Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, March 6, 2024
Speaker: Maria José Zegers (Universidad de Navarra)
The role of the Theology of the Image in the writings of Richard of St. Victor is of great importance, and it can be said with certainty that it is not an accessory theme, but rather constitutes a true foundation on which the Victorine builds his theological development.
If we took a partial and therefore superficial approach to his writings, it would seem that Richard only deals with the theme of the Image from a Trinitarian perspective when in the VI book of De Trinitate he explains why only the Word can be called Imago Patris. However, the idea of Image is a transversal theme of his main works. It is present from the beginning of his theological work when, introducing his first work, the Liber Exceptionum, he underlines the reality of man as a being created in the image and likeness of God so that he can know and love Him: contemplate Him. Richard of St. Victor develops this theme in relation to the cosmic, gnoseological, soteriological and eschatological dimension of theology, relying on the idea of the world and man as images in which it is possible to contemplate, as in a mirror, the beauty and transcendence of God.
Among Richard’s works, his treatises had the greatest impact on the theological environment of the 12th and 13th centuries. It is precisely in them, and in a brief sermon on charity, that St. Paul’s ideas about the world and man as images in which to contemplate the Image of God play a fundamental role. These five works are: his first treatise, the Liber Exceptionum, of pedagogical content. His two treatises on contemplation known as Beniamin Minor and Beniamin Maior. And finally, two works on charity: the sermon entitled De quatuor gradibus violentae caritatis, and his dogmatic treatise on divine Charity in the Trinity: the De Trinitate.
If each work is analyzed separately, something that most studies to date have done, it is not possible to appreciate the richness they contain. However, if they are approached organically, new lights are discovered that illuminate edges of his thought that until now had been hidden, as for example the richness of the role of the image in the reditus, understood by Ricardo as an ascending path towards knowledge, contemplation and configuration with the Trinitarian God. Richard explains very well how divine grace and human freedom are articulated in this path where man, invited by God to enter into contact with the infinite light and warmth of his wisdom and charity, is transformed by these remedies capable of healing him from sin so that he can return to his original design: to know and love God, in order to be happy.
