Harvard Divinity School

The Cistercian Conception of Community: An Aspect of Twelfth-Century Spirituality

Author(s): Caroline Walker Bynum
Source: The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 68, No. 3/4 (Jul. - Oct., 1975), pp. 273-286
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Harvard Divinity School
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1509187
Accessed: 05-01-2016 03:07 UTC
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THE CISTERCIAN CONCEPTION OF COMMUNITY:

AN ASPECT OF TWELFTH-CENTURY SPIRITUALITY'
CAROLINE WALKER BYNUM
UNIVERSITY Of WASHINGTON
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98195

In 1919, Cuthbert Butler, abbot of Downside abbey and one of

the major figures in Roman Catholic intellectual life in England
in the early years of this century, published an interpretation of
Benedictine history which stressed the cenobitical spirit of the
Benedictine Rule.2 Butler felt that Benedict avoided the excesses
of physical asceticism and lonely competition found in earlier,
more eremitical forms of monasticism and emphasized instead a
life of obedience and stability within the monastic family. This
interpretation has so dominated more recent scholarship on
medieval monasticism that few students of the Benedictine Rule
have noticed how little discussion of community it actually
contains.3
The assumption that the monasticism of the "Benedictine
centuries" (600-1100) was essentially cenobitical has led recent
monastic historians to see the religious upheaval of the later
eleventh and twelfth centuries as a "crisis of cenobitism" - a
reform movement within monasticism which turned away from
communal life and liturgy toward eremiticism.4 Although the
'I am grateful to Prof. Giles Constable and the late Dr. Ethel P. Higonnet of
Harvard University for their suggestions. Earlier versions of this paper were
read at the American Academy of Religion meeting in 1973 and the Fifth
Annual Cistercian Conference at Western Michigan University in 1974.
2Cuthbert Butler, Benedictine Monachism: Studies in Benedictine Life and
Rule (2nd ed.; London and New York: Longmans, 1924). On Butler, see David
Knowles, The Historian and Characterand OtherEssays (Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press, 1963) 264-362.
3Butler's emphases have been continued by the most influential English
historian of monasticism, David Knowles (see The Monastic Orderin England:
A History of Its Development from the Time of Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran
Council: 940-1216 [Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1940;
reprint with corrections, 1963] and Christian Monasticism [World University
Library; New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969]. For an interpretation of the Rule
closer to my own, see Adalbert de Vogiie, La communaute et l'abbbdans la rigle
de saint Benoit [Paris: Desclee de Brouwer, 1961]).
4See G. Morin, "Rainaud 1'Ermiteet Ives de Chartres:Un episode de la crise
du cenobitisme au XIe-XIIe siecle," Revue bn&idictine 40 (1928) 99-115; C.
Dereine, "Odon de Tournai et la crise du cenobitisme au XIe siecle," Revue du
moven age latin 4 (1948) 137-54; Jean Leclercq, "La crise du monachisme aux

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HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW

most imaginative recent scholarship on medieval religion

suggests that some of the new religious groups of the eleventh and
twelfth centuries joined an emphasis on service of others with an
emphasis on physical and spiritual withdrawal,5most monastic
scholars have failed to locate the monastic reforms of the twelfth
century against the background of the new concern for service.
Thus, because of the current state of monastic historiography,
monastic scholars have failed to understand a phenomenon
which could not entirely escape their attention: the interest in
community and love of neighbor which characterizes Cistercian
writings of the twelfth century.
Although the monastic cenobium of the early Middle Ages
undoubtedly did in fact provide for the individual brother the
kind of monastic family Butler has stressed, the black monks of
the twelfth century, who continue the traditions of the great
tenth-century houses, show little interest in interpersonal
relations. It is the Cistercians - products of the so-called "crisis
of cenobitism" - who work out an articulated awareness of the
rich possibilities of communal life. Many monographs have been
written describing the conception of love in individual Cistercian
thinkers; and these monographs usually note that Cistercians
made room for brotherly love in their accounts of growth toward
God.6 But monastic historians do not seem to have wondered why
XIe et XIIe siecles," Bullettino dell'Istituto storico italiano per il Medio Evo 70
(1958) 19-41; Norman Cantor, "The Crisis of Western Monasticism," The
American Historical Review 66 (1960) 47-67; and the works by Knowles cited in
n. 3 above. See also the essays in The Cistercian Spirit. A Symposium in
Memory of Thomas Merton (ed. M. B. Pennington, Cistercian Studies Series 3;
Spencer, Mass.: Cistercian Publications, 1970) especially pp. 23-24 and 43.
5See Herbert Grundmann, Religidse Bewegungen im Mittelalter:
Untersuchungen iiber die geschichtlichen Zusammenhange zwischen der
Ketzerei, den Bettelorden und der religiosen Frauenbewegung im 12. und 13.
Jahrhundert. . . (Berlin: E. Ebering, 1935; reprint with "Anhang," 1961);
Ernest W. McDonnell, "The Vita Apostolica: Diversity or Dissent?" Church
History 24 (1955) 15-31; Marie-Dominique Chenu, "Moines, clercs, laics: au
carrefour de la vie 6vangelique" (1954) in Chenu, La theologie au douzibme
siecle (Etudes de philosophie m6di6vale 45; Paris: J. Vrin, 1957) 225-51; and
Marie Humbert Vicaire, L'imitation des ap6tres: moines, chanoines, mendiants
(IVe-Xllle siecles) (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1963). These works suggest that the
religious revival of the eleventh and twelfth centuries was not merely a reform
within monasticism but rather an outburst of religious feeling which touched
clergy and laity as well as monks and resulted in a plethora of new groups,
heterodox and orthodox.
6See, for example, Etienne Gilson, La theologie mystique de saint Bernard
(Paris: J. Vrin, 1934);Pacifique Delfgaauw, "La nature et les degr6s de l'amour
selon saint Bernard,"Saint Bernardtheologien: Actes du congres de Dijon 15-19
septembre 1953 in Analecta sacri ordinis cisterciensis, 11/ 3-4 (Rome: 1953)234-

