About the Book
In the closing decades of the twelfth century, the Cistercian Order had become an important ecclesiastical and economic power in Europe. Yet it had lost its influential spokesman, Bernard of Clairvaux, and as the century drew to a close, religious sensibilities were changing. The new mendicant orders, the Franciscans and the Dominicans, and the impulses they embodied were to shift the center of gravity in Christian religious life for centuries to come.
It was in this transitional period that Conrad of Eberbach gradually—between the 1180s and 1215—compiled the Exordium magnum cisterciense: The Great Beginning of Cîteaux. It is a book of history and lore, often with miraculous stories, meant to continue a great spiritual tradition, and it is also a book meant to justify and repair the Order. The Exordium magnum was in part an effort to provide a historical and formative context for those who were to be Cistercians in the thirteenth century.
Conrad's combination of a historical sensibility and the edifying exempla makes the Exordium magnum a remarkably innovative book. Its unique combination of genres—narratio and exempla—is conceivable only within the intellectual world of the twelfth or early thirteenth centuries, before exempla collections came to be complied solely for edification or use in sermons. The Great Beginning of Cîteaux is a revealing book and an excellent place to begin more detailed study of the Cistercian Order between 1174 and the middle of the thirteenth century.
Table of Contents:
Contents
List of Abbreviations xix
Foreword: The Cistercian Love of Story xxiii
Brian Patrick McGuire
Preface xxvii
Benedicta Ward, SLG
Introduction 1
Paul Savage
The Great Beginning of Cîteaux 35
Prologue in Verse to the Following Work 37
Book One: The Rise of the Monastic Order and the First Cistercians 45
1. How the Lord Jesus Gave the Pattern of Perfect Penance in His Teaching 47
2. How the Tradition of Common Life Began in the Primitive Church and How the First Institutions of Monastic Observance Continued It 49
3. How the Monastic Order Was Established by Blessed Antony and Other Holy Fathers and How It Shone in Its Excellence 51
4. Of the Institution and Importance of the Rule of Our Holy Father Benedict; How It Flourished by the Grace of God and Still Flourishes Today 54
5. How Blessed Benedict Received a Request from the Bishop of Le Mans and So Sent His Holy Disciple Maur to Found Monasteries in the Regions of Gaul 56
6. How Blessed Odo, Abbot of Cluny, When the Monastic Order Had Collapsed, by the Grace of God Repaired It Energetically 58
7. About the Brother in Whose Hand Crumbs of Bread Were Changed into Precious Pearls 61
8. About a Brother Who Was Dying and Saw a Multitude in White Robes Coming for Him 62
9. How Blessed Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, Cured a Paralytic 64
10. How the Brothers Who Founded the Cistercian Order Were Enlightened by Divine Grace While They Were Living at Molesme 69
11. How the Abbot, Dom Robert, and the Brothers Who with Him Wanted to Renew Monastic Observance, Went to the Legate of the Apostolic See 73
12. The Letter of the Archbishop, Dom Hugh, Legate of the Apostolic See, by Which the Beginning of the Cistercian Order Was Founded by His Authority 74
13. How and in What Year of the Incarnation of the Lord the Holy Fathers of the Cistercian Order Left Molesme and Came to the Wilderness of Cîteaux. 75
14. How by the Consent of the Bishop of Chalon, to Whose Diocese They Belonged, the Place Was Canonically Raised to an Abbey, and about the Departure of the Abbot Who Had Gone There 78
15. The Decree of Dom Hugh, Archbishop and Legate of the Apostolic See, about the Whole Affair of the Brothers of Molesme and Cîteaux 79
16. About the Election of Dom Alberic of Blessed Memory, the First Abbot of Cîteaux, How He Obtained Confirmation of the Privileges of the Order from the Apostolic See, and about the Statutes of the Order Which He Introduced 83
17. The Letter the Two Cardinals Sent the Lord Pope about the Cistercians 86
18. The Letter of Hugh, Archbishop of Lyons 87
19. The Letter of Walter, Bishop of Chalon 88
20. The Privilege of the Lord Pope Paschal, by Which He Gave Liberty to the Cistercians in Perpetuity 91
