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St. Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167) was a twelfth
century English monk who belonged to the Catholic
religious order called the Cistercians. He became abbot
of the monastery of Rievaulx in the Diocese of York in
1147, and remained the spiritual father of that
community until his death in 1167.
 St.
Aelred was born in Hexham, England and brought up in
Northumbria (medieval kingdom which is now Northern
England and South-East Scotland), which was steeped in
the traditions of Celtic monasticism. St Aelred came
from a family of married priests, his father and
grandfather both ministered in Hexham, the last of a
dying generation as Rome was instituting mandated
celibacy throughout the Church. St. Aelred spent his
early years at the court of King David of Scotland
(youngest son of St. Margaret of Scotland) and was made
the king's steward at the age of twenty-two. He was
clearly marked for great things. He was beloved for his
piety, gentleness and spirituality.
However, during the course of a
journey while on business for the king, he came across
the monastery of Rievaulx and was drawn by the beauty of
the place and the austere simplicity of the “White
Monks” (members of the Cistercian Order wore a
white-robed habit). He left Scotland at twenty-four and
became a Cistercian monk. He was made abbot of a new
Cistercian monastery in Revesvby, Lincolnshire (age 32)
and five years later returned to Rievaulx as abbot.
Famed for his preaching and asceticism, he traveled
widely in England and Scotland and was considered a
saint in his own life time.
It became clear at an early stage
of his monastic life that Aelred had a gift for
directing others, a capacity which was marked by
compassion and gentleness. St. Bernard, Abbot of the
Cistercian monastery at Clairvaux, France, officially
recognized this by asking him to write a spiritual
directory for newcomers to Cistercian life, The Mirror
of Charity, which reflects Aelred's spiritual insights.
Besides being a sensitive pastor,
he was also a spiritual writer of remarkable depth. In
his later years, with a long period of involvement in
the pastoral care of his monks behind him, he wrote what
has come to be acknowledged as a spiritual classic, a
short treatise entitled On Spiritual Friendship. When he
became abbot, the numbers at Rievaulx escalated to
hundreds as he rarely turned young aspirants away. At
his death on January 12, 1167, there were three hundred
members of the monastic community at Rievaulx, including
priests, choir monks and lay brothers.
Resources on St. Aelred of Rievaulx
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