Saint Aelred (of Rievaulx)

Aelred of Rievalux

Follows and completes Aelred's earlier treatise on love, "The Mirror of Charity". In it he reflects on the theories of friendship propunded by the great stoic philosophic Cicero. A humanist and a Christian monk, Aelred advocated friendship on both the natural and the supernatural plane. Frankness and not flattery, generosity and not gain, patience in correction and constancy in affection he saw as the marks of a genuine friendship.

Spiritual Friendship

Aelred of Rievaulx possessed a personal charm which drew friends and disciples naturally to him. His own experience of human weakness in a worldly life at the court of King David of Scotland made him sensitive to the doctrine of charity which he found among cistercian monks. The Mirror of Charity gives us a solid theology of the cistercian life. Aelred's deep knowledge of Scripture, his joy in his brethren, and his love of Christ shine from every page. Because the divine nature is love, as the Bible tells us, directing our love to God-love conforms us to the image of God that has been lost through sin. All love, to Aelred, is a participation in God-love that leads us to union. The Mirror of Charity, written at the beginning of his monastic life, and Spiritual Friendship, written near its end, form a set. Together they demonstrate both the consistency of his teaching and his unswerving love of God in Christ.

The Mirror of Charity

The First Clairvaux Collection, Sermons One, Twenty-eight, Advent, All Saints

The Liturgical Sermons

Saint Bernard (of Clairvaux)

Saint Gertrude (the Great)

The White Monks' devotion to the Mother of God moved them to commit al their monasteries to her patronage. The most famous of them al, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, has been called the Marian Doctor. Reading his homilies, and the sermons and meditations of his twelfth-century brothers and thirteenth-century sisters, lets us hear them blending their voices into along and loving tradition. 'Proclaim her as reverenced by angels, desired by nations, foretold by patriarchs and prophets, chosen from among al, preferred above al. Magnify her for having found grace, for being mediatrix of salvation and reparatrix of the ages. Exalt her, finally, as one exalted to the heavenly realm, above the choirs of angels. al this the Church sings to me about her, and teaches me to sing in turn.' --Saint Bernard.

Meditating with the Early Cistercians

Mary Most Holy

When Henry II came to the throne of England, he was hailed as the one who brought to an end the divisions caused by the Norman conquest, for both the Saxon and Norman royal lines met in him. To promote this newfound unity, the cult of King Edward the Confessor was promoted, culminating in his canonization in 1161. Shortly afterwards, on October 13, 1163, the new saint's body was solemnly enshrined in Westminster Abbey. On this occasion the honor of preparing the sermon was given to Aelred, the revered Abbot of Rievaulx. On the same occasion, Aelred undertook to write the life of St. Edward, and this is the text now first presented in English.

Saint Aelred (of Rievaulx)

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