21. About the Promotion of Blessed Stephen, Second Abbot of Cîteaux, and What Kind of Decrees He Added When the Order Was Still New, How the Order Grew and Multiplied under Him, and How His Life Shone with Virtues 96
22. How Abbot Stephen Knew of the Expansion of His Order by a Revelation of the Lord through a Departed Brother Who Appeared to Him While He Was Keeping Vigil 100
23. How the Blessed Abbot Stephen Understood a Certain Secret of a Novice by the Spirit of Prophecy 103
24. How Greatly the Kindness of the Good Lord Provided for His Poor Abbot Stephen after a Bloodletting 104
25. How the Lord Relieved Him and His Brothers in Their Need 105
26. With What Purity and Devotion the Venerable Father Stephen Celebrated the Holy Vigils of the Divine Office 105
27. About His Sincere Humility 106
28. How the Holy Abbot Stephen Sent a Certain Brother to a Nearby Market Town to Buy What the Brothers Needed When the Monastery at Cîteaux Had Reached Its Lowest Ebb in Poverty, yet Gave Him No Money, Knowing by the Spirit of Prophecy That All Would Go Well with Him 107
29. How Monasteries of the Cistercian Order Were Founded in Several Dioceses; about the Institution of the General Chapter and about the Privilege for the Confirmation of the Statutes Which the Lord Abbot Stephen Obtained with His Fellow Abbots from the Apostolic See 109
30. The Decree of Pope Callistus 111
31. How, by the Spirit, the Blessed Father Stephen Was Aware of the Unworthiness of His Successor and about Stephen’s Precious Death 113
32. On the Life and Excellent Conduct of the Most Reverend Fastrad, Abbot of Cîteaux 114
33. About the Wonderful Conversion of Dom Alexander, Abbot of Cîteaux of Blessed Memory 120
34. About a Revelation Which the Blessed Monk Christian Deserved to See, Concerning Abbot Raynard and the Community of Cîteaux 122
35. About the Vision Which Converted Dom John, Monk of Cîteaux and Later Bishop of Valence 124
Book Two: Bernard of Clairvaux and the Early Abbots of Clairvaux 127
1. About the Virtues and Miracles of Our Most Blessed Father Bernard, First Abbot of Clairvaux, and How a Departed Brother Appeared to Him during High Mass 129
2. About the Soul of a Departed Brother Which One of the Senior Monks Saw Struggling with Demons, and How He Was Set Free from Pain by the Prayers of the Brothers 130
3. How at Vigils Saint Bernard Saw Angels Standing Next to Each Monk, Writing Down What They Were Chanting 132
4. How Bernard Saw Holy Angels Urging the Brothers to Chant the Hymn Te Deum Laudamus More Fervently 133
5. On the Magnificent Word by Which, While He Preached, He Gave Hope of Pardon to the Fearful and Despairing 134
6. About a Monk Who Could Not Summon up Faith in the Sacrament of the Altar, and How the Holy Father Ordered Him to Receive Communion by Virtue of His Own Faith 135
7. About a Spiritual Monk Who Saw the Image of the Crucified Embracing the Holy Father in Prayer 136
8. About a Monk Whom the Holy Father Refused to Heal Completely from Epilepsy, but Cured in Part 137
9. About a Dying Brother, Whom the Holy Father Ordered to Postpone His Death Lest the Brothers’ Sleep Be Broken 138
10. How the Man of God Predicted That His Brother, Dom Guy, Would Not Die at Clairvaux Because of His Sin 139
11. How the Venerable Father Spent Three Years in the Regions of Italy but Still Visited Clairvaux in Spirit Three Times 140
12. When He Had Been away from Clairvaux for a Long Time, He Returned in Spirit and Entered into the Cells of the Novices and Consoled One Who Was Grieving 141
13. About the Miraculous Conversion of Many Clerks When the Holy Man Preached the Word of God in the Schools of Paris 143
14. About Those Novices Whom Bernard Blessed and Clothed in the Monastic Habit, and in the Spirit Foretold That They Would All Become Abbots 145
15. About the Robber Who Was Bound with Cords and Already Had the Rope around His Neck, Ready for Death, and How Bernard Put His Own Habit on Him and Made Him a Lay Brother at Clairvaux 147
16. About the Wonderful Devotion with Which Bernard Was Received by the People of Italy When He Went to That Region 148
17. About the Magnificent Reply by Which the Man of God Refuted the Cleverness of a Certain Heretic in Gascony 150
18. About a Blind Man in That Region Who Received His Sight through the Dust of the Earth Where the Footprints of the Holy Man Were Shown to Him 152
19. About a Dead Man Whom Blessed Bernard Raised to Life 154
20. About the Death of the Most Blessed Abbot Bernard and the Miracles That Happened after His Death 156
21. About Dom Robert, Second Abbot of Clairvaux, and about the Novice Who by His Exhortations and Prayers Was Confirmed in a Holy Promise through a Great Miracle 159
22. About a Senior Monk Who Foresaw in the Spirit the Apostasy of a Certain Monk and Foretold It to Dom Robert 163
23. About a Delightful Vision Which Dom Robert Saw at the Death of a Spiritual Brother 165
24. About Pons, Fifth Abbot of Clairvaux, and Later Bishop of Clermont 167
25. About a Dying Brother Who Made Known to Abbot Dom Pons the Glory of Eternal Blessedness Which Had Been Prepared and Shown to Him in Advance 171
26. About a Timid Brother Who Was Magnificently Stirred to Repentance by the Abbot, Dom Pons 172
27. About Blessed Gerard, Sixth Abbot of Clairvaux 176
28. How Dom Gerard, the Abbot of Pious Memory, Was Crowned with Martyrdom out of Zeal for Righteousness and for the Order 181
29. How Dom Peter the Abbot Deserved To Be Assured by a Revelation of the Glorification of Christ’s Martyr, Gerard 185
30. About Dom Henry of Pious Memory, Seventh Abbot of Clairvaux, Afterward Cardinal Bishop of Alba 188
31. About a Lay Brother Who Escaped the Sentence of Damnation by the Grace of God and the Prayers of the Venerable Abbot Henry 192
32. About the Venerable Man Dom Peter, the Eighth Abbot of Clairvaux 196
33. How Almighty God Granted the Fruit of Repentance to a Certain Very Wicked Sinner by the Merits and Prayers of the Venerable Abbot Peter 200
34. A Review of the Foregoing 205
Book Three: The Monks of Clairvaux 207
1. About Dom Gerard, Brother of Saint Bernard and Cellarer at Clairvaux 209
2. About the Praiseworthy Abstinence of Dom Gerard, the Cellarer 215
3. About the Precious Death of the Venerable Man, Gerard 216
4. About the Very Reverend Father Dom Humbert, a Former Prior of Clairvaux 219
5. Bernard’s Sermon at the Death of Humbert of Pious Memory 222
6. A Summary of the Virtues of the Old Man Humbert, Taken from the Foregoing Sermon 229
7. About Dom Odo, Former Subprior of Clairvaux 231
8. About Blessed Guerric, a Former Monk of Clairvaux, and Later Abbot of Igny 233
9. How Dom Guerric Was Very Much Exercised in Conscience at His Death 236
10. About Dom Robert, Monk of Clairvaux, Nephew of Saint Bernard, Later Abbot of Noirlac 238
11. A Letter from Saint Bernard to His Nephew, Very Gently Urging His Return 240
12. The Dangers of Leaving the Cistercian Order for Another 251
13. How the Monk Rainald, of Blessed Memory, Saw Blessed Mary Visiting the Monks Who Were Reaping 252
14. How a Monk Heard the Board of the Dead as a Sign of His Own Death 257
15. About the Servant of God Peter, Who Used to See the Lord Jesus Christ on the Altar during Mass 258
16. About the Venerable William, Who Was Corrected for His Fault by an Angel of the Lord and Given a Penance 263
17. About Gerard of Farfa, a Very Holy Monk 269
18. About a Marvelous Grace Which God Bestowed upon a Perfect Monk 272
19. How Saint Bernard Converted the Highborn Man Arnulf, and the Virtues Which He Exemplified 279
20. About a Monk Who Had a Bad Headache, and How He Was Cured by the Power of Christ’s Sacrament 284
21. About a Brother to Whom the Blessed Virgin Mary Gave Heavenly Food in a Vision 285
22. About the Venerable Old Man Achard, Former Novice Master at Clairvaux 287
23. About Dom Geoffrey, a Monk of Clairvaux Who Later Became Bishop of Sorra 290
24. More Visions of the Same Servant of God, Geoffrey 292
25. How It Was Revealed to Geoffrey That He Would Become a Bishop, and about His Holy Death at Clairvaux 293
26. About Baldwin, Monk of Clairvaux, Later Bishop of Pisa 296
27. About Dom Eskil, Archbishop of Denmark, and Later a Monk at Clairvaux 300
28. The Happy Deaths of Two Pilgrims at the Tomb of the Lord; They Were Uncles of Dom Eskil 307
29. About the Noble Prince Gonario Who Became a Monk at Clairvaux 311
30. How the Venerable Abbot Simon Left His Abbey and Made His Profession at Clairvaux 312
31. About One of the Senior Monks Who Saw Blessed Mary Presiding in the Monks’ Chapter 313
