2010 marks the ninth centenary of the birth of Saint
Aelred of Rievaulx, an extraordinary English monk of the twelfth-century. At Ampleforth Abbey, a noted English Benedictine abbey, today marks the saint's birthday; and since I like Aelred and have a friend at Ampleforth, I am mentioning the saint again this year to mark his anniversary. (As an aside, his year of birth is variously noted as 1109 or 1110.) In Saint Aelred's time and location priestly was not universal, even if some scholars try to
posit such a thought. Aelred's father and grandfather were both proprietary
priests of Hexham in Northumberland. Aelred joined the newly founded abbey of
Rievaulx, and because of his many gifts and influential friends (St Bernard of
Clairvaulx and King David of Scotland and England whose mother was St Margaret, starters), he became the
abbey's third abbot in 1147 after serving as abbot of Revesby Abbey. He was abbot for twenty years. Rievaulx became the mother
house of other Cistercian monastic houses which fostered the Benedictine reform
in England and Scotland. As abbot, Aelred was responsible for vast holdings of
property and an abbey with 600 lay brothers and choir monks. In the Cistercian system
of governance, abbots are required to be the Father-Immediate (an official
visitor) to other communities in order to maintain the monastic way of life as established in the Charter of Charity (their constitution). The amazing
part of Aelred's life became even more amazing when you consider that he was an
author many works, most notably Christian Friendship (also called On Spiritual Friendship, which some say is a Christianized version of Cicero's De Amicita) and The Mirror of Charity
written at the command of St Bernard and in-print today. Father David Knowles, OSB, called Aelred the "St Bernard of the North." Rievaulx Abbey no
longer exists except in magnificent ruins located not far from Ampleforth
Abbey.
Saint Aelred died on January 12, 1167. His feast day is January 12.
Hi, Sorry to coorect you on a little bit of geography: Hexham is in Northumberland and has never been part of Yorkshire - more that Northumbria encompassed Yorkshire... M
Dear Martin, Thanks for the note correcting my geography problem. I made the change. PAX!