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CAROLINEWALKERBYNUM

275

these Cistercians emphasized love of neighbor or how precisely

they saw the community of the cloister. In this article I will try to
explain the Cistercian sense of community and brotherly love by
seeing in it a fruitful tension between the new twelfth-century
interest in service of neighbor and the traditional conception of
the monastic vocation, which was less "cenobitical"than Butler
supposed.
If we look at treatises on the cloistered life written by eleventhand twelfth-century monastic authors for members of their own
orders,7 we find that treatises by black monks tend to discuss
specific observances8 or to describe, in rather static language,
52; idem, "La lumiere de la charit6 chez saint Bernard," Collectanea ordinis
Cisterciensium Reformatorum 18 (1956) 42-69, 306-20; Amed6e Hallier, Un
&ducateurmonastique: Aelred de Rievaulx (Paris: Gabalda, 1959);the essays by
Pennington, Leclercq, and Ryan in The Cistercian Spirit (ed. Pennington) 1-26,
88-133, 224-53; Charles Dumont, "Seeking God in Community According to St.
Aelred," Cistercian Studies 6 (1971) 289-317; and the bibliography in Francis
Wenner, "CharitY:Le XIIe siecle," Dictionnaire de spiritualite, 2 (Paris: 1953)
cols. 570-72.
7Theconclusions in this article are based on a close study of works of spiritual
advice by cloistered authors, in particular commentarieson the Benedictine and
Augustinian Rules and works of advice for novices. On Benedictine
commentaries see Augustin Calmet, Commentaire litteral, historique et moral
sur la regle de saint Benoit (Paris: 1734) 1. 73-90 and 592-97; Magnoald
Ziegelbauer, Historia rei literariae ordinis S. Benedicti (Augsburg: M. Veith,
1754) 3. 12-24; Butler, Benedictine Monachism, 177-83; Philibert Schmitz,
Histoire de l'ordrede saint Benoit I (Maredsous: Editions de Maredsous, 1942)
Appendix III, 373-81; Ursmer Berlibre,L'ascise binbdictine des origines aclafin
du XIIe siecle: essai historique (Paris: Desclee de Brouwer, 1927) 19-23; M.
Alfred Schroll, Benedictine Monasticism as Reflected in the WarnefridHildemar Commentaries on the Rule (New York: Columbia University Press,
1941), especially Appendix, 197-205. On Augustinian commentaries see John
Compton Dickinson, The Originsof the Austin Canons and TheirIntroduction
into England (London: S.P.C.K., 1950) 65-66; Charles Dereine, "Chanoines,"
Dictionnaire d'histoire et de gbographie ecclhsiastiques 12(Paris: 1953) col. 391;
and R. Creytens, "Les commentateurs dominicains de la regle de S. Augustin du
XIIIe au XVIe siecle," Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum 33 (1963) 142-46. On
treatises for novices see Jean Leclercq, "Deux opuscules sur la formation des
jeunes moines," Revue d'ascetique et de mystique 33 (1957) 387-99; Vincent
Hermans, De novitiatu in ordine Benedictino-Cisterciensi in jure communi
usque 1335 in Analecta sacra ordinis Cisterciensis(Rome: 1947) 3. 5-10 and 94105; and Edmond Mikkers, "Un 'Speculum novitii' inedit d'Etienne de Salley,"
Collectanea ordinis CisterciensiumReformatorum 8 (1946) 17-19. In my article,
"The Spirituality of Regular Canons in the Twelfth Century:A New Approach,"
Medievalia et Humanistica, new ser. 4 (1973) 3-24, I have discussed my reasons
for concentrating on these genres in studying twelfth-century spirituality. The
choice of evidence cited in the present article presupposes the methodological
discussion in the earlier article.
8See Rupert of Deutz, Super quaedam capitula regulae divi Benedictiabbatis,
PL 170,cols. 477-538; Hildegard of Bingen, Explanatio regulaesancti Benedicti,

