RICHARD OF ST. VICTOR (d. 1173), theologian and mystic of the 12th century. Very little is known of his life ; he was born in Scotland or in England, and went to Paris, where he entered the abbey of St. Victor and was a pupil of the great mys tic, Hugh of St. Victor. He succeeded as prior of this house in 1162. The best known of Richard's writings are the mystical treatises : De statu hominis interioris, De praeparatione animi ad contemplationem, De gratia contemplationis, De gradibus caritatis, De arca nuptica, and his two works on the Trinity: De trinitate libri sex, De tribus appropriatis personis in Trinitate. According to him, six steps lead the soul to contemplation: (I) contemplation of visible and tangible objects; (2) study of the productions of nature and of art; (3) study of character ; (4) study of souls and of spirits; (5) entrance to the mystical region which ends in (6) ecstasy.
His theory of the Trinity is chiefly based on the arguments of Anselm of Canterbury. The influence of neo-Platonic terminology,
as well as of the works of the pseudo-Dionysius, can be clearly detected in his works. In the Paradzso Dante has placed Richard among the greatest teachers of the Church. His writings came into favour again in the 16th and 17th centuries, six editions of his works having been printed between 1506 and 165o.