| Saturday 13 June 2009.   The Northern East Catholic History Society Summer Excursion The Guest House was full of weekend residents. Charles guided the History Group through to the historic Chapel. His talk of the Painted Ceiling which is full of Heraldry of the What I love the better are the Liturgical Symbols. Once, during Adoration of the Blessed   Sacrament, I looked up to the painting and for the first time I discerned the Pelican feeding its chicks in one panel, and on the next panel the figure of the Gazelle, the beautiful Scriptural expression of swift and leaping in spirit, Both symbols are replete with reflection in this little Oratory. From that signature key the panoply of Heraldry of States of Europe seems make the Communion of the Saints present.   I promised to forward photos in Attachments by email, or in a Blog. Since it was the Eve of Corpus Christi some walked, others b y the coach, through the drive. And Dom Raymond celebrated the Mass i n the more spacious From: Grace of History Group. Date: Sunday, June 14, 2009, 2:44 PM  Dear Father Donald  Many thanks for your email. The photos you have so kindly sent are great souvenirs of a fascinating building and a wonderful community. To hear Corpus Christ Vigil Mass in such a setting was a  rare privilege. I also enjoyed the Nunraw blog and will show that and the photos to Fran  k, my husband, who enjoyed Nunraw as much as I did. With a ll best wishes to you and to all at Nunraw God bless you and all your work Grace
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Monday 15 June 2009
Newcastle History Group
Sunday 14 June 2009
Balmerino Abbey
The Cistercian Abbey of
Balmerino, Fife (Scotland)
A monastery is not just the cluster of buildings enclosed within the monastic precinct. It is also the community - religious and lay - who inhabited it, the complex of lands, rights and privileges assembled to sustain that community, and the interaction with notables and neighbours whose influence helped shape its history.
The small Cistercian abbey of Balmerino, on the southern shore of the Firth of Tay in north Fife, has long languished in relative obscurity, consigned to a supporting role in Scottish monastic studies with dismissive comments based on the fragmentary nature of its physical and
documentary history. Current research is demonstrating how wrong that interpretation is. These chapters will present a diametrically opposed view of the significance of the surviving record and its value as a source of evidence for the social, economic and environmental history of Balmerino Abbey specifically and the wider region more generally.
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See also
Friday 12 June 2009
REVIEW Christian Muslim Obama
19 Martyrs pictures below.
and more detail in post TUESDAY, 19 MAY 2009
REVIEW
Christian Martyrs for a Muslim People
by Martin McGee
At the anniversary of the Seven Atlas Martyrs I was fortunate to catch up with the “forthcoming” book of Martin McGee. At weekend it was a joy to read it from cover to cover. The space for an Amazon review has the stamp of brevity but it does note the importance of the significance of Mgr. Henri Teissier. The
Archbishop’s teaching on inter-faith recently adds strength from a surprising source.
The headlines in June 2009 were, “Obama reaches out to Muslim world”, “President Obama calls for greater inter-faith harmony”. The now famous address in
Martin’s book does not carry a sub-title of “19 Martyrs of Algeria”. Its unambiguous title is, “Christian Martyrs for a Muslim People”, and has a much wider range of the Christian-Muslim relations of closer mutual respect, service, friendship, and prayer.
In April 2005 Martin first visited
"The
The key and most powerful influence is that of Mgr Henri Teissier. Much of the significance of this book is essentially the instillation of the thought, comprehension, and spirit of the Archbishop of Algiers, later retired. Between the lines, and more specifically in the Addresses of Mgr Teissier (Appendices), the reader grapples with the vision and the rare insight of this dedication of ‘Christian Martyrs for a Muslim People’. The incisive conclusion to the address, given by Mgrr. Teissier in Italian to a missionary Congress held in Brescia, Italy on May 17, 1997. (155-167), is but a window to his writing).
A hundred years ago the emigration of a European people and of a European population to the south of the Mediterranean brought about the birth of a Church in
The blood bath of Algeria1994-96 abated. The current situation of January 2007 is summed up, “The number of active Islamic guerrilla fighters is thought to be approximately eight hundred to one thousand, down from a high of 25,000 at the height of the civil war in the mid-1990s. In January 2007, the GSPC changed its name to the Al-Queda Organization in the Islamic Magreb.” (19).