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HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW

virtuous behavior.9 Such treatises contain few references to the

interior psychological development of the individual or to the
emotions; they are inclined to stress obedience to the rule or to
one's superiors more than love;'0 they show relatively little
awareness of relationships between ordinary brothers within the
cloister and do not stress these relationships as either a setting for
or an incentive to personal spiritual growth. On the other hand,
Cistercian authors, such as Bernardof Clairvaux, William of St.
Thierry, Aelred of Rievaulx, Adam of Perseigne, and Stephen of
Salley, discuss change as well as describing virtue; make frequent
references to emotion (particularly "love") as well as to external
behavior; show an awareness of relationships among equals as
well as between abbot and monk, seniors and juniors;I"and see
interpersonal relationships as an incentive to compassion and a
setting for learning humility.12
PL 197, cols. 1055-66; Peter Abelard, Epistola VIII, in T. P. McLaughlin,
"Abelard'sRule for Religious Women," Medieval Studies 18(1956) 241-92; and
the anonymous Instructio novitiorum secundum consuetudinem ecclesiae
cantuariensis, MSCorpus Christi College, Cambridge, 441, pages 359b-391a,
portions of which have been published by David Knowles in The Monastic
Constitutions of Lanfranc (London: Nelson, 1951) 134-49.
9See John of Fruttuaria, Liber de vitae ordine et morum institutione, PL 184,
cols. 559-84, portions of which have been reedited in Andre Wilmart, Auteurs
spirituels et textes divots du moyen &gelatin: itudes d'histoire litteraire(Etudes
et documents pour servirial'histoiredu sentiment religieux; Paris: Bloud et Gay,
1932) 94-96 and 96-98; Peter the Deacon, Expositio super regulam sancti
Benedicti and Exortatorium. . .. ad monachos . . . in the monks of Monte
Cassino, ed., Bibliotheca Casinensis 5 (Monte Cassino, 1894), Florilegium, 82165 and 61-72; Peter of Celle, Tractatus de disciplina claustrali, PL 202, cols.
1097-1146; and the anonymous De novitiis instruendis, MS Douai 827, cols.
60v-80, portions of which are published by Leclercq in Rev. d'ascet. et de myst.
33 (1957) 388-93.
'0This is especially true of Peter the Deacon and Abelard; see nn. 8 and 9
above.
"The Cistercian Bernardof Clairvaux pays a great deal of attention to the role
of the abbot and to particular regulations; see his De praecepto et dispensatione
in Sancti Bernardi opera 3; Tractatus et Opuscula (ed. J. Leclercq and H. M.
Rochais; Rome: Editions Cistercienses, 1963) 253-94. But he combines this with
an emphasis on love and community; see below, nn. 13, 14, 39, and 42. Both
Bernard and Aelred distrusted the eremitical life but saw the Cistercian life as
combining solitude with community; see Bernard of Clairvaux, letter Contra
vitam heremiticam, in Etudes sur saint Bernardet le texte de ses Ucrits(ed. Jean
Leclercq, Analecta sacri ordinis cisterciensis; Rome: 1953) 9. 138-39; Aelred of
Rievaulx, sermon V In natali sancti Benedicti, PL 195, cols. 241-43; and Jean
Leclercq, "Problemes de l'eremitisme,"Studia monastica 5 (1963) 208-12.
21naddition to the Cistercian works cited in nn. 13-19 below, there are three
Cistercian works which do not as clearly reflect the conception of community I
outline here. Arnulf of Boheries'Speculum monachorum, PL 184, cols. 1175-78,

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In the theoreticaldiscussionof the soul'sriseto contemplation

whichopenshis famousStepsof Humility,Bernardof Clairvaux
discussesthe growthin lovewhichcomesfromidentificationwith
the joys and sorrowsof one's neighbor.
Forwe seektruthin ourselves,in ourneighbors,andin its ownnature:in
ourselves,judgingourselves;in our neighbors,sympathizingwith their
ills; in its own nature,contemplatingwithpureheart.Observe.. the
order.First let Truthitself teach you that you should seek it in your
neighborsbefore seekingit in its own nature. . . . For in the list of
Beatitudeswhichhe distinguishedin his sermon,he placedthe merciful
beforethepureinheart(Matt.V.7-8).Themercifulquicklygrasptruthin
their neighbor,extendingtheir own feelingsto them and conforming
themselvesto themthroughlove,so thattheyfeeltheirjoys ortroublesas
their own. Theyare weak with the weak;they burnwith the offended.
Theyrejoicewith them thatdo rejoice,and weep with themthat weep
(Rom. XII.15). After the spiritualvision has been purifiedby this
brotherlylove, theyenjoythe contemplationof truthin its own nature,
and then bear others'ills for the love of it. Butthose who do not unite
themselveswith their brethrenin this way, but on the contraryeither
revilethose who weepor disparagethose who do rejoice,not feelingin
themselvesthat which is in others, because they are not similarly
affected- howcantheygrasptruthin theirneighbors?.. . Butin order
to have a miserableheartbecauseof another'smisery,you must first
knowyourown;so thatyou mayfindyourneighbor'smindin yourown
and knowfromyourselfhow to helphim,by the exampleof our Savior,
who willedhis passionin orderto learncompassion... .13

