This volume contains Achard of St Victor’s: Sermon 13: On the Dedication of a Church; Richard’s: Tractates on Certain Psalms, On the State of the Interior Man, Exposition on the Lord’s Prayer, Ave Maris Stella ; Hugh’s: On the Power of Prayer, On the Five Sevens, On the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, On Meditation, Exposition on the Canticle of Mary; Adam’s: Sequences on the Virgin Mary; Godfrey’s: Sermon on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, Two Hymns; and Walter’s: Sermon 6: On the Feast of the Purification.
The enormous productivity of the twelfth century canons of Paris’s Abbey of Saint Victor had a tremendous influence on the great scholastic masters of the thirteenth century like Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure. Their contemplative spirituality, transmitted via the Low Countries, would also shape the Devotio Moderna and beyond. How fortunate, then, that New City Press will provide an English language series of translations of Victorine biblical exegesis, speculative theology, liturgical works, and mystical texts. Like the householder of the Gospel, the Victorines brought forth old things and new. We are the beneficiaries of those present day scholars who make these nova et vetera available to a wide audience in fresh reliable translation.
Lawrence S. Cunningham
John A. O'Brien Professor of Theology, The University of Notre Dame
At last we have in our hands wonderful, easily-accessible translations of the Victorine School! Each of the previous three volumes in Victorine Texts in Translation reveals how neglected these twelfth-century authors have been and contains one insight after another. This latest volume, Writings on the Spiritual Life, offers so many treasures in the art and theology of prayer that readers will undoubtedly exclaim: so it was not this or that giant of the thirteenth century who first expressed this piece of wisdom. Not only have all those involved in this project furthered scholarship, in this latest volume they have placed invaluable tools in the hands of all those eager to grow in the spiritual life.
Regis J. Armstrong, O.F.M. Cap.
Hubbard Professor of Theology,
The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.
