Hugh of Saint Victor - On the Sacraments of the Christian Faith (De Sacramentis)

Hugh of St. Victor (1096–1141) was a renowned medieval philosopher, theologian, and mystical writer. Because of his great familiarity with the works of St. Augustine, he is sometimes called “the Second Augustine.” His work On the Sacraments of the Christian Faith (De Sacramentis Christianae Fidei), composed about 1134, is his masterpiece as well as his most extensive work. It is a dogmatic synthesis unrivaled in Hugh’s time. By “sacrament,” Hugh means not only grace-giving ceremonial signs and actions but also all “mysteries” of the Scriptures, the natural world, and the Church by which God draws humankind into His life. Hugh’s theology draws on Augustine, Gregory the Great, Anselm, and Abelard; and Hugh was also in contact with Bernard of Clairvaux. In the De Sacramentis, Hugh separates all of history into the “work of creation” and the “work of restoration.” The work of Creation is the triune God’s creative activity, the natures of created things, and the original state and destin