Guigo II

Part of a series on
Christian mysticism
Theology and philosophy Apophatic Ascetical Cataphatic Catholic spirituality Hellenistic Mystical theology Neoplatonic Henosis
Practices Monasticism Monasticism Asceticism Spiritual direction Meditation Meditation Lectio Divina Invoking of Mystic Saints Active asceticism Contemplation Hesychasm Jesus Prayer Quietism Stages of Christian perfection Hesychia Divinization Catharsis Theosis Kenosis Spiritual dryness Religious ecstasy Passive asceticism Abstinence Esoteric Charismatic Esoteric
People (by era or century) Antiquity Ancient African Origen Thomasines Gregory of Nyssa Pseudo-Dionysius Desert Fathers Paul of Thebes Anthony the Great Arsenius the Great Poemen Macarius of Egypt Moses the Black Syncletica Athanasius John Chrysostom Hilarion John Cassian 11th · 12th Bernard of Clairvaux Guigo II Hildegard of Bingen Symeon the New Theologian 13th · 14th Dominican Dominic de Guzmán Franciscan Francis of Assisi Anthony of Padua Bonaventure Jacopone da Todi Angela of Foligno English Richard Rolle Walter Hilton Julian of Norwich Margery Kempe Flemish Beatrice of Nazareth Lutgardis Hadewijch John van Ruysbroeck German Meister Eckhart Johannes Tauler Henry Suso Female Beatrice of Nazareth Bridget of Sweden Catherine of Siena Mechthild of Magdeburg Marguerite Porete 15th · 16th Spanish Ignatius of Loyola Francisco de Osuna John of Ávila Teresa of Ávila John of the Cross Others Catherine of Genoa 17th · 18th French Margaret Mary Alacoque Pierre de Bérulle Jean-Jacques Olier Louis de Montfort Charles de Condren John Eudes John of St. Samson Others Mary of Jesus of Ágreda Anne Catherine Emmerich Veronica Giuliani Francis de Sales 19th Dina Bélanger Catherine Labouré Mélanie Calvat Maximin Giraud Bernadette Soubirous Conchita de Armida Luisa Piccarreta Mary of the Divine Heart Thérèse of Lisieux Gemma Galgani 20th Padre Pio Therese Neumann Marthe Robin Alexandrina of Balazar Faustina Kowalska Sister Lúcia of Fátima Edgar Cayce Simone Weil Alfred Delp Thomas Merton Charles de Foucauld Edvige Carboni Elena Aiello Contemporary papal views Aspects of meditation (Orationis Formas, 1989) Reflection on the New Age (2003)
Literature and media Lingua ignota Ordo Virtutum Scivias Ascent of Mount Carmel Dark Night of the Soul Spiritual Canticle Way of Perfection Book of the First Monks The Interior Castle Abbey of the Holy Ghost A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart The Glories of Mary The Imitation of Christ The Ladder of Divine Ascent Philokalia Revelations of Divine Love The Story of a Soul Theologia Germanica Devotio Moderna Fatima in Lucia's Own Words Calls from the Message of Fatima The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima Sol de Fátima The Cloud of Unknowing On the Consolation of Philosophy The Mirror of Simple Souls Sister Catherine Treatise Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii The Vision of Adamnán Divine Comedy Inferno Purgatorio Paradiso Fatima
v t e

Guigo II, sometimes referred to as Guy, or by the moniker "the Angelic", was a Carthusian monk and the 9th prior of Grande Chartreuse monastery, from 1174 to 1180.

He died most likely in 1188^[1] and is distinct from both Guigo I, the 5th prior of the same monastery, and the late thirteenth-century Carthusian Guigo de Ponte.^[2]

Life

Not much is known about Guigo's life. In 1173, he is called a "monk and procurator" in an agreement between the Grande Chartreuse and the nearby abbey of Chalais. In the following year, he was made prior and is called as such in two papal bulls in 1176 and 1177. Around 1180, he opposed unsuccessfully the petition of king Henry II of England to have Guigo's successor as procurator, Hugh, to be sent to the newly founded Witham Charterhouse as prior. That same year, Guigo II was replaced as prior and his death is assumed to have been in 1188.^[3] Though not much else is known, Guigo enjoyed after his death among his community a singular reputation for sanctity.^[4]

Works

Three works have been attributed to Guigo: the Scala Clastralium, twelve Mediations and the separate Mediation on the Magnificat. Similar with a lot of other medieval works, most manuscripts that contain copies of these works attribute them to other authors or remain silent on who wrote them.^[4] The works cannot be dated more precisely apart from that they were written in the third quarter of the twelfth century and stylistic considerations make it seem that the Mediations were written before the Scala Claustralium. Both works indicate that Guigo was familiar with writings of Hugh of Saint Victor, with the Sermon on the Songs of Songs by Bernard of Clairvaux and also possibly with works by William of St-Thierry and Aelred of Rievaulx.^[5] Whereas more than 70 manuscripts of the Scala Claustralium survive, there are only seven complete manuscripts of the twelve Meditations, indicating that it was clearly less widely known.^[6][7]

Scala Claustralium

His most famous book is most commonly known today as Scala Claustralium (The Ladder of Monks), though it has also been known as the Scala paradisi (The Ladder of Paradise) and the Epistola de vita contemplativa (Letter on the Contemplative Life, which is its subtitle). Drawing from Jacob's vision in Genesis 28.12 of angels ascending and descending a ladder to God, bringing human prayers to heaven and God's answers to earth, Guigo wrote an account to explain how the ladder was meant for those in the cloister, seeking the contemplative life.

Guigo named the four steps of this "ladder" of Lectio Divina prayer, a practice which continues daily in contemporary Benedictine ritual meditation,^[8] with the Latin terms lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio. In Guigo's four stages one first reads, which leads to think about (i.e. meditate on) the significance of the text; that process in turn leads the person to respond in prayer as the third stage. The fourth stage is when the prayer, in turn, points to the gift of quiet stillness in the presence of God, called contemplation.^[9][10]

Scala Claustralium is considered the first description of methodical prayer in the western mystical tradition,^[11] and Guigo II is considered the first writer in the western tradition to consider stages of prayer as a ladder which leads to a closer mystic communion with God. The work was among the most popular of medieval spiritual works (in part because it commonly circulated under the name of the renowned Bernard of Clairvaux or even Augustine), with over one hundred manuscripts surviving. It was also translated into some vernacular languages, including into Middle English.^[7] It is still a basic guide for those who wish to practice lectio divina.

See also

• Christian meditation

References

Sources

• Colledge, O.S.A., Edmund; Walsh, S.J., James (1981). The ladder of monks: A letter on the contemplative life and Twelve Meditations. Kalamazoo, Mich. : Cistercian Publications. ISBN 978-0-87907-848-5. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
• Robertson, Duncan (2011). Lectio Divina: The Medieval Experience of Reading. Liturgical Press. ISBN 978-0-87907-238-4. Retrieved 9 March 2024.

Further reading

Wikiquote has quotations related to Guigo II.

• Guigo the Carthusian, The Ladder of Monks and Twelve Meditations: A Letter on the Contemplative Life, trans Edmund Colledge and James Walsh, (London: Mowbray, 1978; reprinted Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1981) [This was originally printed in the Sources Chretiennes series as Lettre sur la vie contemplative. Douze meditations, ed Edmund Colledge and James Walsh, SC 163]
• The Ladder of Monks: A Letter on the Contemplative Life and Twelve Meditations. Image Books. 1978. ISBN 0-385-13596-3; ISBN 978-0-385-13596-2.