I take from the 19 brief biographies two vignettes of the brutal terrorism on the people, - the assassinations of four of the White Fathers, Dec 27, 1994, and the assassinations of two of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles, Sept 3. 1995, are examples.
The targets of the four White Fathers died in the multiple motivation. It is possible that the fundamentalists were hoping to kidnap the four priests as a reprisal for the killing of four Islamists who had hijacked an Air France plane at
The White Fathers of Tizi-Ouzou.
“An elderly White father said after the funeral of his assassinated brothers, “I turned towards the Father, giving thanks during the burial of my brothers, the four victims of Tizi-Ouzou. I recall the closed shops along the route of the funeral cortege, and the silent crowd who joined it as far as the cemetery. Imagine ... four Christian missionaries led to their resting place by a crowd of [about 4,000] Muslims; and even more, on entering the cemetery, this crowd emitting youyous and applauding as if for their own martyrs.
Msgr. Teissier, present to the concourse of sympathetic Muslims, was able to find the words which expressed fully the meaning of this demonstration by affirming: "The
Sisters Angele-Marie and Bibiane.
The Sisters, on their quiet walk from the Eucharist, were slain beyond any humanity. As they lay in the street dying gunned down no one dared to go to their aid. That is the depth of terror by which people were reduced by the Islamic extremism.
Fear Reigned (Pere Lafitte). “At the time of the killing of the Sisters, Islamic violence was at its height and fear reigned … Despite the fact that the Sisters were universally loved and admired in Belcourt, people were too frightened to show their support after their deaths. Pere Lafitte had to move their belongings with only the help of two religious, one of them elderly. There was only one elderly woman from the area who had the courage to help them. At their funeral there weren't even ten Algerians. Everyone was terrified of the consequences of being seen to oppose the Islamists. . ."You had to leave people to die”. (53-54)
(As I recall the occasion, in October 1996, at the Cistercian General Chapter at Tre Fontane,
The venture of Martin McGee in “unexpected places” gives us, in thought, access to the places of Muslim life. “At the very least my short visits to
In September 2008 a new publication brings to English readers fuller information and deeper insight in the book, “Christian Martyrs for a Muslim People” by Martin McGee OSB. Books about the assassinations are mostly from the Francophone writers. Martin McGee, in spite of the forbidding aspect, has been attracted in a special way to
Response: REVIEW Christian Muslim
Dear Donald,
That is such an important piece of writing at this time. I love the honour paid to the Atlas Community.
It is a most fascinating, and essential, step towards the "wider range of the Christian-Muslim relations of closer mutual respect, service, friendship, and prayer". How greatly Fr. Christian and his Brothers would welcome this publication, and these new initiatives, which extend the mission of their lives. . . . William.
Date: Sunday, June 14, 2009, 8:11 AM
Dear Donald,
I have enjoyed reading the Article you posted: Christian Martyrs for a Muslim people. Thank you. . . .invited me to visit Nunraw, so maybe in the next few weeks I will get to read the book upon which the article is based. . . .Peter
Wednesday 10 June 2009
Trinity
Community Chapter Sermon by Br. Celestine
The One and Triune God
At the heart of the Trinitarian controversies of the fourth century is the underlying difficulty inherent in the Christian adaptation and appropriation of the Hellenistic idea of divinity and also its essential Christological constituent – the question of the full deity of the Son. Though there are a significant number of biblical texts bearing on the Trinitarian faith, the scriptures do not present any unequivocal and explicit doctrine concerning the triadic mystery of God. Though they speak of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, they do not give us any systematic formulation or proffer terminologies like “person,” ‘nature’ or ‘substance’ to explain the concept.
The present creedal confession is a result of vast theological reflection on God as tripersonal Being. Without adding to the scriptures, the fathers of the Church exegeted divine revelation to provide answers to issues like the ontological distinction in the Father ,Son and the Holy Spirit; the status of the Son of God, the relations of nature and person etc. The post New Testament reflection on faith employed the scriptural insights and philosophical reason to understand the created order, human life and God’s salvific acts in human history. That is why the present creedal confession presents the Trinity in terms of the divine self-communication in creation and salvation history – through the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit as the true revelation of the inner Trinitarian life of God
The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central and supreme mystery of the Christian Faith and life. It is not just another mystery of the Christian faith. In fact, there are not many mysteries of all kinds, but only a single mystery. This is the mystery present in all mysteries and the light that enlightens them. The Triune mystery is an all inclusive reality which encompasses the entire Christian economy of salvation. The whole universe and salvation history is all about the Trinity unfolding so as to enfold us.