Later in the same treatise Bernarddescribes the monastic

communityas providingan opportunityfor growthin humility
through abasing oneself before others, comparing oneself
is a very short discussion of the monastic day and the monastic virtues, so short
that its failure to outline a conception of spiritual progress within the cloistered
community is not significant. Furthermorewe should note that it contains some
suggestion that the monk learns from the example of his brother;see n. 29 below.
Joachim of Flora's De vita sancti Benedicti et de officio divino secundum eius
doctrinam, in Cipriano Baraut,"Un tratado inedito de Joaquin de Fiore: De vita
sancti Benedicti ... ," Analecta sacra tarraconensia 24 (1951) 33-122, is a
statement of Joachim's theory of history and of the place of the Cistercians in it,
not a discussion of the cloistered life. The anonymous commentary on the Rule
from Pontigny, Ms Auxerre 50, cols. Ir-125r, portions of which have been
published in C. H. Talbot, "A Cistercian Commentary on the Benedictine Rule,"
Studia Anselmiana, 43, Analecta monastica, 5 ser. (1958) 102-59, and idem,
"The Commentary on the Rule from Pontigny," Studia monastica 3 (1961) 77122, is probably but not certainly Cistercian. It contains many unelaborated
references to community, but is more like works of the older monasticism in
lacking a sense of the individual's emotional development within the communal
framework and in stressing abbot and superiors more than brothers.
'3Bernardof Clairvaux, De gradibus humilitatis, iii, in Opera (ed. Leclercq
and Rochais) 3. 20-21. Translation by George B. Burch, The Steps of Humility
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1950) 133-35.

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HARVARD THEOLOGICALREVIEW

unfavorably to others, concealing one's own virtue, and rejoicing

in the virtue of one's neighbor.14 Aelred of Rievaulx's Mirror of
Charity elaborates the idea of growing toward love of God
through a "love of neighbor" which means actual identification
with the neighbor's emotions and sufferings.15 It describes the
example of one's neighbor as a major incentive to growth in
virtue.16
Thereforeit is known that rational affection, which arises from
of thevirtueof another,is moreperfectthanotherfeelings
contemplation
by whichwe are arousedto love of neighbor.For this love of virtueis
no smallindicationof virtue. . . . I do not thinkourdesireto be either
perniciousor guilty,if it is directedaccordingto thisfeeling;forit hinders
nothingand indeedit is veryprofitable,if wedesirehispresencebywhose
examplewearecorrectedif weareevil,bywhichwearepushedforwardif
we are good. . . '7

Both Adam of Perseigne and Stephen of Salley see the cenobium

as providing not only an opportunity for the practice of obedience
but also an opportunity to imitate the virtuous conduct of the
brothers and to grow emotionally through the stimulation of the
good example of others.'8 And William of St. Thierry, in a
treatise for Carthusians, describes even these hermit monks as
learningfrom the example of their comrades in the cloistered life.
Thisis theholy intercoursewhichgoeson betweenwellregulatedcells,
their venerablepursuits,their busy leisure,their active repose, their
orderedcharity,to holdconversewithoneanotherin silenceandto enjoy
one anothermore while remainingapart from one another,to be an
14Bernard's
analysis of the descent into pride, which makes up the second part
of the treatise, assumes a communal setting. See De gradibus, xi-xv, Opera (ed.
Leclercq and Rochais) 3. 46-50.
'SAelred of Rievaulx, Speculum caritatis, III, iv and vi, PL 195, cols. 579B-C
and 583C-D.
'6Aelred,Speculum, II, xxiv, and III, xii, PL 195, cols. 573Band 588B-D. The
themes mentioned here are also found in Aelred's De spirituali amicitia (ed. and
tr. J. DuBois, L'amitie spirituelle; Bruges and Paris: Beyaert, 1948). For two
very different interpretationsof Aelred's doctrine of friendship, see C. Dumont,
Cistercian Studies, 6. 312-16, and John C. Moore, "Love in Twelfth-Century
France: A Failure of Synthesis," Traditio 24 (1968) 429-43, especially 440.
'7Aelred, Speculum, III, xxiv, PL 195, col. 597A-B.
'Adam of Perseigne, Letter to Osmond, in Adam, Lettres (ed. J. Bouvet;
Sources chretiennes66; Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1960) 1. 7-29;and Letterto G. of
Pontigny, PL 211, cols. 614-23. Stephen of Salley, Speculum novitii (ed. by
see especially 67. See also Guerricof
8.
Mikkers, in Coll. ord. Cist.
Ref.) 45-68;
Igny, second sermon for Saints Peter and Paul, PL 185, col. 182C-D, and idem,
fourth sermon for Advent, in Guerric d'Igny, Sermons (ed. J. Morson and H.
Costello; Sources chretiennes 166; Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1970) 136-38.

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279

occasion of progress to one another, and although they do not see one
another, to find matter for imitation each in the other, but in themselves
only grounds for weeping.'19

