Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/586

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HUGO


526


HUGO


happy repose of her husband's soul and for the pros- perous reign of her son. Reference has been aheady made to the letters sent to Hugh by Henry IV, who, notwithstanding his prolonged struggle to make the Church subservient to the imperial power, seems never to have lost his affection and profound respect for his saintly godfather. In recognition of the benefits de- rived from the Cluniac foundations, Ferdinand the Great of Castille and Leon (d. 1065) made his kingdom tributary to Cluny; his sons Sancho and Alfonso VI doubled the tribute, and the latter, in addition to introducing the Roman Ritual at Hugh's request, car- ried on a most affectionate correspondence with the abbot. In 1084 Hugh was chosen by the kings and princes of the various Christian kingdoms of Spain as arbiter to decide the question of succession. When Robert II of Burgundy refused to attend the Council of Autun (1065), at which his presence was necessary, Hugo was sent to summon the duke, and remonstrated with him so eloquently in the interests of peace that Robert accompanied the abbot unresistingly to the council, became reconciled with those who had put his son to death, and promised to respect thenceforth the property of the Church.

William the Conqueror of England, shortly after the Battle of Hastings (1066), made rich presents to Cluny and begged to be admitted a conjrater of the abbey hke the Spanish kings. He subsequently begged Hugh to send six monks to England to minister to the spiritual needs of the Court, and renewed his request in 1078, promising to appoint twelve of the Cluniac Congregation to bishoprics and abbacies within the kingdom. Hugh disal)used his mind on the sub- ject of ecclesiastical appointments, and, when found- ing a little later the Priorate of St. Pancras at Lewes, took every precaution to secure in the case of it and its dependent cloisters freedom of election and respect for canon law. How necessary this precaution was, the Investiture war, which broke out under William's sons, clearly indicated. The champion of the Church in this struggle, St. Ansclm of Canterbury, was one of the many bishops who consulted Hugh in their difficulties and trials, and on three occasions — once during his exile from England — visited the abbot at Cluny.

For the monks under his care Hugh was a model of fatherly forethought, of devotion to discipline and prayer, and unhesitating obedience to the Holy See. In furtherance of the great objects of his order, the service of God and personal sanctification, he strove to impart the utmost possible splendour and solemnity to the liturgical services at Cluny. Some of his liturgical ordinances, such as the singing of the Veni Creator at Tierce on Pentecost Sunday (subsequently also within the octave), have since been extended to the entire Roman Church. He began the magnificent church at Cluny — now unfortimately entirely disappeared — which was, until the erection of St. Peter's at Rome, the largest church in ("hristendom, and was esteemed the finest example of the Romanesque style in France. For the part played by Chmy in the evolution of this style and for its special school of sculpture, the reader must be referred to treatises on the history of archi- tecture. Hugh gave the first impulse to the introduc- tion of the strict cloister into the convents of nuns, prescribing it first for that of Marcigny, of which his sister became first prioress in 1061 (Cucherat, op. cit. infra), and where his mother also took the veil. Re- nowned for his charity towards the suffering poor, he built a hospital for lepers, where he himself performed the most menial duties. It is impossible to trace here the effect which his granting of personal and civic freedom to the bondsmen and colonists feudatory to Cluny, and the fostering of tradesmen's guilds — the nuclei from which most of the modern cities of Europe sprang — have had on civilization.

Although his favourite study was the Scriptures, St. Hugh encouraged science in every possible way, and


showed his deep interest in education by teaching in person in the school attached to the monastery. Not- withstanding the exceeding activity of his life he found time to carry on an extensive correspondence. Almost all his letters and his " Life of the Blessed Virgin ", for whom as well as for the souls in purgatory he had a great devotion, have been lost. However, his extant letters and his "Sermo" in honour of the martyred Saint Marcellus are sufficient to show " how well he could write and with what skill he could speak to the heart" (Hist. Lit. de la France, IX 479).

The sources for Hugh's biography are the Vitw of Rainald, HiLDEBERT, the monk HuGf), Gilo, and Anonymus Phimi-.s :infe Orden u. Kongreg. der kath. Kirche, I (Paderbom, 1896). 116 sqo.; Baumer in iCfrr/ieniej'., s. v.; Bourgain, OA/iire/Vt/ncaise, XII' s. (1879), 72; Brial, Rec hist. France. XI\' (18(16), cxi, 71-3; PiGNOT. Hist.de Cluny, II (Paris, 1S6S), 1-372; W atten- BACH, Deutsch. (leschichtsquell., II (1874), 150; CticiTERAT, Cluny au onzihne Steele (Autun, 1886); Bernard and Bruel, Recueil des chartes de VAbbaye de Cluny (Paris, 1.S76 — ); Greeven, /)ic Wirksamkeit der Cluniacenstr auf kirchl.u. polit. G^iete im 11. J ahrhunderte (Wesel, 1870).

Thomas Kennedy.

Hugo, Oharles-Hyacinthe, b. 20 Sept., 1667, at St. Mihiel (Department of Meuse, France) ; d. 2 August, 1739. He entered the Norbertine novitiate at Pont- a-Mousson, where he pronounced his vows on 28 Aug., 1685, receiving the name of Louis in religion. He went through his course of philosophy and theology at the Abbey of Jovillier, near Bar-le-Duc, and after- wards at the University of Bourges, where he gradu- ated as Doctor of Theology in 1690 or 1691. Having taught theology in the Abbey of Jandeures, and later in that of Etival in Lorraine, he was named prior of St. Joseph's at Nancy in 1700, where he remained until 1713, although in 1708 he had been elected coad- jutor of the Abbey of Flab(mont, then held in com- mendam by Nicholas Brisacier, doctor of theSorbonne, a secular priest. On 12 August, 1710, Hugo was chosen coadjutor to Simeon Ciodin, Abbot of Etival (Stivagium), and the choice having been ratified by (i'lement XI, he was installed with the title of Abbot of Fontaine-Andr<?, a suppressed Norbertine abbey in Switzerland, by the Prince-Bishop of liasle, on 23 July, 1712. Ten years later Abbot Simeon resigned the direction of the abbey, and Hugo was unanimously elected in his place, 22 October, 1722. Though now at the head of one of the largest abbeys in Lorraine, Hugo found time to co-ordinate the numerous docu- ments he had collected and the notes he had made with a view to the publication of three of his most im- portant works, the "Sacr.-e antiquitatis monumenta", the " Annales Onlinis Pra'mon.stratensis", and the " History of Lorraine". In order to give his personal attention to their publication, he even favoured the erection of printing presses at Etival itself.

A regrettable conflict respecting the right of ex- emption which the .Vbbot of Etival claimed for his abbey arose at that time lietween the abbot and the Bishop of Toul. The cause was brought to Rome, where f^ardinal Lercari, secretary of state, warmly upheld the contention of Hugo. In order to put an end to this lamentable incident Benedict XIII named