It is the mystery that exists in God Himself and thus it is the ground and foundation of all mystical realities. This mystery is not just a kind of celestial arithmetic pulse to be solved, but a depth of live to be entered into. It is the very life of God which flows into us now (John 14:15-16), and which we hope to share eternally. That is why when we are baptised as Christians we are baptised into the very life of God Himself.
All creation bear the trace of the Trinity and humans are in the image of the Trinity. What is the implication of this statement for us? What is the spiritual and practical importance of the Trinity for our daily living as Christians? If the human person is grafted into the very life of the Trinity; then the way we relate to the persons of the Trinity should be judged by the way we relate to one another.
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Tuesday 9 June 2009
Clare Melinsky, artist, 1,400th. Commemoration Stamp
At Balmerino Abbey, Fife. 9th. June 1997.
Scotland's Apostolic Age
Abbot Donald McGlynn, Nunraw, East Lothian, gave the following homily during a Mass at Balmerino in Fife, to mark the 1400th Anniversary of the Death of St Columba.
TO MARK THE FOURTEENTH CENTENARY of St Columba, here at Balmerino, we go back much further than the medieval monastery. In fact these celebrations are part of the preparations for the 2nd Millennium which puts it into the wider Christian context. And from that point of view Balmerino gives us an interesting intersection in the historical paths by which Christianity came to this country.
First with regard to St Columba, I have to declare an interest. I have had some kind of a spiritual accompaniment or link with Columba all my days. Historians regard the period as a minefield, but I have wandered down quite unharmed. Not being an historian, I got top marks in secondary school for an essay on Columba.
My first primary school was dedicated to Dallan Forghaill who wrote the great "Elegy of Colum Cille", Amra Choluimb Chille. When I was nine or ten, long before I learned that St Dallan was a chief poet and a classic figure of the bardic class, I had made the pilgrimage to his chapel on the little island of Inniskeel on the Atlantic coast of Donegal. There he had lived until he was
martyred by sea raiders.Dallan's Elegy may have been written before the death of Columba. It is the earliest source and therefore, not surprisingly, my feelings for St Columba respond much more to the image given by St Dallan than to the political figure of the Irish Annals, or to that of the biographer Adamnan upholding the abbatial importance of Iona, or to that of Bede the Venerable writing over 100 years later. The picture of Columba as the man of God living the hidden monastic life, with the occasional missionary foray, rings much more true to his vocation than the high profile semi-political king-maker and nation-builder of the other chronicles.
Dallan's Columba is above all a scholar¹s saint. He emphasised not his miraculous powers but his learning. He also refers specifically to Tayside. "His blessing turned them, the mouth of the fierce ones who lived on the Tay, to the will of the king". I don't know exactly what he means by describing these tribes of the Tay as "fierce mouthed". It is intentionally obscure and difficult because, the story goes, Columba would only agree to Dallan writing about him in that incomprehensible bardic style. The roots of obscure 'Irishism' go a long way back. My guess is that Columba made a notable pastoral visit to Tayside and was welcomed by the Christians already there.
Reputation
I am going to bypass the historical researchers and the literary analysts, who after all have every reason to question the meagre fragments of actual history in contrast to the abundant hagiography. I am going to bypass them or transcend their narrow interest by beginning with a significant question.
If some one had so many miracles and wonders attributed to them as Columba, how did he get this reputation? If some one had so much sanctity and scholarship credited to them as Columba, how did he get this fame?
If someone had his relics carried into battle to guarantee victory as often as Columba, how did he get this influence? If one can find all this and more attributed to St Columba in the hagiography, then one can ask the question what was the spiritual stature of the man? This must have been a mighty man to be placed in the light of so many great deeds and associated with almost every step of progress of evangelisation in Scotland, whether or not he was directly involved! And that surely is the clue.
Spiritually he could well have had a part in the building up of the Body of Christ because of the power of his prayer, because of the merit of his holiness. Because of that inner prowess of soul, which is open to every Christian, his life could go on bearing fruit beyond his death.
