Aelred of Rievaulx ( la, Aelredus Riaevallensis); also Ailred, Ælred, and Æthelred; (1110 – 12 January 1167) was an English

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monk,

abbot of Rievaulx The Abbot of Rievaulx was the head of the Cistercian monastic community of Rievaulx Abbey, founded in 1131 by Walter l'Espec in North Yorkshire, northern England. The Abbots of Rievaulx were amongst the most powerful Christian leaders in northern E ...

from 1147 until his death, and known as a writer. He is regarded by Anglicans and Catholics as a saint.

Life

Aelred was born in

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...

, Northumbria, in year 1110, one of three sons of Eilaf, priest of St Andrew's at

, himself a son of another Eilaf, treasurer of Durham. Bell, "Ailred of Rievaulx (1110–1167)" In 1095, the

Council of Claremont The Council of Clermont was a mixed synod of ecclesiastics and laymen of the Catholic Church, called by Pope Urban II and held from 17 to 27 November 1095 at Clermont, Auvergne, at the time part of the Duchy of Aquitaine. Pope Urban's spee ...

had forbidden the ordination of the sons of priests. This was done in part to end the inheritance of benefices. He may have been partially educated by

Lawrence of Durham Lawrence of Durham (died 1154) was a 12th-century English prelate, Latin poet and hagiographer. Born in southern England, at Waltham in Essex, Lawrence was given a religious education, and excelled at singing and poetry composition. In his yo ...

, who sent him a

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...

Saint Brigid Saint Brigid of Kildare or Brigid of Ireland ( ga, Naomh Bríd; la, Brigida; 525) is the patroness saint (or 'mother saint') of Ireland, and one of its three national saints along with Patrick and Columba. According to medieval Irish hagiogra ...

. Aelred's early education was probably at the cathedral school at Durham. Aelred spent several years at the court of King David I of Scotland in Roxburgh, possibly from the age of 14, rising to the rank of ''echonomus'' (often translated "steward" or " Master of the Household") before leaving the court at age twenty-four (in 1134) to enter the

abbey of

Rievaulx Rievaulx ( ) is a small village and civil parish in Rye Dale within the North York Moors National Park near Helmsley in North Yorkshire, England and is located in what was the inner court of Rievaulx Abbey, close to the River Rye. The populat ...

in Yorkshire.'"The Lives of the Saints," Rev. S. Baring-Gould, 1:178 (Edinburgh: John Grant, 1914) In 1138, when Rievaulx's patron, Walter Espec, was to surrender his Wark on Tweed Castle to King David of Scotland, Aelred reportedly accompanied Abbot William of Rievaulx to the Scottish border to negotiate the transfer.Marsha L. Dutton, 'Introduction,' in Aelred of Rievaulx, ''Spiritual Friendship,'' Cistercian Fathers series 5 (Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2010), p16; Aelred Squire, OP, ''Aelred of Rievaulx: A Study'' (London: SPCK, 1969), p24. He saw that his reluctance to part from his friends at court, delayed his adopting his monastic calling. For Aelred, the source and object of true friendship is Christ. In 1142 Aelred travelled to Rome, alongside Walter of London, Archdeacon of York, to represent before

Pope Innocent II Pope Innocent II ( la, Innocentius II; died 24 September 1143), born Gregorio Papareschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 February 1130 to his death in 1143. His election as pope was controversial and the fi ...

the northern prelates who opposed the election of Henry de Sully, nephew of King Stephen as archbishop of York. The result of the journey was that Aelred brought back a letter from Pope Innocent summoning the superiors whom Aelred represented to appear in Rome the following March to make their deposition in the required canonical form. The resulting negotiations dragged on for many years. Upon his return from Rome, Aelred became novice master at Rievaulx. In 1143, he was appointed abbot of the new Revesby Abbey, a daughter house of Rievaulx in Lincolnshire. In 1147, he was elected abbot of Rievaulx itself, a position he was to hold until his death. Under his administration, the abbey is said to have grown to some 140 monks and 500 ''conversi'' and laymen. His role as abbot required him to travel. Cistercian abbots were expected to make annual visitations to daughter-houses, and Rievaulx had five in England and Scotland by the time Aelred held office. Moreover, Aelred had to make the long sea journey to the annual general chapter of the Order at Cîteaux in France. Alongside his role as a monk and later abbot, Aelred was involved throughout his life in political affairs. The fourteenth-century version of the '' Peterborough Chronicle'' states that Aelred's efforts during the twelfth-century papal schism brought about Henry II's decisive support for the Cistercian candidate, resulting in 1161 in the formal recognition of

Pope Alexander III Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland ( it, Rolando), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181. A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a con ...

