Guigo II
| Part of a series on |
| Christian mysticism |
|---|
 |
Guigo II was a Carthusian monk and the 9th prior of Grande Chartreuse monastery in the 12th century. He died about 1193, and is distinct from Guigo I, the 5th prior of the same monastery.[1]
Surnamed "angelic" he was the 9th prior of the monastery. He 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. His most famous book The Ladder of Monks is subtitled "a letter on the contemplative life" and is considered the first description of methodical prayer in the western mystical tradition.[2]
Guigo named the four steps of this "ladder" of Lectio Divina prayer 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.[3][4]
See also
Bibliography
- The Ladder of Monks: a letter on the contemplative life by Guigo II, Edmund Colledge, James Walsh 1978 ISBN 0-385-13596-3
References
- ^ A history of Christian spirituality: an analytical introduction by Urban Tigner Holmes 2002 ISBN 0-8192-1914-2 page 55
- ^ An Anthology of Christian mysticism by Harvey D. Egan 1991 ISBN 0-8146-6012-6 pages 207-208
- ^ Christian spirituality: themes from the tradition by Lawrence S. Cunningham, Keith J. Egan 1996 ISBN 0-8091-3660-0 page 38
- ^ The Oblate Life by Gervase Holdaway, 2008 ISBN 0-8146-3176-2 page 109
 | This article about a Catholic clergyman is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |