#Saint alfred how to#

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.Īelred died in the winter of 1166–7, probably on 12 January 1167 at Rievaulx.ĭe 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. In his later years, he is thought to have suffered from the kidney stones and arthritis.

#Saint alfred how to#

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 kings. Īelred wrote several influential books on spirituality, among them Speculum caritatis ('The Mirror of Charity,' reportedly written at the request of Bernard of Clairvaux) and De spiritali amicitia ('On Spiritual Friendship'). 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. Īlongside his role as a monk and later abbot, Aelred was involved throughout his life in political affairs. Moreover, Aelred had to make the long sea journey to the annual general chapter of the Order at Cîteaux in France. 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. His role as abbot required him to travel. Under his administration, the abbey is said to have grown to some 140 monks and 500 conversi and laymen. In 1147, he was elected abbot of Rievaulx itself, a position he was to hold until his death. In 1143, he was appointed abbot of the new Revesby Abbey, a daughter house of Rievaulx in Lincolnshire. Upon his return from Rome, Aelred became novice master at Rievaulx. The resulting negotiations dragged on for many years. 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. In 1142 Aelred travelled to Rome, alongside Walter of London, Archdeacon of York, to represent before Pope Innocent II the northern prelates who opposed the election of Henry de Sully, nephew of King Stephen as archbishop of York.

For Aelred, the source and object of true friendship is Christ. He saw that his reluctance to part from his friends at court, delayed his adopting his monastic calling. 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.

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 Cistercian abbey of Rievaulx in Yorkshire. He may have been partially educated by Lawrence of Durham, who sent him a hagiography of Saint Brigid.Īelred's early education was probably at the cathedral school at Durham. This was done in part to end the inheritance of benefices. In 1095, the Council of Claremont had forbidden the ordination of the sons of priests.

The ruins of Rievaulx Abbey on the River Rye in North Yorkshire.Īelred was born in Hexham, Northumbria, in year 1110, one of three sons of Eilaf, priest of St Andrew's at Hexham, himself a son of another Eilaf, treasurer of Durham.