. Aelred wrote several influential books on

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

, among them ''Speculum caritatis'' ("The Mirror of Charity," reportedly written at the request of Bernard of Clairvaux) and ''De spiritali amicitia'' ("On Spiritual Friendship"). He also wrote seven works of history, addressing three of them to Henry II of England, advising him how to be a good king and declaring him to be the true descendant of

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

kings. In his later years, he is thought to have suffered from the kidney stones and arthritis. Walter reports that in 1157 the Cistercian General Council allowed him to sleep and eat in Rievaulx's infirmary; later he lived in a nearby building constructed for him. Aelred died in the winter of 1166–7, probably on 12 January 1167 at Rievaulx.

''De spirituali amicitia''

''De spirituali amicitia'' (Spiritual Friendship), considered to be his greatest work, is a Christian counterpart of Cicero's ''De amicitia'' and designates Christ as the source and ultimate impetus of spiritual friendship."Saint Aelred of Rievaulx", Encyclopedia Britannica, January 8, 2020
/ref> Friendship was a recurring theme in Christian monasticism. Gregory of Nazianzus, echoing Aristotle, describes his friendship with Basil the Great as "two bodies with a single spirit". It was likely at Durham that Aelred first encountered Cicero's '' Laelius de Amicitia''. In Roman terminology ''

amicitia ''Amicitia'' is the Latin for friendship, either between individuals, between the state and an individual or between states. It was "a technical term of Roman political life" from the 2nd century BC, when, according to Seneca, it was introduced by ...

'' means "friendship" and could be between states or individuals. It suggested an equality of status and in practice it might only be an alliance to pursue mutual interests. For Cicero, ''amicitia'' involved genuine trust and affection. "But I must at the very beginning lay down this principle —friendship can only exist between good men. We mean then by the 'good' those whose actions and lives leave no question as to their honour, purity, equity, and liberality; who are free from greed, lust, and violence; and who have the courage of their convictions." In ''Confessions'',

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

identifies three phases of friendship: adolescence, early adulthood and adulthood. Adolescent friendships is essentially self-interested comradery. Augustine then describes a close friendship he had as a young adult with a colleague. This was based on love and grew out of shared interests and experiences and what each learned from the other. The third mature phase for Augustine is transcendent in that he loves others "in Christ", in that the focus is on Christ and the point of friendship is to grow closer to Christ with and through friends. In writing of adolescent friendship Augustine said, "For I even burnt in my youth heretofore, to be satiated in things below; and I dared to grow wild again, with these various and shadowy loves: my beauty consumed away, …pleasing myself, and desirous to please in the eyes of men. And what was it that I delighted in, but to love, and be loved?" Aelred was greatly influenced by Cicero, but later modified his interpretation upon reading

's ''Confessions''. In ''De spirituali amicitiâ'', Aelred adopted Cicero's dialogue format. In the Prologue however, he mirrors Augustine's description of his early adolescence with the speaker describing his time at school, where "the charm of my companions gave me the greatest pleasure. Among the usual faults that often endanger youth, my mind surrendered wholly to affection and became devoted to love. Nothing seemed sweeter to me, nothing more pleasant, nothing more valuable than to be loved and to love."

Posthumous reputation

Aelred was never formally canonised in the manner that was later established, but he became the centre of a cult in the north of England that was officially recognised by Cistercians in 1476. As such, he was venerated as a saint, with his body kept at Rievaulx. In the sixteenth century, before the dissolution of the monastery, John Leland, claims he saw Aelred's shrine at Rievaulx containing Aelred's body glittering with gold and silver. Today, Aelred of Rievaulx is listed as a saint on 12 January, the traditional date of his death, in the latest official edition of the Roman Martyrology, which expresses the official position of the Roman Catholic Church. He also appears in the calendars of various other Christian denominations. Much of Aelred's history is known because of the ''Life'' written about him by Walter Daniel shortly after his death. For many centuries his most famous work has been his ''Life of Saint Edward, King and Confessor.'' Aelred is

remembered Recall in memory refers to the mental process of retrieval of information from the past. Along with encoding (memory), encoding and storage (memory), storage, it is one of the three core processes of memory. There are three main types of recall: ...

in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival and on the Episcopal Church calendar with a feast on 1''2'' January.

