Ailred of Rievaulx
| Saint Ailred of Rievaulx | |
|---|---|
| Abbot | |
| Born | 1110 in Hexham, Northumberland |
| Died | 12 January 1167 in Rievaulx, North Riding of Yorkshire |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church; Anglican Communion |
| Canonized | 1476
by the Cistercians (promulgated) |
| Major shrine | Rievaulx Abbey, North Riding of Yorkshire (destroyed) |
| Feast | 12 January |
| Attributes | Abbot holding a book |
| Patronage | bladder stone sufferers |
Ailred or Ælred or Ailred of Rievaulx, Abbot of Rievaulx (b. Hexham 1110; d. Rievaulx 12 January 1167), is a Christian saint and historian best know for his exhortations toward chastity and purity.
Early Life
Ailred was an Anglo-Saxon, born in Hexham, Northumbria, in 1110. His father, a married priest, sent him to spend several years at the court of King David I of Scotland. Ailred rose to be Master of the Household before leaving the court to enter a Cistercian monastery at Rievaulx Abbey, in Yorkshire, around the year 1134.
Cistercians
The Order of Cistercians is sometimes called the White Monks (from the colour of the habit, over which a black scapular or apron is sometimes worn) is a Roman Catholic religious order of enclosed monks. The first Cistercian abbey was founded by Robert of Molesme in 1098, at Cîteaux Abbey. Two others, Saint Alberic of Citeaux and Saint Stephen Harding, are considered co-founders of the order, and Bernard of Clairvaux is associated with the fast spread of the order during the 12th century.
The keynote of Cistercian life was a return to a literal observance of the Rule of St Benedict, rejecting the developments the Benedictines had undergone, and tried to reproduce the life exactly as it had been in Saint Benedict's time. however on various points the Cistercians went beyond it in austerity. The most striking feature in the reform was the return to manual labor, and especially to field-work, which became a special characteristic of Cistercian life. The Cistercians became the main force of technological diffusion in medieval Europe.
Religious life
Ailred became the abbot of a new house of his order at Revesby in Lincolnshire, and later, abbot of Rievaulx itself in 1147. He would spend the remainder of his life in the monastery. Under his administration the size of the abbey grew to some six hundred monks. He also made annual visits to several other Cistercian houses in England and Scotland, with other visits to places as far as Citeaux and Clairvaux. These frequent travels and visits may have compromised his health, for he is recorded as suffering from a very painful, unspecified disease in his later years.
Ailred died on January 12, 1167, at Rievaulx. He is listed for January 12 in the Roman Martyrology and the calendars of various other churches.
Writings
He wrote several influential books on spirituality, among them The Mirror of Charity perhaps at the request of Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux and Spiritual Friendship. He also wrote seven works of history, addressing two of them to Henry II of England, advising him how to be a good king and declaring him to be the true descendant of Anglo-Saxon kings. Until the twentieth century Ailred was generally known as a historian rather than a spiritual writer; for many centuries his most famous work was his Life of Saint Edward, King and Confessor.
His public works encouraged virginity among the unmarried and chastity (not abstinence) in marriage and widowhood, and warn against any sexual activity outside of marriage; in all his works he treats same-sex and opposite-sex attraction as equally possible and equally dangerous to one's oath to celibacy. At the same time, he was compassionate about human failings, criticized the absence of pastoral care for the Nun of Watton and her case of pregnancy while within a Gilbertine convent and permitted monks to hold hands in the monastery.
Most of Ailred's works have appeared in translation from Cistercian Publications, including Mirror of Charity, Spiritual Friendship, Rule of Life for a Recluse, Jesus as a Boy of Twelve, Pastoral Prayer, On the Soul, Genealogy of the Kings of the English, Battle of the Standard, Lament for the Death of King David of Scotland, The Life of Saint Edward, King and Confessor, and twenty sermons. The other historical works (Life of Saint Ninian, On the Saints of Hexham, and A Certain Wonderful Miracle) will appear in mid-2006.
Legacy
For his efforts in writing and administration he has been called the "St. Bernard of the north." He has also been described by David Knowles, a historian of monasticism in England, as "a singularly attractive figure... No other English monk of the twelfth century so lingers in the memory.[1]
Ailred has been adopted as the patron saint of Integrity, an organization in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America composed of gays and lesbians and their friends; and of the Order of St. Ailred, in the Philippines. He is also patron saint of The National Anglican Catholic Church, a gay-friendly church serving New England and the northeast United States.
There is a high school named after St. Ailred in Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire in the United Kingdom.
Notes
- ↑ Attwater, Donald, and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin dictionary of saints. Penguin reference books. Harmondsworth: Penguin 1983. ISBN 9780140511239
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Dutton, Marsha, et al. Truth As Gift Studies in Medieval Cistercian History in Honor of John R. Sommerfeldt. Cistercian studies series, 204. Kalamazoo, Mich: Cistercian Publications, 2004. ISBN 9780879073046
- Sommerfeldt, John R. Aelred of Rievaulx on Love and Order in the World and the Church. The Newman Press significant scholarly studies. New York: Newman Press, 2006. ISBN 9780809143238
- Squire, Aelred. Historical Factors in the Formation of Aelred of Rievaulx. Collectanea Ord. Cist. Ref. [Offprint]. Westmalle: Collectanea Ord. Cist. Ref, 1960. OCLC 56196014
- Squire, Aelred. Aelred of Rievaulx A Study. Cistercian studies series, no. 50. Kalamazoo, Mich: Cistercian Publications, 1981. ISBN 9780281038510
- ibid. "Historical Factors in the Formation of Aelred of Rievaulx." Collectanea Cisterciensia 22 (1960): 262–82.
- Yohe, Katherine. "Aelred’s Recrafting of the Life of Edward the Confessor." CSQ 38 (2003): 177–89
External Links
- Ailred of Rievaulx Retrieved October 20, 2007.
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