Kazania Aelreda z Rievaulx

Abstract

There are not many studies in Polish theologies (medieval) milieu about the spiritual creation of the Cistercian abbot Aelred of Rievaulx, North England (1110-1167). This article tries to present his preaching activity which constituted a great part of his theological teaching. The teaching concerned the medieval form of cultivation of theology performed in monasteries, called “monastic theology” (J. Leclerq). Aelred, next to the great Bernard of Clairvaux and William of Saint Thierry, was one who represented this kind of theology. Besides one explicit mention about Aelred’s authorship and destination of his “Semones de oneribus” (“Homilies on the Burdens”), there is missing complete and certain information related to the creation of the rest of his collection of sermons. In this question we must look for the answer to the general process of creating these kind of works, located of course in the years of the abbot’s activity, that is, between 1143-1166. In general the preaching was reserved to the abbot being an institutional element of monastic formation. The abbot had to preach at prescribed liturgical feasts and Sundays as well during special daily meetings (capitulum). This way, in the first case were created the collection of liturgical sermons, in the second, peculiar sermons-commentaries on the basis of the Holy Scriptures, fragments of the “Rule” of St. Benedict and other patristic writings. The scholars speak of about 300 sermons said by Aelred, from which only one part has survived. “Sermones de oneribus” takes part of the second kind of sermons (commentaries) created on four chapters from the book of Isaiah. Beside them, we know about a few collections of liturgical sermons; parts of them were not printed until recently. On the list of these writings there are also sermons preached by the abbot on the synods and in many different occasions of feasts, both religious and state. Fortunately many of these collections have been retained in manuscripts although not the original because these probably perished during the ages. In conformity with medieval tradition the sermons were both written down by the listeners during their delivering and later eventually reviewed by the author in order to use them to another occasions (so called: post orale), or the preacher himself had written them in form of few points for the actual concrete necessity and situation (so called: pre-écrite) (G. Raciti). It is not out of the question that Aelred could have prepared on the basis of the post-orale sermons some one special or few collections in order to send them to filial communities or to have them at hand during his travels around England and France. Anyway, the care of preserving his preacher’s inheritance undertook individual communities of England and France (Clairvaux, Durham, Lincoln, Oxford, Westminster, Eton), in order to have and use them in formation of their own monks during the reading on capitulum. This way we have the copies of particular collections, called codex, written down not long after death of Aelred (1167) and kept in monastic libraries. Part of them, after first trials of publication (Gibbons, Tissier), reached in XIX century to the great L. Migne’s “Patrologia latina”, vol. 195; other parts were never published. It is G. Raciti who made the first critical elaboration of whole liturgical sermons of our abbot on the basis of retained manuscripts. After considering the earlier redaction work of his predecessor C. H. Talbot (1952), he published the Aelredian preacher’s production in two volumes of Tumholti Typographi Brepolis Editores Pontifici, Belgium, in the frames of series of “Corpus Christianorum Continuation Mediaevalis”, part 2, a-b (CCCM 2a-b), in the years 1089 and 2001. This way, beside mentioned collection of “Sermones de oneribus”, we have nowadays two volumes of Aelredian liturgical sermons, the fruit of many years standing of the work of Raciti, which is present here. The editor has divided all the sermons into four collections and has treated them together, keeping one and the same numerical draught, from 1 to 84. The first volume (CCCM 2a) contains 46 sermons in two collections, called “Collection of Clairvaux”, founded in Municipal Library of Troyes (Manuscripts 910 and 868), which comes from and were copied for the use of the community of Clairvaux. We have discussions with details of 28 sermons of the “First Collection”, as the example of knowledge of the specifics of its theological teaching. The second volume (CCCM 2b) contains the next two collections of 38 sermons: from Durham and Lincoln (reconstructed on the basis of the five codex), separated with the sermon of “Annunciation of the Lord” written by some Mathieu of Rievaulx, the master of choir. The last point of the article discusses the Aelredian collection of sermons-commentaries “De oneribus” (“On the Burdens”), speaking about the obstacles which the Christians experience on the way of perfection, made on the basis of the four chapters (13-16) of the book of Isaiah. At the end is added one sermon “De dilectione Dei” (“On the Love of God”) set in the first volume of the critical spiritual works of abbot (CCCM1), 1971, printed for the first time. The collection of “Sermones de oneribus”, as the unique one, has been written by Aelred himself in years 1158-1164, and was dedicated to Gilbert Foliot, bishop of London at that time. It was printed and put later into the “Patrologia latina”, of J. Migne (PL 187,817-828; 195,361-500) and this way it constitutes the basic source of our research. “Sermones de oneribus” make the collection of 31 sermons, preceded by the commendatory letter to bishop Gilbert (PL 195,361-362) and by one introductory sermon on Advent (PL 187,817-828), from which the origin the whole collection was taken. According to the plan sketched in the introduction, the abbot discusses successively burdens (pondes) and yokes (ones), which the Christian meets on the way to God, symbolically expressed by the biblical cities of Babylon (obstacles from the world) (Serm. 2-20), nation of Philistines (obstacles from the devil) (Serm. 21-23), and Moab (obstacles from the body) (Serm. 24-31). Very short in its contents “Sermo de dilection Dei” shows the true image of God’s love which consists in firm and patient adherence of the human will to the will of God.