Sexuality

The historian John Boswell has argued that Aelred was

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

. In particular, his work ''De spirituali amicitia'' ("On Spiritual Friendship") reveals a "conscious homosexual orientation". Brian McGuire has concluded that "...his sexual identity remains uncertain", yet that in all likelihood it is a "typically twentieth-century misuse of medieval sources to translate the intense language and practice of friendship into evidence of repressed homosexual behaviour." Many historiographers, such as Evans, have called Boswell's analysis 'misguided' – as Evans argues, such an approach "collapses in the face of a far more convincing historical literature which has located the emergence of xplicitlyhomosexual identities at the end of the nineteenth century." As Marsha L. Dutton summarised as editor of the 2017 Companion to Aelred of Rievaulx (the most recent summative on Aelred) that "...there is no way of knowing the details of Aelred's life, much less his sexual experience or struggles." However, Elizabeth Freeman has commented that discussion of his alleged homosexualityCambridge Companion to Cistercianism (2013) has abounded atop misunderstandings of monastic language and mistaking his interest in Christian friendship for homosexuality. "We are witness", Freeman says, "to pointless debate over his alleged homosexuality". Aelred confessed in ''De institutione inclusarum'' that for a while he surrendered himself to lust, "''a cloud of desire arose from the lower drives of the flesh and the gushing spring of adolescence''" and "''the sweetness of love and impurity of lust combined to take advantage of the inexperience of my youth''." LeClercq states that this is likely a 'literary exaggeration' common to monastic writing. He also refers directly to the relationship of Jesus and John the Apostle as a "marriage", which is aligned with Cistercian emphasis upon the Song of Songs, and the symbolism of love between man and God, expressed through a predominantly Virgilian and Ovidian topos. Aelred himself, in his own words, called this "marriage" an 'organ of experience', with nothing to do with romantic or sexual reality which were believed to be fundamentally contrary to monastic life.Companion to Aelred of Rievaulx, pp.211-214

Julia Kristeva Julia Kristeva (; born Yuliya Stoyanova Krasteva, bg, Юлия Стоянова Кръстева; on 24 June 1941) is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, psychoanalyst, feminist, and, most recently, novelist, who has ...

said that this is reflected much more accurately by the concept of 'imaginatio' than 'amor' (romantic love): "It constituted the intimate link between being and the world, through which the person may assimilate the exterior world while also defining the self as a subject". The only direct reference among his works to Aelred's personal lust is in fact to a "saucy serving girl" he desired when he was a steward at the court of David I. Aelred's works exhorted chastity among the unmarried and widowed, and fidelity within marriage – condemning sexual relationships and activity outside marriage as sinful.Houston, James M., "Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167, Friend and Counselor", ''Knowing & Doing'', February 2007
/ref> In modern times, several gay-friendly organizations have adopted Aelred as their patron saint, including

Integrity USA Integrity USA was a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Episcopal Church in the United States. It was founded in 1974 to promote the inclusion of Q members and their allies for equal access to Episcopal rites, but dissolved in April 2022 ...

in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, the National Anglican Catholic Church in the northeast United States, and the Order of St. Aelred in the Philippines.

Patronage

Saint Aelred Catholic Church
located in Bishop, Georgia is part of The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter is named after him. A primary school in York is named after him. A

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

named after him in Glenburn, Renfrewshire, Scotland closed in 1990. A secondary school named after him in

Newton-le-Willows Newton-le-Willows is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. The population at the 2011 census was 22,114. Newton-le-Willows is on the eastern edge of St Helens, south of Wigan and north of Warrington. The ...

, Merseyside, closed in 2011. Since 2019 there is a hermitage named after him in Jever, Lower Saxony, Germany (2012-2019 in Schortens, also Lower Saxony).

