Abbey of Saint-Victor, Paris

It was around 1108 that William of Champeaux retired from teaching with a few disciples in a hermitage (or cella) abandoned near a chapel dedicated to St. Victor, at the foot of the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève (the abbey remained outside the walls of the enclosure built by Philip Augustus at the end of the twelfth century). In 1113, when William was elected Bishop of Chalons-sur-Marne, Louis VI transformed the small retreat into an abbey that was richly endowed the following year. The Pope dedicated the foundation. The successor of William was the prior Gilduin, dearest disciple of William and confessor of the king. Born in Paris, he is the abbot of 1113–1155. It is most probably during his abbacy, that the customs of St. Victor were composed in the Liber Ordinis Sancti Victoris, following a rigorous asceticism, where silence and manual labor prevailed. In 1148, the abbey acquired the college of Sainte-Geneviève. The abbey later fell on hard times, being identified in the 17th and early 18th centuries with the Jansenist movement. It was dissolved and destroyed during the French Revolution. The site of the former abbey is now largely occupied by Paris VI and VII Universities and by the Muséum and Jardin des Plantes. The name survives in a neighbouring street. ==Makeup of the Congregation==

The Victorines are one of the most illustrious of the twelfth-century congregations in terms of cosmopolitan and intellectual pursuits. Thanks to Hugh and his comprehensive teachings, the school took on a universalist dimension that Victorines defended against those who wanted to "rip and shred the whole body and who, by a perverse judgment, arbitrarily choose whatever pleases them." Saint-Victor became a popular retreat of Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas Becket (1118-1170), and the bishops of Paris had an apartment there. The cloister became a public school of theology and liberal arts, a kind of monastery-university attended by the philosopher Abelard and Peter Lombard, author of the famous Sentences (Libri Quattuor Sententiarum). Library The abbey had a rich library open to the public. In the consulting room the manuscripts were chained. But there were other properties: liturgical manuscripts were kept for the choir, some others near the refectory, for reading aloud in the infirmary to the sick and dying, and others consisting of double reserves by the librarian (armarius). Part of the library consisted of a group of books (minores) the canons or students could borrow over long periods (concessi). The teaching of the abbey activity favoured the development of library funds. Richly endowed, the abbey would be filled by purchases or copies from elsewhere: the scriptorium seems not to have been well developed. Endowments also enriched the collection. In addition, the documents found upon the death of a Victorin (sermons, for example) were compiled and stored in the library. In Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais, there are satirical references to the library of St Victor (Chapter VII.6). Scriptorium The scriptorium of Saint-Victor has certainly been the cause of experience glosses texts of Scripture by formatting columns, "formal provision entirely unique"; the biblical text in the center, and commentaries on the outside. This seems to be influence of Italian origin as regards their decoration. Masters of Saint-Victor The main and iconic masters of this scholarly abbey remain Hugh and Richard of St. Victor. The first being recognized as the true founder of the school, abbot of 1125-1140, the complete scholar, philosopher, mystic and teacher, whose book De sacramentis christianae fidei (1136-1141) is the most important theological synthesis before scholastic Saint Thomas Aquinas. The second, Richard of St. Victor is considered the founder of the medieval mysticism. Philosophies developed by these Victorines were to give a rational support for the mystical, aided by divine grace, enlightenment or innate principles of truth to the soul. One of the goals of all the Victorines was to promote the spiritual life. ==Burials at the Abbey==

• William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber == References ==