32. About a Brother to Whom Our Lord Jesus Christ Appeared with Saint John the Evangelist 314
33. About a Brother Who at the Death of Another of the Brothers Saw the Lord Jesus Christ Come down from Heaven 316
34. How the Man of God Boso Heard the Angels Singing at the Death of Another Brother 318
Book Four: More on the Monks of Clairvaux 321
1. About the Monk Alquirin of Holy Memory, Whom the Lord Jesus Visited as He Was Dying 323
2. About a Brother with a Wondrous Gift of Compunction, Whom the Lord Consoled Magnificently 325
3. About a Monk Who Experienced a Sweet Taste in the Eucharist 328
4. About a Monk Who Withstood the Assaults of Many Demons and Deserved to See the Lord Jesus 329
5. How the Lord Jesus Christ Appeared to an Old Monk as He Was Keeping Vigil on Good Friday 333
6. How the Merciful Lord Warned and Converted a Certain Clerk 334
7. How Blessed Bernard Often Appeared to a Novice 336
8. About a Monk to Whom the Lord Jesus Christ Appeared Twice 338
9. How Brother Ansulph Saw the Lord Jesus Hanging on the Cross 339
10. About a Brother Who Kissed the Hand of the Lord When He Blessed Him in a Vision 340
11. About a Brother Who Saw Blessed Mary Magdalene in a Vision 341
12. About the Great Progress Made by a Certain Lay Monk 342
13. About a Lay Brother, Whose Devotion Saint Bernard Knew through the Spirit 344
14. About a Vision in Which a Certain Brother Sees the Death of Another Brother 347
15. About a Lay Monk Who Learned to Say Mass in His Sleep 348
16. About the Great Patience of a Certain Lay Brother in His Sickness 349
17. How a Lay Brother Received Knowledge of Divine Scripture 351
18. About a Lay Brother, a Cowherd, Who in a Vision Saw the Lord Jesus Helping Him Herd His Cows 353
19. About the Great Humility of a Certain Lay Brother 354
20. About a Lay Brother and How, after He Died, the Lord Deigned to Show through a Glorious Revelation How Perfect Was His Life and What Blessed Felicity He Attained in Death 356
21. About a Brother Whom Saint Bernard Warns in a Vision Not to Give Way to Temptation 360
22. Concerning a Brother to Whom Saint Malachy and Blessed Bernard Appeared, Chastising Him for a Fault 361
23. About a Lay Brother Who Deserved to See Holy Angels at His Death 363
24. How a Lay Brother Was Punished by God for Washing His Socks without Permission 363
25. About a Monk Who Presumed to Sleep without His Socks, and How He Was Prohibited from Becoming an Abbot through a Divine Revelation 366
26. About the Wonderful Fervor of Dom John, a Former Prior of Clairvaux 367
27. With What Great Constancy the Venerable Prior John Spurned the Luxuries of the Flesh 370
28. About the Venerable Man Dom Gerard, Monk of Clairvaux and Later Abbot 374
29. About a Monk Who Had an Invisible Bloodletting by a Great Miracle of God’s Grace 377
30. Concerning a Vision through Which a Novice at Clairvaux Was Delivered from a Temptation 380
31. How Demons Wished to Do Harm to a Certain Lay Brother, but Were Not Able to Do So 383
32. How the Lord and His Glorious Mother Appeared to a Brother 384
33. About a Monk Who Was Told, “Your Sins Are Forgiven” 386
34. About an Observant Lay Brother of Clairvaux Named Lawrence 388
35. The Story of a Certain Spiritual Monk of Clairvaux 392
Book Five: Devotions and Dangers in Monastic Life 397
1. A Warning from Dom Gerard, Abbot of Clairvaux, against Swearing and about the Danger There Is for Those Who Swear 399
2. About the Danger of Property 401
3. About How Dangerous It Is for a Monk to Die without His Habit, That Is, without His Cowl 404
4. About a Lay Brother Who Forgot a Grave Sin 406
5. About the Danger for Someone Who Was Ashamed to Confess His Sins 407
6. How the Lord Corrected Leniently a Devout Monk Who Fell Asleep, and How He Severely Corrected Another Who Was Lazy out of Tepidity and Negligence 412
7. The Danger of Aspiring to Holy Orders 416
8. About the Dangers of Disobedience 419
9. More on the Danger of Disobedience 422
10. The Dangers of Conspiracy 428
11. The Dangers of Excommunication 437
12. About the Perils of Confessors Who Lack Discernment and in Praise of Those Who Are Discerning 440
13. How Dangerous It Is to Put Off Confession to Another Time 456
14. The Dangers of Discord 462
15. In Praise of Patience 467
16. About the Perils of Meditating Negligently on the Psalms 475
