Abbot and writer. St Ailred was the son of a priest, born in Hexham in 1110. After being educated at Durham he joined the household of David I, king of Scotland as a steward. In 1134 he joined the newly-founded abbey at Rievaulx. In spite of delicate health, he followed the austere Cistercian regime and became so respected in the community that he was sent to Rome as an envoy in 1142, over the disputed election of William of York. Later he became master of novices and in 1143 he became abbot of Revesby in Lincolnshire. Four years later he was recalled to be abbot of Rievaulx.
He was much loved as an abbot and under his rule the community thrived, with 500 lay brothers and 150 choir monks, making it the largest in England.
Ailred was known for his sensitivity and gentle holiness, with a strong emphasis on charity. It was said that he humanised the strict Cistercian monasticism. He had many friends and became a figure of national importance through his writing and preaching. Among his work is a treatise on friendship, lives of the saints of Hexham and sermons on Isaiah.
He died at Rievaulx in 1067 and, though never formally canonised, has been revered ever since. The Cistercians approved of his cult in 1476.
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Saturday, 12 January 2008
SAINT AELRED Nunraw Patron
SAINT AELRED January 12th. Patronal Feast
of Nunraw Abbey
SAINT AELRED (The more familiar form
of the name Aelred is Alfred. We are in changed days from the time St. Aelred
had 500 monks at HIS MONASTERY OF Rievaulx - DAYS FOR PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS TO
THIS SMALL COMMUNITY OF NUNRAW UNDER AELRED'S PATRONAGE).
This painting of St. Aelred reminds
me of the former late Abbot of Pluscarden, Dom Alfred Spencer OSB(Subiaco).
He had this picture in the windowsill
of his room when I was visiting him during his last illness. He recalled that
as a Novice in Prinknash Abbey he wished to take the name of Aelred. Another
monk already had that name so his Abbot suggested he take the name of Alfred as
a substitute. Before parting Dom Alfred kindly gave me this picture which
is now with Fr. Aelred at Nunraw.
Saint Aelred was born at Hexham in
1110. After studies at Hexham, Durham and perhaps Roxburgh, and further sound
education at the Scottish Court where he was the steward and the confidant of
King David, he entered the newly founded abbey of Rievaulx in Yorkshire. Aelred
became novicemaster and afterwards abbot of Revesby, a daughter house of
Rievaulx. He was then thirty-three years old, a normal age at which to become
abbot in this fresh and flourishing period of a new order.
About 1147 Aelred
was chosen abbot of Rievaulx. He died there on the twelfth of January 1167.
Walter Daniel, Aelred's enthusiastic biographer, various friends together with
Aelred's own writings bear witness that he was a good father, always setting a
good example and a source of peace. He could see beneath men's foolish or
thoughtless actions, he never seemed to have a grievance against anyone. Aelred
used to say: 'It is the singular and supreme glory of the house of Rievaulx
that above all else it teaches tolerance of the infirm and compassion with
others in their necessities. All whether weak or strong should find in Rievaulx
a haunt of peace, and there, like the fish in the broad seas, possess the
welcome, happy, spacious peace of charity.'
At first sight a strange theory for
an abbot who stood at the head of a severe Cistercian House. But it sheds light
on Aelred's character and his affection for everyone of the brothers who lived
within the cloister.
No wonder that Aelred's high
estimation of love and affection in an ideal spiritual friendship was not
always followed or rightly interpreted; by the older and infirm monks. He
himself tells of monks being zealous in their malice, whispering in corners,
murmuring against their abbot and spreading false reports about him. But the
saintly abbot was indifferent to the opinions of these murmurers and indulgent
to the feebleness of everyone. He demanded the same attitude of mind from his
monks. 'My sons, say what you will, only let no vile word, no detraction of a
brother proceed from your mouth.'
Aelred survived in the memory of
Rievaulx's monks as the fine and prudent shepherd, as the abbot who loved peace
and the salvation of the brethren and inward quiet.
The Mirror of Charity
The essence of St. Aelred's teaching
is contained in his book The Mirror of Charity. This was written at the request
or St. Bernard. Aelred was slow to comply saying that "he had not come
from the schools but from the kitchens where subsisting peasant-like and,
rustic amid cliffs and mountains you sweat with axe and maul for your daily
bread..."
The following extract from the
beginning of the Mirror of Charity illustrates the main theme of the book.
"Let your voice sound in my
ears, good Jesus, so that my heart may learn how to love you, my mind how to
know you the inmost being of my soul how to love you. Let the inmost core of my
heart embrace you, my one and only true good, my dear and delightful joy. But,
my God, what is love? Unless I am mistaken, love is a wonderful delight of the
spirit: all the more attractive because more chaste; all the more gentle,
because more guileless; and all the more enjoyable because more ample. It is
the heart's palate which tastes that you are sweet, the heart's eye which sees
that you are good. And it is the place capable of receiving you, great as you
are. Someone who loves you grasps you. The more one loves the more one grasps,
because you yourself are love, for you are charity."
"Meanwhile I shall seek you, O
Lord:, seek you by loving you. Someone who advances on this way of love surely
seeks you, and someone who loves you perfectly, O Lord, has already found you.
And what is more equitable than that your creature should love you, since it is
from you it received the ability to love? Creatures without reason or without
sensation cannot love you; that is not their nature. Of course they also have
their own nature, their beauty and their order, not that thereby they are or
can be happy by loving you, but that thereby, thanks to you, by their own
qualities they may help us to love you."
In his introduction St. Aelred gives us an interesting tip. He says
that if the length of this book puts you off, look through the chapter headings
and see which you would like to read, and which leave out. But the main thrust
is easy to spot. The art of arts is the art of love.
"Those who love you, rest in
you. There is true rest, true tranquility , true peace, true Sabbath for the
mind."
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