Writings

Aelred-Vita-S-Eduardi-regis-et-confessoris

For his efforts in writing and administration Aelred was called by David Knowles the "St. Bernard of the North." Knowles, a historian of monasticism in England, also described him as "a singularly attractive figure," saying that "No other English monk of the twelfth century so lingers in the memory." All of Aelred's works have appeared in translation, most in English and in French; the remaining three volumes of his sermons are being translated into English and will appear from Cistercian Publications in 2018–2020. There are already available in French in a five-volume edition. Extant works by Aelred include: ;Histories and biographies *''Vita Davidis Scotorum regis'' ("Life of David, King of the Scots"), written c. 1153. *''Genealogia regum Anglorum'' ("Genealogy of the Kings of the English"), written 1153–54. *''

Relatio de Standardo ''Relatio de Standardo'' ("An Account of the attle of theStandard"), or ''De bello standardii'' ("on the Battle of the Standard"), is a text composed probably in 1153 or 1154 by the Cistercian monk Aelred of Rievaulx, describing the Battle of the ...

'' ("On the Account of the Standard"), also ''De bello standardii'' ("On the

Battle of the Standard The Battle of the Standard, sometimes called the Battle of Northallerton, took place on 22 August 1138 on Cowton Moor near Northallerton in Yorkshire, England. English forces under William of Aumale repelled a Scottish army led by King David ...

"), 1153–54. *''Vita S. Eduardi, regis et confessoris'' ("The Life of Saint Edward, King and Confessor"), 1161–63. *'' Vita S. Niniani'' ("The Life of Saint Ninian"), 1154–60. *''De miraculis Hagustaldensis ecclesiae'' ("On the Miracles of the Church of Hexham"), ca. 1155. *''De quodam miraculo miraculi'' ("A Certain Wonderful Miracle") (wrongly known since the seventeenth century as ''

De Sanctimoniali de Wattun ''De Sanctimoniali de Wattun'' or ''On the Nun of Watton'' is a 12th-century miracle story, describing events which took place in Yorkshire in the mid-12th century at the nunnery of Watton, East Riding of Yorkshire. It is also called ''A Certain ...

'' ("The Nun of Watton")), c. 1160 ;Spiritual treatises *''Speculum caritatis'' ("The Mirror of Charity"), ca. 1142. *''De Iesu puero duodenni'' ("Jesus as a Boy of Twelve"), ?1160–62. *''De spirituali amicitiâ'' ("Spiritual Friendship"), 1164–67. *''De institutione inclusarum'' ("The Formation of Anchoresses"), ?1160–62. *''Oratio pastoralis'' ("Pastoral Prayer"), c. 1163–67. *''De anima'' ("On the Soul"), c.1164–67. Sermons * These sermons mainly relate to the seventeen liturgical days on which Cistercian abbots were required to preach to their community. * Several non-liturgical sermons survive as well, including one he apparently preached to a clerical synod, presumably in connection with a journey to the general chapter at Cîteaux, and one devoted to Saint Katherine of Alexandria. * In 1163-4 he also wrote a 31-sermon commentary on Isaiah 13–16, ''Homeliae de oneribus propheticis Isaiae'' ("Homilies on the Prophetic Burdens of Isaiah"), submitting the work for evaluation to Gilbert Foliot, who became bishop of London in 1163.Marsha L. Dutton, 'Introduction,' in Aelred of Rievaulx, ''Spiritual Friendship,'' transl.. Lawrence Braceland, Cistercian Fathers series 5 (Collegeville, MI, 2010), p21-2

Works

Critical editions

* Aelred of Rievaulx, '"Opera omnia." '' Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis'' 1, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 3, 3A. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers, 1971, 1989, 2001, 2012, 2005, 2015, 2017. *Aelred of Rievaulx, ''For Your Own People: Aelred of Rievaulx's Pastoral Prayer'', trans. Mark DelCogliano, crit. ed. Marsha L. Dutton, Cistercian Fathers series 73 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2008). ranslation of ''Oratio Pastoralis''

