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St Aelred and the Assumption

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2024

Charles Dumont O.C.R.
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A number of things have been written of late on the opinion held by St Aelred on the Assumption of Mary. Since an unknown sermon of the saint, found recently and published by Dr C. H. Talbot, contains a decisive allusion to the point, it may be interesting to resume the discussion and set it against its true background. To those who have studied the sources likely to afford some evidence for the belief, the apparent hesitation of the Cistercians seems surprising, having due regard to their outstanding devotion to our Lady. A remarkable study by Fr E. Wellens of the Abbey of Westmalle (Belgium), throws some light on the real situation.

To begin with, a charming legend told by Caesar of Heisterbach will explain the circumstances. In a monastery of our Order in Lombardy, there was a noble and well-educated monk named Bertram, who could no longer endure hearing doubts about the bodily assumption of Mary.

Type
Research Article
Information
Life of the Spirit , Volume 8 , Issue 89 , November 1953 , pp. 205 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © 1953 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

References

1 Eduard Wellens. De Cisterciënserorde en de Tenhemelopneming van Maria, in ‘Citeaux in de Nederlanden', II (1951), pp. 1-20.

2 Caesar of Heisterbach. Dialogus miraculorum, L. 7, c. 38. The story may have some connection with that of the lay brother of Clairvaux which occurs in Exordium Magnum, IV, 18.

3 The old Cistercian breviary is to be found in MS. Dijon 114, which was the prototype to be copied by all monasteries. The sermon of the pseudo-Jerome is printed in Migne P.L. 30, Col. 127-8.

4 Sermon Ll. P.L. 194, col. 1862.

5 Sermon XVIII. P.L. 195, col. 315b.

6 In Series Scriptorum S. Ordinis Cisterciensis, vol. 1, p. 162.

7 The Vita Abundi is in the unpublished MS. 19525 of the Bib1iothèque Royale de Bruxelles, fol. 17.

8 Bonum universale de apibus, Lib. II, 30, No. 11.

9 The Verses of Roger of Ford on Our Lady, ed. C. H. Talbot, in Collectanea Ordinis Cisterciensis Reformatorum, VI, 1939. p. 53.

10 Les Meditations d'Etienne de Sallai, cd. A. Wilmart, in Revue d'Ascetique et de Mystique, X, 1929. See 15a Meditatio, p. 411, and 15um gaudium, p. 413.

11 P.L. 178, col. 339.

12 P.L. 202, col. 618.

13 Instituta Capituli Generalis, No. XVIII.

14 cf. Aelred of Rievaulx, P.L. 195, col. 307a.

15 Ralph of Coggeshall, Chronicun Auglicanum, anno 1167.