ...
, ''Menology'' (London and New York, 1892)
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Achard Of St. Victor
1100s births
1171 deaths
Canonical Augustinian abbots and priors
Canonical Augustinian bishops
Bishops of Avranches
12th-century French Roman Catholic bishops