HE was of noble descent, and was born in the north of England, in 1109.
Being educated in learning and piety, he was invited by David, the pious
king of Scotland, to his court, made master of his household, and highly
esteemed both by him and the courtiers. His virtue shone with bright
lustre in the world, particularly his meekness, which Christ declared to
be his favorite virtue, and the distinguishing mark of his true
disciples. The following is a memorable instance to what a degree he
possessed this virtue: a certain person of quality having insulted and
reproached him in the presence of the king, Aelred heard him out with
patience, and thanked him for his charity and sincerity, in telling him
his faults. This behavior had such an influence on his adversary as made
him ask his pardon on the spot. Another time, while he was speaking on a
certain matter, one interrupted him with very harsh, reviling
expressions: the servant of God heard him with tranquillity, and
afterwards resumed his discourse with the same calmness and presence of
mind as before. His desires were ardent to devote himself entirely to
God, by forsaking the world; but the charms of friendship detained him
some time longer in it, and were fetters to his soul; reflecting,
notwithstanding, that he must sooner or later be separated by death from
those he loved most, he condemned his own cowardice, and broke at once
those bands of friendship, which were more agreeable to him than all
other sweets of life. He describes the situation of his soul under this
struggle, and says, "Those who saw me, judging by the gaudy show which
surrounded me, and not knowing what passed within my soul, said,
speaking of me: Oh, how well is it with him! how happy is he! But they
knew not the anguish of my mind; for the deep wound in my heart gave me
a thousand tortures, and I was not able to bear the intolerable stench
of my sins." But after he had taken his resolution, he says, "I began
then to know, by a little experience, what immense pleasure is found in
thy service, and how sweet that peace is, which is its inseparable
companion."[1] To relinquish entirely all his worldly engagements, he
left Scotland, and embraced the austere Cistercian order, at Rieval, in
a valley upon the hanks of the Rie, in Yorkshire, where a noble lord,
called Walter {134} Especke, had founded a monastery in 1122. At the age
of twenty-four, in 1133, he became a monk under the first abbot,
William, a disciple of St. Bernard. Fervor adding strength to his tender
delicate body, he set himself cheerfully about practising the greatest
austerities, and employed much of his time in prayer and the reading of
pious books. He converted his heart with great ardor to the love of God,
and by this means finding all his mortifications sweet and light, he
cried out,[2] "That yoke doth not oppress, but raiseth the soul; that
burden hath-wings, not weight." He speaks of divine charity always in
raptures, and by his frequent ejaculations on the subject, it seems to
have been the most agreeable occupation of his soul. "May thy voice
(says he) sound in my ears, O good Jesus, that my heart may learn how to
love thee, that my mind may love thee, that the interior powers, and, as
it were, bowels of my soul, and very marrow of my heart, may love thee,
and that my affections may embrace thee, my only true good, my sweet and
delightful joy! What is love? my God! If I mistake not, it is the
wonderful delight of the soul, so much the more sweet as more pure, so
much the more overflowing and inebriating as more ardent. He who loves
thee, possesses thee; and he possesses thee in proportion as he loves,
because thou art love. This is that abundance with which thy beloved are
inebriated, melting away from themselves, that they may pass into thee,
by loving thee."[3] He had been much delighted in his youth with reading
Tully; but after his conversion, found that author, and all other
reading, tedious and bitter, which was not sweetened with the honey of
the holy name of Jesus, and seasoned with the word of God, as he says in
the preface to his book, _On spiritual friendship_. He was much edified
with the very looks of a holy monk, called Simon, who had despised high
birth, an ample fortune, and all the advantages of mind and body, to
serve God in that penitential state. This monk went and came as one deaf
and dumb, always recollected in God; and was such a lover of silence,
that he would scarce speak a few words to the prior on necessary
occasions. His silence, however, was sweet, agreeable, and full of
edification. Our saint says of him, "The very sight of his humility
stifled my pride, and made me blush at the immortification of my looks.
The law of silence practised among us, prevented my ever speaking to him
deliberately; but, one day, on my speaking a word to him inadvertently,
his displeasure appeared in his looks for my infraction of the rule of
silence; and he suffered me to lie some time prostrate before him to
expiate my fault; for which I grieved bitterly, and which I never could
forgive myself."[4] This holy monk, having served God eight years in
perfect fidelity, died in 1142, in wonderful peace, repeating with his
last breath, "I will sing eternally, O Lord, thy mercy, thy mercy, thy
mercy!"
St. Aelred, much against his inclination, was made abbot of a new
monastery of his order, founded by William, Earl of Lincoln, at Revesby,
in Lincolnshire, in 1142, and of Rieval, over three hundred monks, in
1143. Describing their life, he says, that they drank nothing but water;
ate little, and that coarse; labored hard, slept little, and on hard
boards; never spoke, except to their superiors on necessary occasions;
carried the burdens that were laid on them without refusing any; went
wherever they were led; had not a moment for sloth, or amusements of any
kind, and never had any lawsuit or dispute.[5] St. Aelred also mentions
their mutual charity and peace in the most affecting manner, and is not
able to find words to express the joy he felt at the sight of every one
of them. His humility and love of solitude made him constantly refuse
many bishoprics which were pressed {135} upon him. Pious reading and
prayer were his delight. Even in times of spiritual dryness, if he
opened the divine books, he suddenly found his soul pierced with the
light of the Holy Ghost. His eyes, though before as dry as marble,
flowed with tears, and his heart abandoned itself to sighs accompanied
with a heavenly pleasure, by which he was ravished in God. He died in
1166, and the fifty-seventh of his age, having been twenty-two years
abbot. See his works published at Douay in 1625, and in Bibl. Cisterc.
t. 5, particularly his _Mirrour of Charity_; Hearne's Notes on Gulielmus
Neubrigensis, who dedicated to our saint the first book of his history,
t. 3, p. 1: likewise his life in Capgrave, and the annals of his order.
The general chapter held at Citeaux in 1250, declared him to be ranked
among the saints of their order; as Henriquez and the additions to the
Cistercian Martyrology testify. In the new Martyrology published by
Benedict XIV. for the use of this order, the feast of St. Aelred is
marked on the 2d of March,[6] with a great eulogium of his learning,
innocence of life, wonderful humility, patience, heavenly conversation,
gift of prophecy, and miracles.
Footnotes:
1. Spec. {} 1, c. 28.
2. Spec. l. 1, c. 5.
3. Ibid. l. 1, c. 1.
4. Ibid. l. 1, c. ult.
5. L. 2, c. 2.
6. P. 304