Aelred of Rievaulx’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Life

Aelred was born in Hexham, Northumbria, in 1110, one of three sons of Eilaf, priest of St Andrew’s at Hexham, himself a son of another Eilaf, treasurer of Durham.

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 termed “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.

From 1142–3, Aelred was novice master at Rievaulx. In 1143, he became the first abbot of a new daughter house of Rievaulx at Revesby in Lincolnshire. In 1147, he was elected abbot of Rievaulx itself, a position he was to hold until his death. Under his administration, the abbey is said to have grown to some 140 monks and 500 conversi and laymen. His role also required an amount of travel. 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. Moreover, Aelred had to make the long sea journey to the annual general chapter of the Order at Cîteaux.

Alongside his role as a monk and later abbot, Aelred was involved throughout his life in political affairs. In 1138, when Rievaulx’s patron, Walter Espec, was to surrender his castle at Wark to King David of Scotland, Aelred reportedly accompanied Abbot William of Rievaulx to the Scottish border to negotiate the transfer. In 1142 Aelred traveled to Rome, alongside Walter of London, Archdeacon of York, to represent before Pope Innocent II the northern prelates who opposed the election of William, nephew of King Stephen as archbishop of York (the result of the journey was that Aelred brought back a letter from Innocent summoning the superiors whom Aelred represented to appear in Rome the following March to make their deposition in the required canonical form; the resulting negotiations dragged on for many years). 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.

Aelred 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”). 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.

In his later years, he is thought to have suffered from the kidney stones and arthritis. 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.

Aelred died in the winter of 1166–7, probably on 12 January 1167 at Rievaulx.

Writings

For his efforts in writing and administration Aelred was called by David Knowles the “St. Bernard of the North.” Knowles, a historian of monasticism in England, also described him as “a singularly attractive figure,” saying that “No other English monk of the twelfth century so lingers in the memory.”

All of Aelred’s works have appeared in translation, most in English and in French; the remaining three volumes of his sermons are being translated into English and will appear from Cistercian Publications in 2018–2020.

Extant works by Aelred include:

Histories and biographies

• Vita Davidis Scotorum regis (“Life of David, King of the Scots”), written c. 1153.
• Genealogia regum Anglorum (“Genealogy of the Kings of the English”), written 1153–54.
• Relatio de Standardo (“On the Account of the Standard”), also De bello standardii (“On the Battle of the Standard”), 1153–54.
• Vita S. Eduardi, regis et confessoris (“The Life of Saint Edward, King and Confessor”), 1161–63.
• Vita S. Niniani (“The Life of Saint Ninian”), 1154–60.
• De miraculis Hagustaldensis ecclesiae (“On the Miracles of the Church of Hexham”), ca. 1155.
• De quodam miraculo miraculi (“A Certain Wonderful Miracle”) (wrongly known since the seventeenth century as De Sanctimoniali de Wattun (“The Nun of Watton”)), c. 1160

Spiritual treatises

• Speculum caritatis (“The Mirror of Charity”), ca. 1142.
• De Iesu puero duodenni (“Jesus as a Boy of Twelve”), ?1160–62.
• De spirituali amicitiâ (“Spiritual Friendship”), 1164–67.
• De institutione inclusarum (“The Formation of Anchoresses”), ?1160–62.
• Oratio pastoralis (“Pastoral Prayer”), c. 1163–67.
• De anima (“On the Soul”), c.1164–67.

Sermons

• These sermons mainly relate to the seventeen liturgical days on which Cistercian abbots were required to preach to their community.
• Several non-liturgical sermons survive as well, including one he apparently preached to a clerical synod, presumably in connection with a journey to the general chapter at Cîteaux, and one devoted to Saint Katherine of Alexandria.
• In 1163-4 he also wrote a 31-sermon commentary on Isaiah 13–16, Homeliae de oneribus propheticis Isaiae (“Homilies on the Prophetic Burdens of Isaiah”), submitting the work for evaluation to Gilbert Foliot, who became bishop of London in 1163.

Later reputation

Aelred was never formally canonised in the manner that was later established, but he became the center of a cult in the north of England that was officially recognized by Cistercians in 1476. As such, he was venerated as a saint, with his body kept at Rievaulx. In the sixteenth century, before the dissolution of the monastery, John Leland, claims he saw Aelred’s shrine at Rievaulx containing Aelred’s body glittering with gold and silver. Today, Aelred of Rievaulx is listed as a saint on 12 January, the traditional date of his death, in the latest official edition of the Roman Martyrology, which expresses the official position of the Roman Catholic Church.

He also appears in the calendars of various other Christian denominations.

Much of Aelred’s history is known because of the Life written about him by Walter Daniel shortly after his death.

Until the twentieth century, Aelred was generally known as a historian rather than as a spiritual writer; for many centuries his most famous work was his Life of Saint Edward, King and Confessor.

Patronage

A high school named after St. Aelred (the more modern spelling of his name) in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, in the United Kingdom, closed in 2011; a primary school in York is named for him. Formerly there was also a high school on Gleniffer Road in Glenburn, Paisley, named after St Aelred.

