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Wednesday January 11th, 2012
Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx.
by Trevor Elliot
Aelred
was one of three sons of Eilaf, priest of St Andrew's at Hexham,
in Northumberland; He was born in 1110.
As a young man he was sent to the Scottish court for an education that
would ensure his future as a noble and courtier. He succeeded, to the
extent of being made Master of the Household of the King of Scotland.
Nevertheless, he found success at the court of an earthly king
unsatisfying, and at the age of 24 he entered the Cistercian monastery at
Rievaulx, an abbey set in the Hambleton hills in North Yorkshire. Soon he
was appointed master of novices,
and was long remembered for his extraordinary tenderness and patience
towards those under his charge.
Bernard of Clairvaux encouraged him to write his first work, The
Mirror of Charity, which deals with seeking to follow the example of
Christ in all things.
He
also penned lives of St. Ninian and of Edward the Confessor, in addition
to a rule for recluses and a genealogy of the kings of England. His
correspondence and his work on St. Cuthbert have unfortunately been lost.
In 1147 he became abbot of Rievaulx. Under his administration, the abbey
is said to have grown to some hundred monks and four hundred lay brothers.
He made annual visitations to Rievaulx's daughterhouses in England and
Scotland and to the French abbeys of Cîteaux and
Clairvaux. His most famous work is called Spiritual
Friendship. In this work, Aelred pointed out that when Jesus was told
that his family was waiting to see him, he replied, "All who do the will
of my Father are my family." From this, some Christians have drawn the
conclusion that the only kind
of love permissible to a Christian is Charity -- that is: (a) the
universal benevolence that wills the good of all persons, and (b) the bond
that unites the Christian with Christ and through Christ with all other
Christians.
Some who do not think that every Christian
must renounce particular friendships believe that every monastic must do
so. In many religious houses, where the monks or nuns walk two by two into
chapel or the dining hall or while pacing about during the daily hour of
recreation, the superior will make a point of constantly shifting
partners, lest anyone form a liking for one partner more than another.
(This does not apply just to friends. It is sometimes held that no monk
ought to allow himself any preferences in food or drink.) Against this
view, Aelred wrote that it is compatible with the highest degree of
Christian perfection to take special pleasure in the company of particular
friends. He point out that we are told that Jesus loved John, and Mary,
and Martha, and Lazarus, and that this probably means that he found their
company congenial.
During the last ten years of his life, Aelred’s health deteriorated, and
he suffered from gout and a bad
cough. He died of kidney disease twenty years later at the age of 57
while still serving as Abbot of Rievaulx.
Two Aelred quotes from his best known work: “Spiritual Friendship”
1) Friendship is both a gift from God and a creation of human effort.
While love is Universal, freely given to all, friendship is a particular
love between individuals, of which the example is Jesus and John the
Beloved disciple.
2) There are four qualities which characterize a friend: loyalty, right
intention, discretion and patience.
Loyalty guards and protects friendship, in good or bitter times.
Right intention seeks for nothing other than God and natural good.
Discretion brings understanding of what is done on a friend’s
behalf, and ability to know when to correct faults.
Patience enables one to be justly rebuked, or to bear adversity on
another’s behalf.
A
contemporary, Jocelin of Furness, gives the following account of Aelred.
He was a man of fine old English stock. He left school early and was
brought up from boyhood in the court of King David with Henry, the king’s
son, and Waldef. In the course of time he became a monk, afterwards abbot
of Rievaulx. His school learning was slight, but as a result of careful
discipline in the exercise of his acute natural powers, he was cultured
above many who had been thoroughly trained in secular learning.
He drilled himself in the study of the Holy Scripture and left a lasting
memorial behind him in writings distinguished by their lucid style, and
wealth of edifying instruction, for he was wholly inspired by a spirit of
wisdom and understanding. Moreover, he was a man of the highest integrity,
of great practical wisdom, witty and eloquent, a pleasant companion,
generous and discreet. And, with all these qualities he exceeded all his
fellow prelates of the Church in his patience and tenderness. He was full
of sympathy for the infirmities, both physical and moral, of others.
I, for one, will strive to live my life in such a fashion that that
epitaph would read in a similar fashion….
How
about you? |