Think of another centenary marked this year. The first 100 years of a very different example of that fruits of the inner life, St Theresa of Liseaux, who died in 1897, said she would spend her heaven doing good on earth.
Pre-History
Balmerino's prehistory demonstrates in a special way this inner aspect of things and gives us the opportunity to celebrate this fourteenth centenary of St Columba as being also a time to honour all those named and unnamed saints who implanted the Gospel, bit by bit in the various parts of this land.
It is strange that in Adamnan's 'life' the close colleagues of Columba and his relatives do not get mention; St Catan, St Moluag, St Blane, St Machar, St Donnan. Independent operators, so to speak, are named as friends, St Kenneth and St Cormac and others include St Kessog in the Trossachs with Monk's Island on Loch Lomond, St Serf in the Ochils with his island retreat on Loch Leven. St Ternan probably worked out of Abernethy, St Kenneth at St Andrews, St Adrian on May Island and his Firth of Forth neighbour St Baldred of the Bass Rock. St Regulus, St Fillan, St Mucolinus and so on.
These are only names to most of us, which may be as well in view of the countless anonymous monks, nuns, hermits and servants of God who all shared in the building up of the Body of Christ in these parts. Balmerino is interesting in this regard because the evangelisation of these parts cannot be claimed by either St Columba or St Ninian. Balmerino has always been linked with Abernethy just six miles to the west and the significance of Abernethy is that it became the centre and key to the story of the conversion of the Pictish people of this eastern and northern part of Scotland.
Beginnings
The beginnings of the work of evangelisation from Abernethy are no less obscure than those of Iona or Whithorn, from both of which it was quite independent. But its importance is confirmed by the fact that the King of the Pictish Kingdom moved his capital from near Inverness to Abernethy. Only at later stage was the royal seat and the ecclesiastical centre moved to Dunkeld, and to that place they brought the relics of Columba to reinforce its standing and precedence over Iona.
The whole point of recalling all this is to appreciate the fact that there were a great number of unsung evangelists who had already brought the light Christ into the lives of the people in many places in the east of Scotland. At least eighty men and women have been identified as being actively evangelising the country before Columba left Ireland.
These Christian pioneers literally covered the land with hundreds of churches and chapels before the Iona mission began.
Divisions
In fact, in the debate as to whether Columba or Ninian rightly deserve the accolade of the apostle of Scotland, a very strong case has been made out for a third alternative. It is possible that it is Abernethy, rather than Iona or Whithorn, which is the true cradle of Christianity in Scotland.
At a certain level there were rivalries between the different groups. At an important point of change in the Church, as we in the post-Vatican II era can understand, these rivalries became more dramatic, as at the Synod of Whitby in 664AD. Loyalty to St Columba, a virtue in its time and place, became obstinacy against the new ways and the acceptance of Roman adaptations of the old Celtic customs.
Later centuries were to see an even greater exaggeration of these rivalries in sectarian prejudice and the rewriting of the story of our Saints and scholars to support a favoured position. Apart from all this very human context, what should inspire us today is the vision of this extraordinary communion of saints working away quietly under the inspiration of God, according to the special grace and charism of each one, and not as part of any great bandwagon or powerful institution, even as worthy as that attributed to Columba.
The edifying stories of St Columba are no exaggeration when seen as the affirmation of those qualities and gifts given by God to all these hidden saints and on offer to each one of us who believe. All the feats of sanctity, all the heroic dedication to prayer, all the spiritual power of inner life of these Saints are gifts of the Holy Spirit in every age of the Church.
Dedication
These are all the qualities of soul, more often hidden and anonymous, without which there can be no Church of any kind. Here is a spiritual dynamism in the Church which calls each one of us to recognise our indebtedness to God in an absolute manner. There is no other explanation of the course of life of St Columba and those early servants of God. Unless, like them, we feel brought to our knees, at least in mind and heart, several times each day we may wonder if we have any soul, any humanity, any of that sensitivity which is the special character of these saints.
Therefore we are not concerned to romanticise Columba or our Scottish Saints but to venerate their following of Christ, their intensity of prayer, their perseverance in living in God's presence, their practical penance and example of charity. It was because of this genuine hidden dedication of their lives that God blessed their work of evangelisation with such fruitfulness.