In contrast, black monks such as John of Fruttuaria in the

eleventh century, Rupert of Deutz, Peter the Deacon, Abelard,
and Peter of Celle in the twelfth, may have some sense that the
monk learns from others, particularly his superiors, but they do
not stress relationships among brothers as contributing to
emotional change within the advancing soul.20
Cistercians were not the only twelfth-century authors to
develop a conception of the cloistered community. Regular
canons also tended to emphasize relationships between ordinary
brothers more than did black monks; and a comparison of the
canonical conception of community with the Cistercianone helps
us to understand not only the nature of Cistercian ideas but also
the reasons why they took the form they did. Regular canons in
generalpay less attention to cloistered superiorsthan do monastic
authors. Like Cistercians, they frequently mention relationships
between ordinary brothers. But, in addition, regular canons see
the ordinary brother not only as learner but also as teacher.21
They exhort those they address to edify others within and outside
the cloister both "by word" and "by example." Like Cistercian
authors, they see interpersonal relations as an incentive to and a
setting for the practice of virtue; but, unlike Cistercians, they tell
their readers to speak and act in order to edify their brothers.
Hugh of St. Victor in his work for novices urges the canon to
speak in order to teach virtue to his neighbor and states that
virtuous conduct is even more necessary where it may be seen by
men than where it will be seen by God alone.22 And even the
Premonstratensian Adam of Dryburgh, who later joined the
Carthusian order, laces his discussion of virtuous conduct with
references to the impact of the canon's example on his fellows.23
19Williamof St. Thierry, Epistola ad Fratres de Monte Dei, II, i, PL 184, col.
339B-C. Translation by Theodore Berkeley, The Golden Epistle:A Letter to the
Brethrenat Mont Dieu (The Works of William of St. Thiery; Cistercian Fathers
Series 12; Spencer, Mass.: Cistercian Publications, 1971) 4. 77.
20Seenn. 8 and 9 above. John of Fruttuaria's De vitae ordine sees novices as
learning from seniors.
21For an explanation of the regular canon's concern for edification and a
discussion of its sources, see my article in Medievalia et Humanistica, new ser. 4
(1973) 7-20.
22Hughof St. Victor, De institutione novitiorum, III, IV, and XIV, PL 176,
cols. 927C, 928A, and 945A-B.
23Adamof Dryburgh, Liber de ordine, habitu et professione canonicorum
ordinispraemonstratensis, sermons II and VI, PL 198, cols. 457-60 and 489-94.

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Regular canons, of course, see the individual brother as

responsible for his own growth toward salvation, but they feel no
conflict between the individual's obligation for himself and his
obligation to edify others. Their conception of the cloistered
vocation thus successfully integrates a particular kind of service
of neighbor into a life of withdrawal from the world for the
purpose of seeking and serving God.
The religious revival of the later eleventh and twelfth centuries
included many activities and concerns which appear to express a
new sense of man's obligation to love and serve his fellow man:
the founding of hospitals for the care of travellers, the poor, and
the sick; the appearance all over Europe of wandering preachers,
sometimes themselves laymen, determined to bring the gospel to
the laity; quarrels among the more established orders over the
right to preach and practice the cure of souls.24The conception of
edification found in treatises by regular canons is clearly a
reflection of this new concern. In articulatingthe concern, canons
drew on the traditional conception of the preacher'sobligation to
teach verbo et exemplo, which was a commonplace by the twelfth
century but was most often borrowed from Gregory the Great's
Pastoral Care,and on the treatment of virtuous reputation found
in the Augustinian Rule and in Augustine's sermon 355 "on the
life and morals of clerics." Because of their clerical status, regular
canons had a body of "clerical"material to draw on in addition to
the wealth of patristic and medieval material on the cloistered
life.25
Twelfth-century Cistercian authors were also drawn toward
the concern for neighbor which regular canons incorporate as a
concern for edification. Although eleventh- and twelfth-century
monastic authors in general avoid the regular canons' focus on
teaching verbo et exemplo, the few exceptions to this occur
almost exclusively in Cistercian works.26 Aelred of Rievaulx
refers three times to the brother's obligation to correct his
fellows;27Adam of Perseigne remarks that the monk should offer
24Seethe works cited in n. 5 above; Charles Dereine, "L'l1aborationdu statut
canonique des chanoines r'guliers sp'cialement sous Urbain II," Revue
d'histoire ecclksiastique 46 (1951) 558-64; and M. Peuchmaurd, "Le pretre
ministre de la parole dans la theologie du XIIe siecle (canonistes, moines et
chanoines), Recherches de theologie ancienne et mddikvale 29 (1962) 52-76.
25Seen. 21 above.
26Theone non-Cistercian exception is Peter of Celle's De disciplina, PL 202,
cols. 1097-1146,which is addressed to regularcanons as well as monks. Thus the
fact that Peter departs from the monastic focus does not necessarilyindicate that
he sees an obligation to edify as part of the monastic vocation.
27Aelred,Speculum, III, xxxvii, PL 195, cols. 614-15; Spec., III, xxxviii, col.
617C; Spec., III, xl, col. 620C.

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CAROLINE
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281

