Guigo I also known as Guigues du Chastel, Guigo de Castro and Guigo of Saint-Romain, was a
Carthusian monk and the 5th
prior
Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...
of
Grande Chartreuse monastery in the 12th century. He was born in 1083 near the Chateau of Saint-Romain, and entered the Grande Chartreuse in 1106.
Still a young man, his abilities led him to be elected prior in 1109 (aged 26). It was during his priorate that the original community slowly began to expand. Guigo was called on to compose the first ''Customs'' (''Consuetudines'') of the new hermits sometime between 1121 and 1128. Between 1109 and 1120 he also wrote the ''Meditations'', 476 proverb-like sayings that characterized the wisdom of solitary, monastic life. In addition, some letters and a
hagiographical piece survive. He was also a spiritual leader;
Bernard of Clairvaux visited the Grande Chartreuse, probably in the 1120s, and wrote several letters to Guigo.
He ruled the community until his death in 1136.
He was a man of considerable learning, was known for his eloquence and great memory. He was a close friend of St.
Bernard of Clairvaux and of
Peter the Venerable
Peter the Venerable ( – 25 December 1156), also known as Peter of Montboissier, was the abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Cluny. He has been honored as a saint, though he was never canonized in the Middle Ages. Since in 1862 Pope Pius IX co ...
, both of whom wrote of Guigo's sanctity.
The treatise ''De vita contemplativa'', also known as ''De Contemplatione'' has sometimes been attributed to Guigo I. However, it cannot have been written by Guigo I, because it refers to several writings of thirteenth-century scholastic theology, including
Hugh of Balma's ''Viae Syon Lugent''. It is acknowledged to be a late thirteenth-century text, with its author generally known as
Guigo de Ponte Guigo de Ponte, also known as Guigues du Pont, was a Carthusian monk of the Grande Chartreuse. Little is known about him, but he probably professed there in 1271, and died in 1297.
He is known for his treatise ''De vita contemplativa'', also known ...
.
[''Carthusian spirituality: the writings of Hugh of Balma and Guigo de Ponte'' by Hugh of Balma and Guigo de Ponte, translated by Dennis D. Martin, (New York: Paulist Press, 1996)]
See also
*
Guigo II
*
Christian meditation
References
Bibliography
* ''Carthusian spirituality: the writings of Hugh of Balma and Guigo de Ponte'', by Hugh of Balma, Guigo de Ponte and Dennis D. Martin (Translator), 1996, .
* ''The Meditations of Guigo I, Prior of the Charterhouse'' (Cistercian Studies Series ; No. 155) 1994
* Bernard McGinn, ''The Growth of Mysticism'', (1994).
* Bernard McGinn, ''The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism'', (2006).
*
External links
{{Authority control
Carthusians
1130s deaths
Year of birth unknown
1080s births