Cardinal Hugh of St. Cher's Commentary on Jesus' Parable of Dives and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31)

Robert J. Karris

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781666714777
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Cardinal Hugh of St. Cher was a water walker. He was learned in both law and theology. His leadership skills were so outstanding that he quickly became a major superior in his Dominican Order. Having gotten word of Hugh's talents, the pope made him a cardinal. The famed artist Fra Angelico placed Hugh in a crucifixion scene with the words "biblical interpreter" above his head. These words beautifully sum up what he was to generation after generation of biblical scholars and preachers till the sixteenth century. The Franciscan Cardinal St. Bonaventure (d. 1274) generously copied from Hugh's Commentary on Luke without attribution. So did the Dominican Bishop St. Albert the Great (d. 1280). Producers of homily aids in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries filled their pages with nuggets from Hugh. What will you like about Hugh? First, he's not in an ivory tower. He calls out his fellow prelates for being more interested in gold than in sharing God's mercy with sinners and the poor. Second, he knows how to preach the text, breaking it down into memorable soundbites. Third, he knows and creatively adapts the Scriptures and tradition. Reading his commentary on Dives and Lazarus will not only activate your mind and warm your heart. Would you be surprised if it also were to trouble your conscience?

Cardinal Hugh of St. Cher on Jesus’ Parable of Dives and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31)

Advisory to the Reader

We’re about to embark on an adventure of discovery. We’ll learn brand new things. But this learning will not be on the cheap. We’ll have to leave the comforts of having a neatly arranged text printed in the twentieth or twenty-first century. The Latin text I am translating was printed and published in 1732.1 It is 15" x 8½" and arranged in two columns. Paragraphs are separated not by numbers, but by letters. Pages are either recto or verso. So p. 230 means p. 230 recto whereas p. 231v means p. 231 verso. For whatever reason,2 the text generally does not cite a reference to Sacred Scripture in full. Instead the citation of the biblical text will conclude with “etc.” As a mercy to my readers and myself, in footnotes I have continued the biblical quotation to its conclusion.

Perhaps the greatest challenge that Hugh’s text presents to our enjoyment of Hugh’s many interpretive gems is its somewhat messy nature. There will be occasional disorder, e.g., d follows directly upon a. There may be duplications as one interpretation of “there was a rich man,” for example, is followed by yet another exposition of this same clause. Perhaps Robert E. Lerner is right on the money: “Hugh of St. Cher’s liber is a great bulging duffel bag.”3

But dear reader, please do not be put off by these small hindrances to your gaining of wisdom and knowledge from Hugh’s exposition. The rewards will be great. Besides I have taken it upon myself to act as your guide. The 200+ footnotes I have created will guide you on your journey of discovery. Most of them will complete Hugh’s biblical citations. Some will advise you that St. Bonaventure (d. 1274) and/or St. Albert the Great (d. 1280) thought so highly of Hugh’s interpretations that they generously copied them, without attribution. Other notes will advise you how I solved dislocations in Hugh’s text. A few times you will find a footnote referring to p. X Moraliter. That is, the reference is to p. X where “the moral meaning” of the text is flagged by the marginal note Moraliter. Some dozen times I use the note to confess “non inveni,” that is, despite my best efforts “I have not found” the source of Hugh’s quotation.

So with me as your competent guide, let’s begin our adventure through a 1732 text to Wunderkind Hugh’s many and nourishing insights into Jesus’ Parable of Dives and Lazarus.

Hugh of St. Cher’s Commentary on Luke 16:19–31

Luke 16:19: (a) There was a certain rich man who (b) used to clothe himself (c) in purple and fine linen, and who (a) feasted every day in splendid fashion. 20. And (b) there was a certain beggar, (d) named Lazarus, (e) who lay at his gate, (f) covered with sores. 21. And (a) he longed to be filled (b) with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. (c) And no one gave him any. (e) Even the dogs used to come and lick his sores.4

P. 230 g) There was a certain rich man, etc.). The third part5 commences here and demonstrates, by means of the example story or parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the virtue of almsgiving and the damage of avarice. Furthermore, the perfection of the Gospel over against the Law is shown. For the Law condemns plunder, but not miserliness. Every illicit taking of someone else’s goods is not expressly forbidden in the Law under the category of plunder, but under the category of stealing. For the person who prohibits stealing does not grant a person permission to plunder. But in the Gospel the person who does not share his goods is condemned. Thus the Lord supplies in the Gospel what was not expressly said in the Law. So Matt 5:17 says: “I have not come to destroy the Law . . . but to fulfill.”6 This parable can be both the continuation of what has gone before and the conclusion of the para...