Or was it the other way round, that God blessed their lives with an evangelisation which they themselves would never have conceived? We have been inundated with documents and instructions on 'evangelisation' for the second millennium. The early pioneers may never have heard the word.
As for the glory, as for the external applause of Columba that seems to been cultivated by his over-zealous followers. These clerics were not much unlike their present day successors in "not letting the facts get in the way of a good story".
Well we should not let the stories get in the way of the good facts in the case of Columba himself, and go on from there to recognise the potential of the more ordinary, normal experience of the saints and of the faithful. That is the hidden life which is lived so simply and so totally in the presence of God that it begins to be literally, "life hidden with Christ in God".
Challenge
The fruitfulness of the Saints is directly related to their purity of heart, their hunger and thirst for the true, the good and the beautiful, their union with God.
It is the great challenge of evangelisation in today's world. The Church can only bear fruit; can only bring the gifts of God; to all those who desire them if there are souls, convinced of the power of prayer and filled with the love of God and of each person. The challenge today more than ever is like the struggle of "rowing through the infinite storm", to use the graphic imagery which Columba derived from the surrounding sea of Iona.
The hymn "Adjutor Laborantium", (help of those who labour) may well have come from his pen. "I beg that, trembling and most wretched, rowing through the infinite storm of this age, Christ may draw me, a little man, after Him to the lofty most beautiful haven of life".
BALMERINO – an historical study of the ancient Scottish Cistercian Abbey has just been published.
Life on the Edge: The Cistercian Abbey of Balmerino, Fife (Scotland) (Citeaux - Commentarii Cistercienses) (Paperback). by Piers J. Dixon (Author), Richard Fawcett (Author), Matthew H. Hammond (Author) Paperback: 150 pages. Publisher: Citeaux (30 Jun 2009)
Clare Melinsky, artist, 1,400th. Commemoration Stamp, used by Royal Mail 1997.
Colum Cille
9 June St. Colmcille
(Papal Envoy named for Long Tower celebration
VATICAN, April 24, 2009-- Benedict XVI is sending Cardinal Michael Patrick O'Brien as his special envoy to the centenary celebration of the foundation of Long Tower Church in Derry, Northern Ireland. The archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland, will preside at the event June 9. Dedicated to St. Columba, the Church is built on the site where Mass has been said since the 12th century. The current structure was first built in 1783, and then remodeled in 1810. Additional changes were made in 1909, including the addition of new stained glass windows, a baptismal font and a new sacristy. The centenary marks 100 years of the present building. (Zenit))
From the Lectern looking towards the Altar Rails, there are 4 Crosses.
The teak wood
furnishing originated from the Church of the Royal Naval Base, Rosyth Dock.Three Crosses are of Andrew, George and David.
The 4th one is the Cross of St. Columba, a Celtic Cross. Andrew, George and David donate to the British & NI flag, the Union Jack.
Columba is the man-out.
Columba was sent to exile and lived on his island.
As a powerful and charismatic character he was better off in Iona.
The source of his amazing reputation was not from politics but from the hidden life of the monastery.
The mighty influence flowed from his prayer, his spiritual and inner life which radiate to the people.
Today as we share in that life of monastic life, we turn to the mystery of Eucharistic adoration and sacrifice.
On the eve of the Feast of St. Columba, I found the Homily, of Monday 9th June 1997. It is interesting to recall and Attach a copy on the next.
Monday 8 June 2009
St Robert of Newminster (Solemnity)
Memorial
(Solemnity in Fenham and Morpeth) 7th June
Born at Gargrave in Yorkshire. He spent the early years of his priesthood as rector of his home town, but later joined the Benedictine community at Whitby. In 1132 he helped to establish Fountains Abbey which embraced the Cistercian rule of St Bernard of Clairvaux. Fountains was to have a daughter abbey at Newminster near Morpeth and Robert became the first abbot in 1138/9. Little is known about Robert the man. He died on 7'h June 1159.
Opening Prayer
God our loving Father, you inspired Robert
to establish a new monastery, and to preside as abbot
with gentleness and justice.
As we honour today this man of prayer, may we also learn from his example.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord,
accept our gifts
as we honour the memory of St Robert.
May they be for us a source of help and salvation. We ask this through Christ our Lord
Prayer after Communion
Father,
you nourish us with the Bread of Life.