to his brothersan example of edificationnot an example of

Arnulfof Boh6ries'Mirrorfor Monksadmonishes:
corruption;28
"Inall things, let [the monk] edify those who see him . . . ;"29
Stephenof Salleywarnsthe noviceto confesshis failuresto edify
others;30aindWilliamof St. Thierrydiscusses the Carthusian
order as example.31 Moreover,both Bernardand Aelredmove
awayfromthe earlymedievalideathatthe "activelife"consistsof
ascetic disciplineand providesmerelya first stage toward the
highergoalof contemplation.Althoughneitherauthorgoesas far
as the regularcanon Anselmof Havelbergin workingout a new
and neitherauthoris consistentin
conceptionof the "twolives"32
his treatmentof the question, Bernardin at least one passage
moves toward a view which places preachingalongside selfAnd Aelredin at least one passageassignsto monks
discipline.33
the role of Martha (feeding the hungry and comforting the
Both
tempted)as well as the role of Mary (contemplation).34
Bernard of Clairvaux and Joachim of Flora in his early,
Cistercianphaseshowan admirationfor the role of the preacher;
and Bernardgoes so far as to advisemonks that preachingand
savingothersis a higherrole,althoughhe andJoachimagreethat
it is not a monasticone.35
28Adam,Letter to G. of Pontigny, PL 211, col. 622C.
29Arnulf,Speculum monachorum, PL 184, col. 1176A.
30Stephen,Speculum novitii, i (ed. Mikkers, Coll. ord. Cist. Ref.) 8.46.
3'William, Epistola, I, i and iii, PL 184, cols. 309D-10A and 312B-C.
32Anselm of Havelberg, Epistola apologetica pro ordine canonicorum
regularium, PL 188, cols. 1131-32. On the significance of Anselm's new
conception in comparison to earliermedieval ideas, see Dereine in Dict. d'hist. et
de gbog. eccl., 12, col. 394; Kurt Fina, "Anselm von Havelberg," Analecta
Praemonstratensia33 (1957) 7-16; and Franqois Petit, "L'ordrede Pr6montr6de
"
saint Norbert Anselme de Havelberg,"La vita comune del clero neisecoli XIet
XII: atti della settimana di studio: Mendola, settembre 1959 (Miscellanea del
centro di studi medioevali 3; Milan: Soc. ed. Vita e pensiero, 1962) 1. 476-78.
33Bernardof Clairvaux, Sancti Bernardi opera, II: Sermones super Cantica
Canticorum 36-38 (ed. J. Leclercq, C. H. Talbot, and H. M. Rochais; Rome:
Editiones Cistercienses, 1958) sermon 50, pp. 78-83. See also Cuthbert Butler,
Western Mysticism: The Teaching of SS. Augustine, Gregory and Bernard on
Contemplation and the Contemplative Life: Neglected Chapters in the History
of Religion (2nd ed.; London: Constable, 1927) 277-87; and Jean-Marie
Dechanet, "La contemplation au XII siecle," Dict. de spiritualitM,2, cols. 194866.
34Aelred, sermon XVII, PL 195, cols. 303-09. See also Charles Dumont,
"L'"quilibrehumain de la vie cistercienne d'aprbs le bienheureux Aelred de
Rievaulx," Coll. ord. Cist. Ref. 18(1956) 177-89;A. Squire, "Aelredof Rievaulx
and the Monastic Tradition Concerning Action and Contemplation," The
Downside Review 72 (1954) 289-303; and Hallier, Uneducateur monastique, 9297.
35Bernard,Sancti Bernardi opera, I: Sermones super Cantica Canticorum I35 (ed. J. Leclercq, C. H. Talbot, and H. M. Rochais; Rome: Editiones

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REVIEW

But despite the fact that Cistercianauthors are personally

drawn toward an ideal of service, they consciously reject the
incorporationof this into their conception of the monastic
vocation.Aelredof Rievaulxis usuallyquitecarefulto locatehis
referencesto comfortingothers in a discussionof individual
progresstowardGod whichseescontemplationas the goal.36He
statesexplicitlythat turningto the needs of one's neighboris a
painful(althoughsometimesnecessary)departurefrom Christ.37
Similarly,Bernardsees the preachingto whichhe is so attracted
In the portion of the
as a falling away from contemplation.38
Sermonson the Song of Songs in which he praisesserviceof
neighborand says that it is a sin to retainwhathas beengivento
one to be expendedfor others,he appearsfarmorecomfortable
when he discusses the sin of giving forth what should be
And he statesexplicitlythatthe vocationof the monk
retained.39
is to cultivatehis own virtue, not to serveothers.40Moreover,
Aelred'scasualreferencesto servingone'sneighborusuallymean
"prayingfor,""weepingover,"etc., andnot moreactiveservice;41
and both Aelredand Bernardseldom have in mind an activity
whentheyreferto "loveof neighbor."AlthoughBernarddrawsa
theoreticaldistinctionbetween"effectivecharity"and "affective
his own referencesto "love"are almostalwaysin fact
charity,"42
referencesto "affectivecharity."43
Furthermore,when Bernard,
discuss
and
Adam
love, they tend to be
Aelred, Stephen,
interestedin the implicationsof that emotion for the one who
experiencesit, not for the neighborto whom it is directed.
Both white monks and black monks agree in focusing their
works of spiritual advice on the progress of the individual
Cistercienses, 1957) sermon 12, p. 66; and see n. 38 below. Joachim, Tractatus
(ed. Baraut in Anal. sacra. tarr. 24. 42, 61, 63, and passim.
36See Aelred, Spec., III, xxxviii, PL 195, col. 617-18, where references to
action for men (praying for them, giving aid, and offering encouragement and
correction) are encompassed in a discussion of love as an emotion. Indeed the
subject of book III of the Speculum is the emotion, love, which leads to God; so
all of the remarks listed in n. 27 above occur in that context.
37Aelred,Speculum, III, xxxvii, PL 195, cols. 615D-16D.
38Bernard,Opera, I, sermon 12, pp. 63-65, and Opera, II, sermon 57, pp. 12425.
39Bernard,Opera, I, sermon 18, pp. 103-08. Bernard'sfamous description of
himself as a "chimaera"reflects not only his feeling of being neither cleric nor
layman but also a sense of being torn between withdrawal from and conversion
of the world; see Bernard of Clairvaux, letter CCL Ad Bernardumpriorem
Portarum, PL 182, col. 451A.
40Bernard,Opera, I, sermon 12, 66.
41See,for example, Aelred, Speculum, III, iv and v, PL 195, cols. 579-82.
42Bernard,Opera, II, sermon 50, 78-83.
43See,for example, the passage cited in n. 13 above.