17. About the Value of Devoutly Serving the Lord Daily in Vigils 478
18. How Great Are the Dangers of Serving the Lord Halfheartedly at Vigils 486
19. On the Dangers to Those Religious Who Live Softly in This Life 489
20. The Danger for Those Who Presume to Chant the Office in a Worldly Way or for Applause 493
21. The Danger for Prelates Who Show a Worldly Affection for Their Families 495
Book Six: Blessed Deaths and A Final Summary 501
1. About the Imprudent Contemplation of a Monk of Clairvaux, and about the Dangers That Beset Contemplatives 503
2. Concerning the Excellence of Faith in the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, and How Much Discernment Must Be Shown in Contemplating It 509
3. Concerning the Happy Death of a Monk Who Wanted to Die at Clairvaux 517
4. Also about a Lay Brother Who, Burning with a Pious Desire, Prayed to the Lord That He Would Die at Clairvaux 522
5. How the Souls of the Departed Were Seen to Celebrate the Last Rites of a Religious 525
6. How a Knight Escaped the Danger of Death by the Help of the Faithful Departed 529
7. Concerning a Priest Who Was Praying for the Faithful Departed Who, When He Said, “May They Rest in Peace,” Heard a Great Multitude of Voices Responding, “Amen” 533
8. About a Young Boy Who Confessed His Sins after His Death 534
9. How a Prioress Was Warned by a Revelation to Confess 537
10. A Final Summary of What This Volume Contains 541
Glossary 551
Bibliography 557
Index of Scriptural References 571
Index of Classical References 579
Index of Patristic and Medieval References 580
General Index 586
About the Author :
Benedicta Ward SLG, a member of the Sisters of the Love of God community, is a fellow of Harris Manchester College and teaches for the Faculty of Theology at Oxford University. She is the author of numerous books on early monasticism and medieval spirituality. Paul Savage received his Ph.D. in medieval history from the University of Notre Dame and wrote his dissertation on the Exordium Magnum.
Review :
Benedicta Ward and Paul Savage have done a great service in making this important text easily accessible to students, scholars, and all those interested in the Cistercians and their stories. They offer a lucid translation of Conrad of Eberbach’s difficult prose and provide extensive commentary that places Conrad’s work in its monastic context.Martha G. Newman, PhD, Associate Professor of History and Religious Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, Author of The Boundaries of Charity: Cistercian Culture and Ecclesiastical Reform, 1098-1180
The Great Beginning of Cîteaux is a rich treasure trove of stories, visions, and miracles that should be a mandatory reading for all those interested in twelfth- and thirteenth-century spirituality, history, and culture. The translation is superb, and the introduction very helpful for general readers and scholars alike.Stefano Mula, PhD, Director, Comparative Literature Program, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
Sister Benedicta Ward and Paul Savage must be congratulated for their important and successful translation of one of the most significant works of the Cistercian Middle Ages, which is now finally made available to non-specialists. Reading the Great Beginning of Citeaux, in fact, will not only appeal to those interested in the history of the Cistercian Order. In this collection of stories readers will find a wealth of information on medieval spirituality, history and culture, and it is a work that could be of benefit in any course on the Middle Ages.
Stefano Mula, Middlebury College, Horizons
Here we have an accessible English version which gives a well-defined picture of life in Cistercian monasteries, from the foundation of the Order until the early thirteenth century. . . . Although at first sight this book appears to be one for scholars or members of the Cistercian Order, I discovered that it has a wider appeal. In scholarly terms Conrad's is not a critical history, but stands nearer the tradition of the Desert monastics, relating stories that are designed to build up the reader in faith. However, the serious student will find the extensive footnotes and bibliography particularly useful.
Sister Christine SLG, Fairacres Chronicle
