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The Cistercian Founders and the Rule: Some Reconsiderations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011
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All sources of Cistercian history avow repeatedly that the primary aim of the founders was a stricter adherence to the Rule. Most scholars accept this but disagree considerably over what this implied in practice. Against an older view that the Cistercians were determined to observe the Rule in every detail and to prohibit not only what St Benedict condemned but even what he failed to mention, a number of more recent commentators, including P. Salmon, B. K. Lackner and J. Leclercq, have argued that the ideal was not a complete literalism so much as a complete fidelity to its spirit of renunciation, penitence, prayer and work. L. B. Lekai has taken this argument several steps further to claim that the Cistercian movement had little to do with a return to the Rule for its own sake. It derived rather from a general desire among the more advanced spirits of the eleventh century ‘to create a life of perfect austerity and seclusion from the world’. The founders ‘handled that venerable document of monastic legislation with remarkable liberality. They invoked and applied it when it suited their purpose; they ignored or even contradicted it when it could not be fitted into their concept of monasticism, largely based on the ideals of the eleventh-century reforms’. The increasing emphasis on the Rule, which Lekai does not deny, is to be explained by two secondary objects: to establish the movement on an indisputably legal foundation and to defend the Cistercians against charges of novelty. In fact, so little were the first Cistercians concerned with literal adherence to the Rule that they immediately departed from it in several important respects. Other deviations followed quickly, not as is often alleged because the Cistercians betrayed their ideals almost as soon as they proclaimed them, but because a literal interpretation of St Benedict had never been their intention in the first place.
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References
1 Salmon, P., ‘L'Ascèse monastique et les origines de Citeaux’, in Mélanges St Bernard: XXIV Congres de l'Association Bourguignonne des Societes Savantes (Dijon 1953), 3O2ff.Google Scholar Trans, in Monastic Studies, iii (1965), 119ff.
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6 Ibid., 250.
7 Lekai, ‘Ideas and reality’, 23ff.
8 Idem, ‘The Rule and the early Cistercians’, 249f.
9 Ibid.
10 ‘Quia sine amminiculo istorum non intellegebant se plenarie die seu nocte praecepta regulae posse servare’. Exordium Parvum, xv, 10. All references are to the edition of J. de la Croix Bouton and van Damme, J., Les Plus anciens textes de Citeaux (Achel 1974)Google Scholar, hereafter cited as Textes. The translation is that of Lackner, B. K. in Lekai, L. B., The Cistercians, Kent, Ohio 1977.459Google Scholar
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14 ‘…eosque in vita et morte, excepto monachatu, ut semetipsos tractaturos…’ Ibid., xv, 10, Textes, 78.
15 Lekai, ‘The Rule and the early Cistercians’, 250.
16 Rule, Ch. 59.
17 As for e.g. in Chs. 30, 37, 39, 45, 70.
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27 Salmon, ‘L’ Ascèse monastique, 302ff; and in Monastic Studies, iii (1965), 119ff.
28 Monastic Studies, iii. 123.
29 Letter xxviii to Bernard of Clairvaux, ed. Constable, G., The Letters of Peter the Venerable, Cambridge, Mass. 1967, 52 ffGoogle Scholar. The letter has been discussed in some detail by, among others, Williams, W., ‘Peter the Venerable: a letter to St Bernard’, The Downside Review, lvi (1938), 344 ffCrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Knowles, D., ‘Cistercians and Cluniacs’, in. The Historian and Character, ed. Brooke, C. N. L. and Constable, G., Cambridge 1963Google Scholar. See also my ‘The limits of friendship’, CS, xvi (1981), 81–97.
30 Esp. that of Orderic Vitalis, cf. below.
31 Mahn, J. B., L'Ordre cistercien el son gouvernement des origines au milieu du XIHe siècxscle, 2nd edn, Paris 1951, 27, 32.Google Scholar
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33 ‘Ut… tenacius et locum et observantiam sanctae rcgulae in eo…ament…in arta et angusta via quam regula demonstrat, usque ad exhalationem spiritus desudent…’, Exord. Parv., Int., Textes, 54, trans. Lackner in The Eleventh Century Background. Unless otherwise noted all translations of the Exordium are those of Lackner.
34 ‘… vitam suam sub custodia sanctae regulae patris Benedicti se ordinaturos pollicerites’, Textes, 57.
35 ‘…ac regulae beatissimi Benedicti quam illuc hue usque tepide ac negligenter in eodem monasterio tenueratis, artius deinceps atque perfectius inhaerere velle professos fuisse’, ibid., 58.
36 ‘Quod quia in loco praedicto pluribus impedientibus causis constat adimpleri non posse’, ibid.
37 ‘sanctum propositum’, ibid. The privilege of Pope Paschal 11 protecting the new community from reprisals by Molesme, also reproduced, similarly exhorts it to persevere in an endeavour which sets it apart from the general run of monks.
38 ‘… et de illo religioso fratrum collegio socios votum in regula habentes elegerunt…’ ibid., 59.
39 ‘Nam viri isti apud Molismum positi, saepius inter se Dei gratia aspirati, de transgressione regulae beati Benedicti patris monachorum loquebantur, conquerebantur, contristabantur, videntes se ceterosque monachos hanc regulam sollempni professione servaturos promisisse, eamque minime custodisse, et ob hoc perjurii crimen scienter incurrisse, et propter hoc…ad hanc solitudinem convolaverunt, ut professionem suam observantia sanctae regulae adimplerent (veniebant)’, ibid., 60.
40 ‘…propter artiorem et sanctiorem vitam secundum regulam bead Benedicti, quam proposuerant tenendam, habitandum venerunt, depositis quorumdam monasteriorum consuetudinibus, imbecillitatem suam ad tantum pondus sustinendum imparem judicantium’, ibid., 72.
41 ‘… virum scilicet litteratum, in divinis et humanis satis gnarum, amatorem regulae et fratrum…’, ibid., 69.
42 ‘…quique amator regulae et loci erat’, Ibid., 81.
43 Leclercq, ‘Intentions of the Cistercian Founders’, 93.
44 ‘Dehinc abbas ille et fratres ejus, non immemores sponsionis suae, regulam beati Benedicti in loco illo ordinare et unanimiter statuerunt tenere, reicientes a se quicquid regulae refragabatur, froccos videlicet et pellicias ac staminia, caputia quoque et femoralia, pectina et cooperatoria, stramina lectorum ac diversa ciborum in refectorio fercula, sagimen etiam et cetera omnia quae puritati regulae adversabantur. Sicque rectitudinem regulae supra cunctum vitae suae tenorem ducentes, tarn in ecclesiasticis quam in ceteris observationibus regulae vestigiis sunt adaequati seu conformati. Exuti ergo veterem hominem, novum se induisse gaudebant’, Textes, 77.
45 ‘…qui organa erant Spiritus Sancti, quorumque statuta transgredi sacrilegium est…’, ibid.
46 ‘Viri enim sancti thesaurum virtutum coelitus inventum, successoribus ad multorum salutem profuturum committere gestiebant’, ibid., 80.
47 ‘… videntes scilicet in istis possibile fore, quod antea impossible in custodienda regula formidabant…dura et aspera regulae praecepta ardenter amare…, ibid., 82.
48 See note 44.
49 For the whole controversy surrounding the dating of the various versions of the Carta Caritatis, see the series of well-known articles by J. A. Lefevre, conveniently listed and summarised by Zaker, P., ‘Die Anfange des Zisterzicnserordcns: kurze Bemerkungen zu den Studien der letzten zehn Jahre’, Analecta Sac. Ord. Cist., xx (1964), 103ffGoogle Scholar. Although Lefevre's contention that the Summa was the original document is still accepted by some scholars, such as Lekai, it has in my opinion been overthrown by J. dc la Croix Bouton and J. B. van Damme in the works cited in note 32 above.
50 ‘Curam tamen animarum illorum gratia caritatis retinere volumus, ut si quando a sancto proposito et observantia sanctae regulae paululum, quod absit, declinare temptaverint, per nostram sollicitudinem ad rectitudinem vitae redire possint’, Textes, 91. This, and all other translations of the Carta Caritatis, are also by B. K. Lackner, in appendix I of Lekai, The Cistercians.
51 ‘Si quis vero abbas minus in regula studiosus, vel saecularibus rebus nimis intentus, vel in aliquibus vitiosus repertus fuerit, ibi (i.e. in the general chapter) caritative clametur’, ibid., 95.
52 ‘… in sancto proposito langucscere et a rectissima via sanctae regulae vel ordinis nostri exorbitare…’, ibid., 97.