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283

brother. Indeed this concentration on the salvation of the

individualratherthan on his obligationfor his fellows is the
unifyingfactorwhichunderliesthe widelydisparateconceptions
of the cloisteredlife found in twelfth-centurymonastictreatises.
Black monks are more inclinedto see monks as learningfrom
obedienceto the abbot or the cloisteredsuperiors;whitemonks
are moreinclinedto stressrelationsamongequals.Blackmonks
are more inclinedto discussthe brother'sexternalbehavioror to
give an abstractdisquisitionon the natureof virtue.In contrast,
Cisterciansemphasizeemotionaldevelopment.But all monastic
authorswriteas if theirmonasticreader'sfundamentalconcernis
his ownvirtue.Theydiscussexternalbehavioras displayedbefore
God not men and insist that it must trulyportrayone'sinterior
statebecauseGod readsheartsas wellas manners.Althoughthey
warn the monk to avoid scandalizingothers, they also warn
againstpaying attentionto how one's behaviorappearsto the
brothers,because such attention can lead to pride. And they
distrustspeech.Whateverthe particularregulationsof theirorder
concerningsilence may be, they see it as the safest condition.
Unlike regular canons, who see silence as preparationfor
teaching, monks - black and white - see silence as a goal in

itself and as a preparationfor discoursewith God.44

Eventhe occasionalreferencesto edificationfoundin twelfthcentury Cistercian treatises usually occur within broader
discussionswhich see the communityas a settingfor individual
growth not as an opportunity for service. When Adam of
Perseigneand Stephen of Salley refer to the possibilitythat
external behavior can be a good example to others, their
discussionsare couchedin the negative.Ratherthan urgingthe
noviceto showvirtueto othersin orderto instructthem,theyurge
the novice to confess that his wickednesshas been to othersan
exampleof corruption.Listingthe failingsof the novice, Adam
writes:
Oftenfromthe good thingswhichwe have or do throughthe graceof
God, we seek not the glory of God but our own glory. .

. Often we

pretendthatwe areotherthanwe are.Oftenweareconfoundedlessthan

we should be by evils recognized in ourselves. .

. Often when we ought

to edifyour brothersinsteadwe showto themexamplesof corruption.

The basic context is an exhortation to confession which

condemnsboth hypocriticalattentionto exteriorbehaviorand
44Forexamples of the monastic conception of conduct, speech, and silence,
see my article in Medievalia et Humanistica, new ser. 4 (1973) 9-16. See also
Guerricof Igny, fifth sermon for Christmas, Sermons (ed. Morson and Costello)
226-28.

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HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW

over-attention to the spiritual condition of others.45 Similarly,

Stephen chides the novice for offering bad examples and failing to
edify; but the context of his discussion is also a discussion of
confession and contrition.46 Both Stephen and Adam focus on
change within the novice. Stephen, like Aelred of Rievaulx, sees
the example of others as stimulating and aiding those he
addresses. This conception of example as an agent of edification
stresses not the individual's obligation to teach others but rather
his own spiritual growth.47And Adam of Perseigne includes an
explicit obligation to teach virtue among the steps of spiritual
growth when he writes to a novice master but carefully excludes
this step from his discussion when he writes to a novice.48
Moreover, William of St. Thierry's reference to the Carthusian
order as an example of virtue to others - which seems at first
glance identical to the conception of example found in treatises by
regular canons - is in one crucial aspect different. Whereas
regularcanons urge other canons to act in order to edify, William
deals with the reputation of the order, not the individual, and
explicitly urges the brothers to concentrate on their own
salvation. He merely comments that, if the brothers ignore others,
the example of their concentration on their own growth in virtue
will itself influence the world.49
The focus on the individual monk as learner which
characterizesall twelfth-centurymonastic treatises is the focus of
the Benedictine Rule. Benedict's "instruments of good works"
(chapteriv) are a static description of virtue;they contain very few
referencesto service, and none of these referenceshas anything to
do with edification.50The famous "stepsof humility"(chaptervii)
treat the behavior and the words of the monk as symptoms of his
own virtue, not as examples to his neighbor.5" Even where
external appearance is the ostensible topic, the monk is not urged
to edify by example.
45Seen. 28 above.
46Seen. 30 above.
47See,above, nn. 16, 17, and 18.
48CompareAdam's letters to Osmond, a novice master, and to H., abbot of
Tiron, with his letterto Nicolas, a young Cistercian. Second letter to Osmond, in
Adam, Lettres, 1, 136; Letter to H., abbot of Tiron, in Adam, Correspondence
(ed. Bouvet; Archives historiques du Maine XIII, fasc. 2. 52-53); and Letter to
Nicolas, PL 211, col. 628C-D.
49Seen. 31 above.
50Benedict of Nursia, Regula (ed. Rudolph Hanslik; Corpus scriptorum
ecclesiasticorumlatinorum 75; Vienna: Hoelder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1960) iv, 2930, para. 1-2, 14-19.
"'lbid., vii, 39-52.

