Hugo of Sancto Caro

(Hugh of St. Cher), sometimes also called HUGO DE S.THEODORICO, an eminent French theologian, was born at St. Cher (whence his surname), a suburb of Vienne, France, about 1200. He studied theology and canon law at Paris, and in 1224 joined the Dominicans in the convent of St. Jacques (whence he is also called HUGO DE ST. JACABO), and in 1227 was made "provincial" of this order in France. He also taught theology in Paris, and was connected with several scientific undertakings. He was one of the commissioners who examined and condemned the Introdoctorius in Evang. aetern. of the Franciscan Gerhard, which developed the fanatical doctrines of Alb. Joachim of Flore (q.v.), and was active in the controversy of William de St. Amour with the mendicant orders. In 1245 he was made cardinal by Innocent IV, and died at Orvieto in 1263. The reputation of Hugo, however, rests chiefly upon his Biblical studies and writings. In 1236 he executed a revision of the text of the Latin Vulgate, an immense labor for that age. A copy of this work preserved in the Nuremberg Library has this title: "Liber de correctionibus novis super Biblia, ad sciendum quae sit verior et communior litera, Reverendisimi patris et domini D. Hugonis, sacrae Rom. eccl. presbyteri cardinalis, sacrae theologiae professoris et de ordine praedicatorum." His principal published works are Postillae in universa Biblia, a sort of brief commentary, prepared, however, without sufficient acquaintance with the original languages of the Bible (Basil. 1487, etc.) Speculum ecclesiae (Lyons, 1554). But his most important service to Biblical literature was his conception of the plan of a Concordance, which he executed, with the aid of many monks of his order, in his Sacroruma Bibl. Concordantiae (latest ed. Avignon, 1786, 2 vols. 4to). It is an alphabetical index of all the words in the Vulgate, and has formed the model of all Concordances to the Bible. It had the effect also of bringing the division into chapters and verses into general use. See Quétif et Echard, Scriptores ordinis praedicatorum, 1, 194 sq.; Hist. Litter. de la France, 19:38 sq.; Richard Simon, Nouvelles observations sur le texte et les versions du N. Test. 2, 128; Herzog, Real-Encyklop. vol. 6; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, 25, 450; Kitto, Bibl. Cyclop. 2, 340.