53 ‘Simulque advertentes ibidem (sc. Molesme) etsi sancte honesteque viveretur, minus tamen pro sui desiderio atque proposito, ipsam quam professi fuerant regulam observari’, ibid., III. Because of the connection of Molesme with the family of St Bernard, the Exordium Cisterdi (unlike the Exord. Parvum) makes a point of recognising the legitimacy, though not the sufficiency, of the observance there. See van Damme's comments in Textes, 22. This apparent difficulty for our thesis is dealt with below.
54 ‘… hoc solum inquam metuerent et metuerent pene usque ad desperationem, Christi pauperes suae se non posse relinquere pauperitatis heredes…’, ibid., 113.
55 Pennington, B., ‘Three early documents’, CS, iv (1969), 143.Google Scholar
56 ‘… et quia hos ambrosianos beatus pater et magister noster Benedictus in sua Regula, quam in hoc loco maximo studio decrevimus observandum, nobis proponit canendos. Quapropter auctoritate Dei et nostra vobis injungimus ne quando integritatem sanctae Regulae quam in hoc loco haud parvo sudore a nobis elaboratam et statutam conspicitis, et vestra levitate mutare aut evellere presumatis, sed magis predicti patris nostri sancti prepositi amatores et imitatores ac propagatores existentes, et hos hymnos inviolabiliter teneatis‘. Manlier, J., Chartres et documents conccrnant I'abbaye de Cîteaux, 1098–1182, Rome 1961Google Scholar. Translated by Pennington, ‘Three early documents’, 145.
57 Ed. Stubbs, William, Rolls Series xc, 2, London 1889.Google Scholar
58 The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, ed. and transl. by Chibnall, M., Oxford 1973, iv. 312–37.Google Scholar
59 For a good brief discussion of William and Orderic as historians (with full citation of literature), see Gransden, A., Historical Writing in England, circa 550–1307, London 1974, 166ff, 151 ffGoogle Scholar. Van Damme has argued that William had direct communication with Stephen Harding, Textes, 10.
60 ‘… Ratione supremus rerum Auctor omnia fecit, ratione omnia regit. ratione etaequilibritate debet nostra subsistere natura’, De Gestis, 381. Translations of William arc my own.
61 ‘… Novissime per Beatum Benedictum regula divinitus processit quae fluxum naturae ad rationem revocaret’, ibid.
62 ‘Quapropter ex regula quae ratione et auctoritate nixa, utpote omnium justorum spiritu dictata est, date exempla’, ibid., 381f.
63 ‘…solam medullam regulae vestigandam’, ibid., 382.
64 ‘…auctoris regulae voluntatem inquirerent…’, ibid.
65 ‘… ita regulae incubantes, ut nee iota unum nee apicem praetereundum putent’, ibid., 383.
66 ‘… pronuntiantes non posse regulae puritatem custodiri in loco ubi et opum congeries et ciborum indigenes etiam reluctantem animum effocarent’, ibid., 382.
67 ‘…sperare se duraturos in proposito, et successuris futuros exemplo, qui si flexi fuerint peccabunt’, ibid., 385.
68 ‘… nos fratres karissimi secundum normam sancti patris Benedicti professionem fecimus, sed ut mihi uidetur non earn integro tenemus’. Ecclesiastical History, iv. 312.
69 ‘…laudo igitur ut omnino regulam sancti Benedicti teneamus, cauentes ne ad dextram uel ad sinistram ab ea deuiemus’, ibid.
70 ‘… Verum ad tenendam per omnia sancti Benedicti regulam uos inuito, quam in pluribus preuaricari secundum id quod professi estis uos ueraciter agnosco. Vnde superni iudicis animaduersionem pertimesco, ne in nos deseuiat pro reatu transgressionis in tremendo iudicio’, ibid., 316.
71 ‘…qui sancti decreuerant regulam Benedicti sic ut Iudei legem Moisi ad litteram seruare penitus’, ibid., 322.
