John Halgren of Abbeville

John Halgren of Abbeville ( – 28 September 1237) was a French scholastic theologian and cleric. He served successively as a university professor, priest, prior, archbishop, cardinal, apostolic legate and diplomat.

John was born around 1180 in Abbeville, the son of Gui d'Abbeville and Ide de Boubers. His father's name is sometimes given as Girard or Guillaume. He may have entered the Abbey of Cluny. He studied at the University of Paris alongside the future Pope Gregory IX. He earned a master of theology degree. He taught theology there in 1217. He was a follower of Peter the Chanter and Stephen Langton. He was a canon and dean of the chapter of Amiens Cathedral from 27 October 1218 until April 1225. Continuing his engagement with the cathedral beyond 1225, he founded the cathedral's first chapel in 1233 and dedicated to the Conversion of Saint Paul. He had also served as the prior of and the cantor of Saint-Vulfran d'Abbeville before 1217. There he preached the crusades, held a synod in Lleida in 1229 and determined the boundary between the dioceses of Sigüenza and Osma. In Iberia, he met Raymond of Penyafort. Between 1230 and 1233, John was with the Roman Curia. In 1234, he and Cardinal Peter of Capua were sent on a diplomatic mission to Frederick II. He left behind four books containing 196 expository sermons on the Gospels and Epistles and the Expositio in Cantica canticorum, a commentary on the Song of Songs written during his time in Paris.