Biography
Hugo entered the Norbertine novitiate at Pont-à-Mousson, where he pronounced his vows on 28 August 1685, receiving the name in religion of Louis. He went through his course of philosophy and theology at the Abbey of Jovillier, near Bar-le-Duc in Lorraine, and afterwards at the University of Bourges, where he graduated as Doctor of Theology in 1690 or 1691. Having taught theology in the Abbey of Jandeures, and later in that of Étival 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 coadjutor of the Abbey of Flabémont, then held in commendam by Nicholas Brisacier, doctor of the Sorbonne, a secular priest.
On 12 August 1710, Hugo was chosen coadjutor to Siméon Godin, Abbot of Étival (Stivagium), and the choice having been ratified by pope Clement XI, he was installed with the title of Abbot of Fontaine-André, a suppressed Norbertine abbey in Switzerland, by the Prince-Bishop of Basle on 23 July 1712. Ten years later Abbot Simeon resigned the direction of the abbey, and Hugo was unanimously elected in his place on 22 October 1722. Though now at the head of one of the largest abbeys in Lorraine, Hugo found time to co-ordinate the numerous documents he had collected and the notes he had made with a view to the publication of three of his most important works, the Sacræ antiquitatis monumenta, the Annales Ordinis Præmonstratensis and the History of Lorraine. To give his personal attention to their publication, he even favoured the erection of printing presses at Étival itself.
A regrettable conflict respecting the right of exemption which the Abbot of Étival claimed for his abbey arose at that time between the abbot and the Bishop of Toul. The cause was brought to Rome, where Cardinal Niccolò Maria Lercari, Cardinal Secretary of State, warmly upheld the contention of Hugo. To put an end to this incident, Benedict XIII named Hugo Bishop of Ptolemais in partibus in the consistory of 15 Dec., 1728.
Hugo had long planned to write a full and detailed history of the Norbertine Order, and in 1717 the general chapter of the order had encouraged him to carry out his plan by naming him historiographer of the order and by requesting all the abbots to give him all the information they possessed concerning their abbeys. The first two volumes of the "Annales" had already been published and the third was in the hands of the royal censor when Hugo died.
Read more about this topic: Charles-Hyacinthe Hugo
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