Guigo I also known asGuigues du Chastel,Guigo de Castro andGuigo of Saint-Romain, was aCarthusian monk and the 5thprior ofGrande Chartreuse monastery in the 12th century.[3] He was born in 1083 near the Chateau of Saint-Romain, and entered the Grande Chartreuse in 1106.
Still a young man, his abilities led him to be elected prior in 1109 (aged 26). It was during his priorate that the original community slowly began to expand.[4] Guigo was called on to compose the firstCustoms (Consuetudines) of the new hermits sometime between 1121 and 1128.[5][6] Between 1109 and 1120 he also wrote theMeditations, 476 proverb-like sayings that characterized the wisdom of solitary, monastic life.[7][8] In addition, some letters[9] and ahagiographical piece survive. He was also a spiritual leader;Bernard of Clairvaux visited the Grande Chartreuse, probably in the 1120s, and wrote several letters to Guigo.[10]
He ruled the community until his death in 1136.
He was a man of considerable learning, was known for his eloquence and great memory. He was a close friend of St.Bernard of Clairvaux and ofPeter the Venerable, both of whom wrote of Guigo's sanctity.[11]
The treatiseDe vita contemplativa, also known asDe Contemplatione has sometimes been attributed to Guigo I. However, it cannot have been written by Guigo I, because it refers to several writings of thirteenth-century scholastic theology, includingHugh of Balma'sViae Syon Lugent. It is acknowledged to be a late thirteenth-century text, with its author generally known asGuigo de Ponte.[12]
^That is, Guigo I was the 5th successor ofSaint Bruno. The Carthusians did not employ the office of abbot, and so the leader of the community was termed 'prior'. Guigo I is distinct fromGuigo II, the 9th prior of the same monastery. (SeeCarthusian spirituality pages xvi-xvii.)
^An older version of the Latin text is inPL 153:755-758. The Latin text is printed, with a French translation, in Un Chartreux (Maurice Laporte),Coutumes de Chartreuse,Sources Chretiennes 313. An English translation of chapter 80, the final chapter, which presents the role of solitude in attaining God through mental ecstasy, is available in McGinn (2006) pp131-4.
^Carthusian spirituality: the writings of Hugh of Balma and Guigo de Ponte by Hugh of Balma and Guigo de Ponte, translated by Dennis D. Martin, (New York: Paulist Press, 1996)
Carthusian spirituality: the writings of Hugh of Balma and Guigo de Ponte, by Hugh of Balma, Guigo de Ponte and Dennis D. Martin (Translator), 1996,ISBN978-0-8091-3664-3.
The Meditations of Guigo I, Prior of the Charterhouse (Cistercian Studies Series ; No. 155) 1994ISBN978-0-87907-655-9
Bernard McGinn,The Growth of Mysticism, (1994).
Bernard McGinn,The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism, (2006).
Bernard of Clairvaux (1957–1977). Leclerq, Jean; Talbot, Charles H.; Rochais, Henri Marie (eds.).Sancti Bernardi Opera (in Latin). Vol. 8 volumes in 9. Rome: Éditions cisterciennes.OCLC654190630.
