Life at Saint Victor

This volume brings together a number of texts that shed light on life in the Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris, from its ideals to its daily routine. The Liber ordinis builds a framework and ideal vision for life at the Abbey of Saint Victor. Richard’s De quaestionibus, Hugh’s De institutione novitiorum, the letters of Odo, William of Æbelholt’s Vita, and the other documents translated here reflect the spirit of Victorine reform. Its central theme was the vita apostolica, with its emphasis on sharing resources and living in a community. By incorporating prayer, pastoral care, moral discipline, and education, the Victorines believed their lifestyle would help to reform the greater Christian world that was so in need of restoration to the image in which God had created it. Many of the texts gathered here are translated into English for the first time, and are an invaluable resource for the study of the Abbey of Saint Victor, twelfth-century church reform, and medieval spirituality.