Just as Robert gave his own food to the poor, make us eager to help those in need,
that in your mercy
they may welcome us at your table in heaven. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Newminster Abbey Northumberland
The Walk from the Church in Morpeth to the Site of Newminster could be describe as the Obstacle Pilgrimage, a long pathway including five or six kissing-gates or styles. I was amazed by the walking of one 90 year old lady with sticks among so many elders and also small children. Quite an achievement marking the historic event.
After returning to the St. Robert of Newminster Church of Morpeth, there was a warm welcome to the visitors to the Marque for copious refreshments.
The Church itself is a very interesting building.
Hexham and Newcastle
WEB VIDEO
On Trinity Sunday two parishes in the diocese whose patron is Robert of Newminster joined together for a Pilgrimage and Celebration at the Ancient Ruins of Newminster Abbey in Northumberland.
This Abbey was established in 1138 and St Robert of Newminster presided over the Abbey until 1159. It was one of the largest Cistercian Monasteries in the north of
On June 7th, the Feast of St Robert of Newminster, hundreds of parishioners from St Robert's in Fenham,
The mass was also signed for the deaf.
Sunday 7 June 2009
St Robert of Newminster (June 7) 850th Anniversary
On 7 June the feast of our patron, the Cistercian, St. Robert, our two parishes in Fenham and Morpeth, are celebrating the 850th. Anniversary of the saint by meeting at his \Church in Morpeth at 2pm and then walking to the Abbey site,a distance of less than a mile,to have Mass in the old chapter-house.
The chief celebrant will be our newly appointed Bishop Seamus and the preacher willl be the Redemptorist, Father Johnny.
After Mass, we will picnic on site, weather permitting, of course.
This will be a memorable occasion and I have been asked by the organizing Committee to invite Abbot and any members of your community to join us.
A Cistercian presence would add greatly to significance of the occasion. . .”.
At the kind invitation three of monks from Nunraw will share in the historic event.
St Robert of Newminster (June 7) 850th Anniversary
Robert of Newminster (c 1100-59) was a learned Yorkshireman who recognised that holiness scores far higher than scholarship in the scale of Christian values.
Probably born at Gargrave, near Skipton, into a family which a 14th century biography described as "honourable according to their moderate means", Robert proved so clever that he was sent to Paris to study philosophy.
He came to concentrate on theology, and wrote a treatise, long since lost, on the Psalms.
The lesson which Robert imbibed most deeply, however, came from the Sermon on the Mount:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Having been ordained he returned to Yorkshire and took charge of the church at Gargrave.
Soon, though, feeling the need for a more ascetic life, he joined the community at Whitby Abbey. Still unsatisfied, in 1133 he attached himself to a group of monks from St Mary's, York, who in the previous year had gone to live in the wilds of Skelldale, near Ripon, and decided to adopt the Cistercian rule.
At first the monks lived in a thatched hut under an elm tree and subsisted on a diet of herbs and boiled leaves. In 1135, thanks to the wool merchants of York, they were able to begin building Fountains Abbey, which would be the largest Cistercian monastery in England.
In 1138, however, Robert left Skelldale with 12 other monks to found Newminster Abbey, near Morpeth in Northumberland. The project was financed by a local aristocrat called Ranulf de Merly.
Robert, as abbot, insisted upon absolute poverty, forswearing not just luxuries but sometimes, as it seemed, necessities. When a nobleman came across him in a field and asked to see the head of the monastery, Robert replied: "When I was at the grange the Abbot was there."
Perhaps his ascetic ways were too much for his companions. There was evidence of resistance to his rule when some of his monks whispered that he was becoming too intimate with a local noblewoman.
To defend himself, in 1147 Robert went to see St Bernard at Clairvaux. Bernard declared there could be no culpability in so upright a figure and gave the visitor his girdle, famed for its curative properties. At Citeaux, Robert met Pope Eugenius Ill, who persuaded the Bishop of Durham to confer land on Newminster Abbey.
It was said that Robert once saw the Devil standing at the entrance to the choir at Newminster before extracting one of the weaker brethren with the aid of a three-pronged fork.
In the Chronicle of Fountains Robert is remembered as "modest in demeanour, gentle in companionship, merciful in judgment and exemplary in holy conversation" .
Today the remains of Newminster Abbey are swallowed up in undergrowth.