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285

The twelfthstep of humilityis thata monknot only in heartbutalso

even in body should always show humility to those who see him; that is,

in theworkof God,in theoratory,in themonastery,in thegarden,on the

road,in the field,or whereverhe sits,walksor stands,he shouldalways
be with bowedheadand glancecast downtowardthe ground;at every
hourthinkinghimselfguiltybecauseof hissins,let himconsiderthatheis
soon to be brought before the dread judgment, and say always to himself

in his heartthatwhichthepublicanin thegospelsaidwithdowncasteyes;

Lord, I a sinner am not worthy to raise my eyes to heaven. .. .52

In chapter vi, silence is urged because of the dangers of speech for

the one who speaks.53The focus is entirely on the monastic life as
training for the individual.
Benedict's Rule places more emphasis on abbot than on
community and sees the abbot both as teacher verbo et exemplo
and as ruler to be obeyed. Like treatises by black monks in the
twelfth century, it contains no sense of the community as a
laboratory within which the individual learns to feel compassion
and contrition by emotional identification with the experience of
his fellows. And it sees even the learning of humility as due more
to obedience to abbot or seniors than to self-abasement before
equals. It does not explore in detail the opportunities for pride or
humility provided by the communal life.54 But, in so far as it treats
community, it does so entirely from the point of view of the
"beginner"in the "school for the service of God."55It does not
even mention a monastic responsibility to edify others.
Just as regularcanons were aided in their efforts to incorporate
service of neighbor into the cloistered vocation by the availability
of a clerical tradition, so monks, new and old, were held by their
own rule to a definition of themselves as learnersand beginners. It
was apparently impossible for any monastic author in the twelfth
century to develop a conception of community which included
the obligation to edify. No matter how attracted Cistercians may
have been to the new concern for service which permeated
twelfth-centuryreligious life, they continued to feel that the monk
qua monk was responsible only for his own salvation. But there
are many aspects to relationships between human beings; and it is
possible to incorporate an awareness of certain aspects of
community into a concentration on individual spiritual growth.
52Ibid.,vii, 50-51, para. 62-65.
531bid.,vi, 38-39; see also iv, 32, para. 51-56.
54Seede Vogie6, La communaute et I'abb,.
55Thelongest discussion of relations among equals (Benedict, Regula [ed.
Hanslik] lxxii, 162-63) focuses entirely on relations between brothers as an
aspect of the discipline of the individual monk; see also lxxi, 161-62.

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Indeed a conception of community which focuses on the

individual makes possible certain kinds of depth that are not
enhanced by a stress on service.
Many historians have noted the deep psychological sensitivity
that characterizes twelfth-century Cistercian treatises. In their
inwardness and interest in the emotions, Cistercianscontrast not
only with black monks but also with regular canons.56 The
canons' conception of community, which emphasizes reciprocity
in relations, leads to a concentration on the external effects of
speech and behavior. We can see this clearly in references by
regular canons to the impact of example, which tend to focus on
literal imitation.57In contrast, when an individual feels that an
obligation to serve others cannot be an integral part of his
vocation, an interest in human relationships has to become an
arena for self-exploration. Thus Cistercianssee human love as an
opportunity for personal emotional expansion, as "affective"
more than "effective"charity. When they deal at length with the
impact of example, they tend not only to refer to it as changing
conduct but also to explore the way in which it stimulates desire in
the learner.58
In contrast to black monks of the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, twelfth-century Cistercians expand the attention paid
to interpersonalrelations; in contrast to black monks and regular
canons, they introduce a passionate concern for emotional
change; like black monks, they retain a focus on the monk as
learner. The Cistercian conception of community thus channels
the general twelfth-century concern for "love of neighbor"into a
deeper and more sophisticated version of Benedict's
concentration on the individual's own salvation. The "crisis of
cenobitism" produced a more intense awareness of the
importance of community. But, in twelfth-century Cistercians,
this emphasis never departed from Benedict's understanding of
the monastic vocation as the search for and service of God.
56Therewere, of course, regular canons, notably Richard of St. Victor, who
wrote abstract treatises on love (see Wenner, in Dict. de spiritualite, 2, cols. 57072). But these discussions occur in the context of allegorical exegesis not of
practical spiritual advice. A comparison of canons' works of advice for the
cloistered with those by Cistercians shows that regular canons stress emotional
change as a result of community life less than do Cistercians.
57Hughof St. Victor, De institutione, VII, PL 176, cols. 932D-33C. Philip of
Harvengt, De institutione clericorum, PL 203, cols. 689-94, 719A-B, 738B-C,
748-50, 766B, 933C-D, 1035D, 1202C.
58Aelred,Spec., III, xii, xix and xxiv, PL 195, cols. 588-89, 592-94, 597.

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