Isaac of Stella

Isaac von Stella or de l'Étoile (* around 1100 [exact date unknown] in England, † 1178 on the Île de Ré , France) was a Cistercian abbot and writer .

He entered the order at the Pontigny monastery, became abbot of the Stella monastery in 1147 and founded the Les Chateliers monastery around 1168 on the then lonely Île de Ré, which corresponded to the order's ideal of retreat into the wilderness. The reason for the departure from Stella could have been the controversy surrounding Thomas Becket , with whom Isaac was friends.

He authored several scriptures, including a collection of 55 sermons that he wrote for his confreres. In contrast to most other theologians of the Cistercian order, Isaac is in his thinking a. a. based on the mysticism of Dionysius Areopagita ; that is, he emphasizes the incomprehensibility of God, who is above all human understanding - also above all philosophical and theological concepts.

Works

• Patrologia Latina Vol. 194, Sp. 1689-1896 online edition
• Sermones / sermons. In the appendix: De anima / About the soul. De officio missae / About the mass . Latin and German. Translated by Wolfgang Gottfried Buchmüller and Bernhard Kohout-Berghammer. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2012 ( Fontes Christiani vol. 52), ISBN 978-3-451-30961-8 , ISBN 978-3-451-30962-5

literature

• Wolfgang Buchmüller : Isaak von Stella in the Biographia Cisterciensis , 2013
• Michaela Pfeiffer: Isaak von Stella. In: Religion in Past and Present , Vol. 4, Col. 244.
• Ludwig Hödl : Isaak de Stella . In: Lexikon des Mittelalters , Vol. 5, Col. 665.
• Kurt Ruh : History of occidental mysticism 1. The foundation by the church fathers and the monastic theology of the 12th century. Munich 1990, pp. 343-357.
• Travis D. Stolz, Isaac of Stella, the Cistercians and the Thomas Becket controversy. A Bibliographical and Contextual Study (Milwaukee, Wisconsin: e-Publications @ Marquette 2010).