72 Textes, 60.
73 De Gestis, 382.
74 Ecclesiastical History, iv. 316.
75 A. H. Bredero has argued that Bernard of Clairvaux wrote his Apologia and his well-known letter to his nephew Robert (Letter I) with the intention of intervening in an internal dispute at Cluny on the side of a party which wanted a reform along Cistercian lines: ‘Cluny et Citeaux au Xlle siècle. Les origines de la controverse’, Studi Medievali, 3rd ser., xii, 1 (1971), 133ffGoogle Scholar Bredero's thesis that it was Pons of Melgueil, deposed in 1122, who led the reform party has been attacked by P. Zerbi. However, both he and J. B. van Damme agree that Bernard's letter and the Apologia were indeed written with the intention of encouraging reform at Cluny. An excellent summary of the whole question with complete literature has been given by van Damme, ‘Bernard de Clairvaux et Pons de Cluny: controverse au sujet d'une controverse’, Cîteaux Comm. Cist., XXV (1974), 271ff.Google Scholar
76 Van Damme, Textes, 22.
77 Notably Caesarius of Heisterbach, writing towards the end of the century.
78 Cf., for example, his Apologia ad Guillcmum Abbatcm in Leclercqand, J. and Rochais, H. (eds.), Sancti Bemardi Opera, III (Rome 1963), esp. vii. 14.Google Scholar
79 ‘…Obiciunt itaque nostris quidam uestrorum. Non inquiunt uos regulam cuius rectitudinem sequi proposuistis, ut ipsis operibus monstratur sequimini, immo distortis gressibus ignotas semitas et deuia quaeque sectamini’. Letters of Peter the Venerable, 53.
80 ‘…Dicitis (Bernard says to the Cistercians who have criticised Cluny), ut dicitur, solos vos hominum esse iustos aut omnibus sanctiorcs, solos vos monachorum regularitcr vivere, ceteros vero Regulae potius existere transgressores’. Apologia, v. 10, 90.
81 Made explicit even in the Apologia, iv. 8 and 9. In speaking of the rewards to be looked for in heaven, though arrived at by different paths, Bernard remarks: ‘Verum tamen “Stella ab Stella differt in claritate: sic erit, ait, et resurrectio mortuorum” (Ps. XXII, 3). Nam esti fulgebunt iusti sicut sol in regno Patris corum, alii tamen aliis amplius, pro diversitate meritorum’. Ibid., 89. I have dealt more extensively with the question of Bernard's attitude towards the Cluniac observance of the Rule in Cistercian Studies, xvi (1981), 81–97, esp. 89, 92ff.Google Scholar
82 Several Cistercian polemical tracts written during the famous quarrel with Cluny make it clear that they did not accept traditional houses as equals. One, edited by Dimier, M. A., ‘Un témoin tardif du conflit entre Cisterciens et Clunisiens’, Studia Anselmiana, xl (1956) (Petrus Venerabilis), 81ffGoogle Scholar, tells of a monk who first entered Bonneval (a Cistercian house), then regretted his decision and left to enter Cluny. Now regretting his lapse, he returns to Bonneval, equating Cluny with a return to the world. In the ‘Vision of a Cistercian Novice’, ed. G. Constable, ibid., 95ff, a young monk is advised to take the middle road according to the Rule of St Benedict, avoiding the extremes of laxity and excessive asceticism. At the end of the road are two doors, both entering into heaven. But one, which represents Cluny, is in a most dilapidated condition and is falling down more every day. The new one (Citeaux) is sparkling with jewels and gives easy and assured access.
83 Hofmeister, Ph., ‘Der Ubertritt in eine andere religiöse Genossenschaft’, Archiv für katholisches Kirchenrecht, cviii (1928), 422–3.Google Scholar
84 In De praecepto et dispensation, Bernard first confirms what he had said in the Apologia, that other interpretations of the Rule are valid (xvi. 46–8, Opera, in. 285–6) even if it is not kept literally. However, it is a different matter for Cistercians: ‘Exceptis proinde cisterciensibus, et qui illorum forte ritu non tarn vivere secundum Regulam quam ipsam ex integro pure ad Iitteram, uti se sane professos esse putant, tenere curant’, ibid., 286. In letter 313 to the abbot of St Mary's York, he wrote, concerning monks who had returned from a stricter to a more relaxed observance that, while it was not for him to condemn them, ‘Ego Bernardus, si de bonis ad meliora, vel de periculosis ad securiora vota et opere libere pertransissem, et illicta voluntate ad ea quae mutavi, denuo recurrere praessumpsissem, non solum aposlata, verum etiam regno Dei non idoneus fieri pertimescererem’. P.L., clxxxii. 520.
85 Rule, Chs. 3, and especially 64. ‘Et praecipue, utpraesentam regulam in omnibus conservet…’.
86 Textes, 78.
87 Dialogi, Lib. II, P.L. lxvi. 140.
88 Textes, 77.