Translations

*Walter Daniel, ''Vita Ailredi Abbatis Rievall.'' Ed. and transl. Maurice Powicke (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1950). [Translation reprinted with a new introduction as ''The Life of Aelred of Rievaulx and the Letter to Maurice''. Translated by F. M. Powicke and Jane Patricia Freeland, Introduction by Marsha Dutton, Cistercian Fathers series no. 57 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1994.)] *Aelred of Rievaulx, ''On Jesus at Twelve Years Old,'' trans. Geoffrey Webb and Adrian Walker, Fleur de Lys series 17 (London: A. R. Mobray and Co., Ltd., 1955). *Aelred of Rievaulx, ''Treatises and Pastoral Prayer,'' Cistercian Fathers series 2 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1971). ncludes ''De Institutione inclusarum,'' "De Jesu," and "Oratio Pastoralis."*Aelred of Rievaulx, ''Dialogue on the Soul,'' trans. C. H. Talbot, Cistercian Father series 22 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1981). *Aelred of Rievaulx, ''Vita Niniani'', translated by Winifred MacQueen, in John MacQueen, ''St. Nynia'' (Edinburgh: Polygon, 1990) eprinted as (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2005) *Aelred of Rievaulx, ''Mirror of Charity,'' trans. Elizabeth Connor, Cistercian Fathers series 17 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1990). *Aelred of Rievaulx, ''The Life of Saint Edward, King and Confessor,'' translated by Jerome Bertram (Guildford: St. Edward's Press, 1990) eprinted at Southampton: Saint Austin Press, 1997 * Aelred of Rievaulx, ''Spiritual Friendship'', trans. Mark F. Williams (London: University of Scranton Press, 1994). *Aelred of Rievaulx, ''The Liturgical Sermons I: The First Clairvaux Collection, Advent—All Saints'', translated by Theodore Berkeley and M. Basil Pennington . Sermons 1–28, Advent – All Saints. Cistercian Fathers series no. 58, (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2001). *Aelred of Rievaulx, ''The Historical Works,'' trans. Jane Patricia Freeland, ed. Marsha L. Dutton, Cistercian Fathers series 56 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2005). *Aelred of Rievaulx, ''The Lives of the Northern Saints,'' trans. Jane Patricia Freeland, ed. Marsha L. Dutton, Cistercian Fathers series 71 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2006). *Aelred of Rievaulx, ''Spiritual Friendship,'' trans. Lawrence Braceland, ed. Marsha L. Dutton, Cistercian Fathers series 5 (Collegeville: Cistercian Publications, 2010). *Aelred of Rievaulx, "The Liturgical Sermons: The First Clairvaux Collection, Advent-All Saints," transl. Theodore Berkeley and M. Basil Pennington, Cistercian Fathers series 58 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2001). *Aelred of Rievaulx, "The Liturgical Sermons: The Second Clairvaux Collection, Advent-All Saints," transl. Marie Anne Mayeski, Cistercian Fathers series 71 (Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2016). *Aelred of Rievaulx, "The Liturgical Sermons: The Durham and Lincoln Collections," transl. Kathryn Krug, Lewis White, et al., Ed. and Intro. Ann Astell, Cistercian Fathers series 58 (Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, forthcoming 2019). *Aelred of Rievaulx, "The Liturgical Sermons: The Reading Collection, Advent-All Saints," transl. Daniel Griggs, Cistercian Fathers series 81 (Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2018). *Aelred of Rievaulx, "Homilies on the Prophetic Burdens of Isaiah," trans. Lewis White, Cistercian Fathers series 83 (Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2018). * (fr.) Aelred de Rievaulx, ''Sermons. La collection de Reading (sermons 85-182)'', trans. G. de Briey(+), G. Raciti, intro. X. Morales, Corpus Christianorum in Translation 20 (Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2015) *Aelred of Rievaulx, ''Writings on Body and Soul'', ed. and trans. Bruce L. Venarde, Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 71 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2021)

Notes

References

* *Burton, Pierre-André, ''Aelred de Rievaulx (1110–1167): De l'homme éclaté à l'être unifié. Essai de biographie existentielle et spirituelle.'' Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 2010. *Burton, Pierre-André, ''Aelred de Rievaulx (1110–1167): An Existential and Spiritual Biography'', translated by Christopher Coski. Cistercian Studies series no. 276, (Collegeville: Cistercian Publications, 2020). *Sommerfeldt, John R., ''Aelred of Rievaulx: Pursuing Perfect Happiness.'' Mahwah, NJ: Newman Press, 2005.