Hugh of Fosse, Bl.
HUGH OF FOSSE, BL.
First abbot general of the premonstratensians; b. Fosses, near Namur, Belgium, probably 1093; d. Prémontré, Feb. 10, 1164. Chaplain of Bp. Burchard of Cambrai, he became the leading disciple of norbert of xanten in 1119. Having been appointed Norbert's representative at prÉmontrÉ in 1126, he succeeded him as abbot in 1128. Hugh guided the rapid development of the order and formulated its first constitutions, which were in many ways similar to those of the cistercians. He drafted the first Vita Norberti and promulgated the ceremonial books of the order. It is not certain that he was the "Hugo Farsitus" who wrote De miraculis b. Mariae Suessionensis (c. 1135; Patrologia Latina, ed. J. P. Migne, 79: 1777–1800). His cult was approved in 1927; it is doubtful that the relics in the priory of Bois-Seigneur-Isaac are his.
Feast: Feb. 10.
Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum Feb. 2:378. h. lamy, Vie du B. Hugues … (Charleroi 1925). f. petit, La spiritualité des Prémontrés (Paris 1947). p. f. lefÈvre, L'Ordinaire de Prémontré (Louvain 1941). j. dubois, Catholicisme 5:1025–26.
[n. backmund]