Richard of Saint Victor and His Idea of Wisdom and Love

This study examines Richard of Saint Victor’s conception of wisdom and love, understood as the ultimate ends of human life and deeply connected with the notion of care. For Richard, authentic care requires discerning the true object of concern: the human being as a rational creature created for happiness through knowledge and love of God. His anthropology highlights the dignity of man, composed of body, reason, and affection, and called to participate in divine happiness. Richard develops a spiritual pedagogy in which the ordering and moderation of affections—fear, sorrow, hope, love, joy, hatred, and modesty—are indispensable for the path toward contemplation. Through an allegorical reading of Jacob, his wives, and their children, Richard presents a symbolic itinerary where the progression of affectivity and reason leads ultimately to contemplation, embodied in Benjamin. This contemplative fulfillment transcends both fear and greed, liberating the human being from self-centeredness and opening him to love and divine wisdom. The work demonstrates Richard’s synthesis of Platonic, Augustinian, and Victorine traditions, proposing a transformative vision of the human person: happiness is inseparable from love, and wisdom is achieved not through rational argument but through the lived experience of love that surpasses reason.