ST ÆLRED, ABBOT - 12 JANUARY

SAINT ÆLRED, ABBOT

Saint Ælred (Aelred, Ethelred) was born in 1109 at Hexham, but at an early age made the acquaintance of David, St Margaret's youngest son, shortly afterwards King of Scotland, at whose court he apparently acted for some years as a sort of page, or companion to the young Prince Henry.

AT COURT

Ælred decided to become a Cistercian monk, in the recently founded abbey of Rievaulx in Yorkshire. Soon he was appointed master of novices, and was long remembered for his extraordinary tenderness and patience towards those under his charge.

AT RIEVAULX

In 1146 he was elected abbot of Rievaulx, a community of 300 monks, which, at the same time, made him head of all the Cistercian abbots in England. Causes were referred to him, and often he had to undertake considerable journeys to visit the monasteries of his order.

CONSIDERABLE INFLUENCE

He seems to have exercised considerable influence over Henry II, in the early years of his reign, and to have persuaded him to join Louis VII of France in meeting Pope Alexander III, at Touci, in 1162.

HE WAS PRESENT AT THE TRANSLATION OF ST EDWARD THE CONFESSOR

Although suffering from a complication of most painful maladies, he journeyed to France to attend the general chapter of his Order. He was present in Westminster Abbey, at the translation of St Edward the Confessor, in 1163, and, in view of this event, he both wrote a life of the saintly king and preached a homily in his praise.

HEROIC PATIENCE

Throughout his last years Ælred gave an extraordinary example of heroic patience under a succession of infirmities. He was, moreover, so abstemious that he is described as being "more like a ghost than a man."

SPECULUM CARITATIS

His death is generally supposed to have occurred January 12, 1166. St. Ælred left a considerable collection of sermons, the remarkable eloquence of which has earned for him the title of the English St. Bernard. He was the author of several ascetical treatises, notably the "Speculum Caritatis". He is the patron of people suffering from bladder stones.

Source: Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Ælred may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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