Sexuality

Aelred’s work, private letters, and his Life by Walter Daniel, another twelfth-century monk of Rievaulx, have led historians, such as John Boswell of Yale University and Brian Patrick McGuire of Roskilde University in Denmark, to suggest that he was homosexual. There is

no evidence one way or the other for this supposition, but all of his works encourage virginity among the unmarried and chastity in marriage and widowhood while warning against any sexual activity outside of marriage; he also forbids extra-marital sexual relationships and condemns "unnatural relations" as a rejection of charity and the law of God. In "A Certain Wonderful Miracle" He sharply criticized the absence of pastoral care for a young nun who experienced rape, pregnancy, beating, and a miraculous delivery in the Gilbertine community of Watton.

Several gay-friendly organizations have adopted Aelred as their patron saint, including Integrity in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, National Anglican Catholic Church in the northeast United States, and the Order of St. Aelred.

Primary sources

Critical editions

• Aelred of Rievaulx, ‘”Opera omnia.” Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 1, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 3, 3A. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers, 1971, 1989, 2001, 2012, 2005, 2015, 2017.
• Aelred of Rievaulx, For Your Own People: Aelred of Rievaulx’s Pastoral Prayer,” trans. Mark DelCogliano, crit. ed. Marsha L. Dutton, Cistercian Fathers series 73 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2008). [Translation of Oratio Pastoralis].

Translations

• Walter Daniel, Vita Ailredi Abbatis Rievall. Ed. and transl. Maurice Powicke (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1950). [Translation reprinted with a new introduction as The Life of Aelred of Rievaulx and the Letter to Maurice. Translated by F. M. Powicke and Jane Patricia Freeland, Introduction by Marsha Dutton, Cistercian Fathers series no. 57 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1994.)]
• Aelred of Rievaulx, On Jesus at Twelve Years Old, trans. Geoffrey Webb and Adrian Walker, Fleur de Lys series 17 (London: A. R. Mobray and Co., Ltd., 1955).
• Aelred of Rievaulx, Treatises and Pastoral Prayer, Cistercian Fathers series 2 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1971). [includes De Institutione inclusarum, “De Jesu,” and “Oratio Pastoralis.”]
• Aelred of Rievaulx, Dialogue on the Soul, trans. C. H. Talbot, Cistercian Father series 22 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1981).
• Aelred of Rievaulx, Vita Niniani, translated by Winifred MacQueen, in John MacQueen, St. Nynia (Edinburgh: Polygon, 1990) [reprinted as (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2005)].
• Aelred of Rievaulx, Mirror of Charity, trans. Elizabeth Connor, Cistercian Fathers series 17 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1990).
• Aelred of Rievaulx, The Life of Saint Edward, King and Confessor, translated by Jerome Bertram (Guildford: St. Edward’s Press, 1990) [reprinted at Southampton: Saint Austin Press, 1997].
• Aelred of Rievaulx, Spiritual Friendship, trans. Mark F. Williams (London: University of Scranton Press, 1994).
• Aelred of Rievaulx, The Liturgical Sermons I: The First Clairvaux Collection, Advent—All Saints, translated by Theodore Berkeley and M. Basil Pennington . Sermons 1–28, Advent – All Saints. Cistercian Fathers series no. 58, (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2001).
• Aelred of Rievaulx, The Historical Works, trans. Jane Patricia Freeland, ed. Marsha L. Dutton, Cistercian Fathers series 56 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2005).
• Aelred of Rievaulx, The Lives of the Northern Saints, trans. Jane Patricia Freeland, ed. Marsha L. Dutton, Cistercian Fathers series 71 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2006).
• Aelred of Rievaulx, Spiritual Friendship, trans. Lawrence Braceland, ed. Marsha L. Dutton, Cistercian Fathers series 5 (Collegeville: Cistercian Publications, 2010).
• Aelred of Rievaulx, “
• Aelred of Rievaux, “The Liturgical Sermons: The First Clairvaux Collection, Advent-All Saints,” transl. Theodore Berkeley and M. Basil Pennington, Cistercian Fathers series 58 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2001).
• Aelred of Rievaulx, “The Liturgical Sermons: The Second Clairvaux Collection, Advent-All Saints,” transl. Marie Anne Mayeski, Cistercian Fathers series 71 (Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2016).
• Aelred of Rievaulx, “The Liturgical Sermons: The Durham and Lincoln Collections,” transl. Kathryn Krug, Lewis White, et al., Ed. and Intro. Ann Astell, Cistercian Fathers series 58 (Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, forthcoming 2019).
• Aelred of Rievaulx, “The Liturgical Sermons: The Reading Collection, Advent-All Saints,” transl. Daniel Griggs, Cistercian Fathers series 81 (Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2018).
• Aelred of Rievaulx, “Homilies on the Prophetic Burdens of Isaiah,” trans. Lewis White, Cistercian Fathers series 83 (Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2018).
• (fr.) Aelred de Rievaulx, Sermons. La collection de Reading (sermons 85-182), trans. G. de Briey(+), G. Raciti, intro. X. Morales, Corpus Christianorum in Translation 20 (Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2015)

Bibliographies

Burton, Pierre-André. Bibliotheca Aelrediana Secunda: Une Bibliographie Cumulative (1962[-]1996).” Fédération Internationale des Instituts d’Études Médiévales. Textes et Études du Moyen Âge, 7. Louvain-la-Neuve (France), 1997. Dutton, Marsha L. “Aelred of Rievaulx.” Oxford Bibliographies in Medieval Studies. New York, 2013. www.oxfordbiblographies.com. Hoste, Anselm. “Bibliotheca Aelrediana: Survey of Manuscripts, Old Catalogues, Editions and Studies concerning St. Aelred of Rievaulx.” Steenbrugge, 1962.