(A.D. 1117.)
[Authority:--His life, by Baldric, B. of Dôle (d. 1130); and another
attributed to Andrew, monk of Fontevrault, and his disciple.]
Robert of Arbrissel was born of poor parents, in a village of
Brittany, then called Arbrissel, and now known as Arbresec, in the
diocese of Rennes, near La Guierche, in the year 1045 or 1047. His
father, Damalioc, who afterwards embraced a religious life, and his
mother, Orvenda, were pious people who brought him up to love God
above all things. When of an age to study, with their consent he went
to several towns of his native province, to learn in the schools
without being a charge to his parents; and, making great progress, he
went to Paris, where he so distinguished himself that he became a
doctor in the university. At this time Silvester de la Guierche,
Chancellor of Conon II., duke of Brittany, was placed upon the
episcopal throne of Rennes, but being desirous of relieving himself of
his duties on various accounts, he chose Robert, and appointed him his
vicar-general, with absolute power in the diocese. Robert employed his
authority in restoring ecclesiastical discipline, putting down simony,
prohibiting incestuous marriages amongst the laity, and in enforcing
clerical celibacy. As long as Silvester de la Guierche was alive,
Robert was safe from the enemies his discipline had aroused, but, on
the death of his protector, he was obliged to leave Brittany, and take
refuge in Angers, where he gave lessons in theology. But, wishing to
consecrate himself entirely to God, he quitted Angers, and buried
himself in the forest of Craon, in Anjou, where he lived in great
austerity, wearing a habit of pig skin, and eating roots and wild
fruit. His fame as a second S. John the Baptist, having been bruited
about, great numbers came to place themselves under his direction, so
that he speedily saw his forest solitude invaded by many hundreds of
anchorites. The number became at length so great as to oblige him to
disperse them through the neighbouring forests. Not being able to
watch over all, he divided them into three colonies, of which he
retained one, and gave the others to two of his disciples: the B.
Vitalis of Mortain, who founded the order of Savigny; and the B. Raoul
de la Futaye, founder of the abbey of S. Sulpice, at Rennes.
Robert was obliged to quit his retired life, and preach the Crusade,
by order of Pope Urban II. He, therefore, placed his colony under the
care of the bishop of Angers, and undertook the execution of the task
imposed upon him.
On the confines of Anjou and Poitou, about four miles from the little
town of Candes, was an extensive tract of undulating land, covered
with bushes, and wholly uncultivated; a little valley, traversed by a
slender stream in this district, bore the name of Fontevrault. Here,
in 1099, Robert began to build some huts to shelter his followers, and
here he settled to found a new colony. Many religiously disposed
persons of both sexes, young and old, gathered round him, and Robert
found it necessary to establish distinct residences for the men and
for the women, each with its own separate oratory. The work of the
women was to sing continually the praises of God; that of the men was,
between their spiritual exercise, the tillage of the soil. Charity,
unity, modesty, and gentleness, prevailed in this singular colony. All
lived on what their hands produced, or on the alms sent them; and they
bore the name of "The poor of Jesus Christ."
The example of these new solitaries attracted great numbers, many of
whom had only an imperfect or a mistaken vocation. Women who had led
dissolute lives, feeling a passing compunction, hastened thither,
assumed the outward profession, waxed cold, and gave great scandal by
fresh lapses. This drew forth severe censure from Marbod, bishop of
Rennes, and Godfrey, abbot of Vendôme. The former wrote to Robert a
letter full of reproach, in which he told him that he had quitted the
Order of the Regular Canons to run after women, and that the colony of
Fontevrault was a scandal to the Church, through the confinement of
some of the women, and the cries of new born babes; and he rebuked him
for having given the religious habit to persons who asked for it,
without having previously tested their sincerity. The letter of
Godfrey of Vendôme, was couched in a similar strain of remonstrance;
but he went further, and, trusting to hearsay, reprimanded Robert for
associating too freely with the females of his Order, and seeing them
in private without the presence of witnesses. Some have supposed these
letters to be spurious, but without sufficient grounds. A man of great
singleness of mind and guilelessness of spirit is easily deceived by
the professions of others, and is liable to be led into actions which,
with more worldly wisdom, he would avoid as indiscreet. Indeed, the
formation of this double society was hardly consistent with prudence,
and Robert found it necessary to keep it within the bounds of severe
and vigilant prescriptions, to prevent the recurrence of those
scandals which had called forth the reprimand of Marbod and the abbot
of Vendôme. Godfrey was afterwards so thoroughly convinced that he was
in error in attributing evil to the saintly Robert, that he became his
ardent champion. Robert erected three convents, strictly enclosed, for
the women: one for virgins and widows, called the Grand Moutier, was
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin; another for penitents, was placed
under the patronage of S. Mary Magdalene; and a third, for leprous and
infirm women, was dedicated to S. Lazarus. The house of the men was
completely distinct, and was placed under the invocation of S. John
the Divine. One large church was erected to serve the four houses, and
the whole community was placed by Robert under the supreme direction
of an abbess; and he set the example of submission, by appointing
Petronilla de Craon, widow of the Baron de Chemille, Superior to the
Order, and he lived in obedience to her till his death, which took
place on February 25th, 1117.
[69] Or Diodorus.
[70] The Iconoclastic party was not actuated by any religious feeling,
but was simply that of free-thinkers, as the Protestant and very
prejudiced ecclesiastical historian Gieseler is constrained to admit.
He says, "the enlightenment party, the opponents of images, was not
created by a religious feeling, but merely by the emperor's will, and
thus partly fostered a superficial, free-thinking, rather than a
beneficial reformatory tendency."
February 26.
S. NESTOR, _B. M. of Magida_, A.D. 251.
SS. FORTUNATUS AND COMPANIONS, _MM. at Antioch_.
S. DIONYSIUS, _B. M. of Augsburg_, A.D. 303.
S. ALEXANDER, _Patr. of Alexandria_, A.D. 326
S. FAUSTIAN, _B. of Bologna, in Italy, 4th cent._
S. PORPHYRY, _B. of Gaza_, A.D. 421.
SS. EOLADIUS AND AGRICOLA, _BB. of Nevers, 6th cent._
S. VICTOR, _P. at Arcis-sur-Aube, in France, 6th or 7th cent._
S. EDIGNA, _V. at Puech, in Bavaria_, A.D. 1119.