Gerald of Sales (c.1055 or 1070 – 1120) was a French monastic reformer from
Salles, Lot-et-Garonne near
Bergerac, Dordogne in the south-west of France. His feast day is on April 20.
Monastic reformer
Gerald of Salles was ruler of Salles near Bergerac in Dordogne, France. According to a tradition going back to his ''Vita'', he became a
canon regular
Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a ...
of St. Avitus, from the
diocese of Périgueux
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
, and the monastery of Saint-Avit,
A friend of
Robert of Arbrissel
Robert of Arbrissel ( 1045 – 1116) was an itinerant preacher, and founder of Fontevraud Abbey. He was born at Arbrissel (near Retiers, Brittany) and died at Orsan Priory in the present department of Cher.
Sources
The first ''Vita'' was writt ...
, and follower of
Vitalis of Savigny; like
Bernard of Thiron
Bernard of Thiron, also known as Bernard of Ponthieu and Bernard of Abbeville, was the founder of the Tiron Abbey and the Tironensian Order.
Early life
Born near Abbeville in 1046. At the age of 19 he was accepted at the monastery of Saint-Cy ...
, Gerard set up
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
houses, or groups of
hermit
A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions.
Description
In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...
s, mostly in the west of France, and was important in the later spread of the
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 ...
s, from their beginnings in
Burgundy
Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...
.
[Berman, Constance H., ''Medieval Agriculture, the Southern French Countryside, and the Early Cistercians: A Study of Forty-three Monasteries'', American Philosophical Society, 2007]
, p. 32 Following a spirituality very close to that of the Cistercians, Gerald of Salles monasteries progressively joined them.
[
]
Foundations
Most of Gerald's foundations were south of the Loire; all were founded under the Rule of St. Benedict. Among his attributed foundations, of which there are traditionally said to be nine, were:
* Absie Abbey (1120)
* Sainte-Marie d'Ardorel[
* ]Belleperche Abbey
Belleperche Abbey (bella pertica) is a former Cistercian abbey in Tarn-et-Garonne, Occitanie, in France, about 7 kilometres south of Castelsarrasin and 20 kilometres west of Montauban, situated on the Garonne.
History
The monastery was founded b ...
* Abbaye Notre-Dame de l'Assomption du Bournet (1113)
* Cadouin Abbey (c.1115)
* L’abbaye Notre-Dame des Châtelliers (1119)
* Dalon Abbey (1114)
* Fontdouce Abbey (1117)
* Grandselve Abbey The choir stall
Grandselve Abbey (french: Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Grandselve) was a Cistercian monastery in south-west France, at Bouillac, Tarn-et-Garonne. It was one of the most important Cistercian abbeys in the south of France.
History
Gr ...
(1114)
* Valmagne Abbey
Valmagne Abbey (french: Abbaye de Valmagne) is a former Benedictine monastery located near Villeveyrac, Hérault, in south-central France. It is a designated historic monument (monument historique).
Valmagne Abbey was founded as a Benedictine a ...
Loc-Dieu Abbey
Loc-Dieu Abbey is a Cistercian abbey located near Martiel, 9 km west from Villefranche-de-Rouergue, in the department of Aveyron in France.
History
Founded in 1123 in a place formerly called ''Locus Diaboli'' (Latin for "devil's place") due t ...
belonged to a series of monasteries reformed by Gerald of Salles.["Loc-Dieu Abbey", Cister.net]
/ref>
Like Grandselve, the monastery of Sainte-Marie d'Ardorel near Albi
Albi (; oc, Albi ) is a commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn department, on the river Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called ''Albigensians'' (french: Albigeois, Albigeoise(s), oc, albigà ...
, and its daughter house, Valmagne Abbey, were established as independent Benedictine houses before being absorbed into the Cistercian system.
Veneration
He was beatified in 1249, and was reburied in a marble tomb,[Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, ''Histoire et mémoires de l'institut royal de France'' (1846), p. 488.] south of the altar at Châtelliers Abbey.
Notes
References
Sources
*Marie-Odile Lenglet, ''L'implantation cistercienne dans la Marche Limousine, de Géraud de Sales à saint Bernard'', MSSNAC, vol. 46 (1997), p. 258-268
*Marie-Odile Lenglet, ''La biographie du bienheureux Géraud de Sales'', in Cîteaux. Commentani Cisterciences, 29, 1978, p. 7-40
*Marie-Odile Lenglet, ''Un pauvre du Christ, Géraud de Sales dit Saint Giraud'', Cîteaux Commentarii Cistercienses, t. XXIX, 1978, pp. 5–40
*Marie-Odile Lenglet, ''Géraud de Salles, ses fondations monastiques, leur évolution vers l’ordre cistercien à la fin de XIIème siècle'', Bulletin de la Société Historique et Archéologique du Périgord, t. CXIV, 1987, pp. 33–50.
Biography of Giraud de Salles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerald Of Salles
1120 deaths
Year of birth unknown
Year of birth uncertain