The Epistle of Thurstan of York
The Letter of Thurstan, Archbishop of
York, to William of Cor-beil, the Archbishop of
Canterbury and Legate of the Apostolic See, gives a very colorful and sometimes
amusing account of the events which set the stage for the founding of Fountains Abbey.
The Letter was written in the last months of 1132. No less a person than Bernard of
Clairvaux proclaims the merits of the author, Archbishop Thurstan:
The splendor of your work and your
reputation among men have combined greatly, as I
know, to your credit. Your deeds prove that yours is no undeserved or empty reputation,
for facts themselves bear out what hitherto has everywhere been reported of you . . . I
admire you. . . .
Thurston not only had a great understanding
and appreciation of monastic life, as is
seen in this letter, but also a personal desire to embrace it, as is evident from another
letter addressed to him by St. Bernard. Thurstan's Letter is brought forward as a witness
to the fact that the Cistercian Fathers sought to live the evangelical life according to the
monastic tradition expressed in the Rule of St. Benedict.
Thurstan repeatedly and explicitly states
that this was the intent of the Founders of
Fountains Abbey:
. . . men who were determined to correct
their way of life according to the Rule of St.
Benedict, or rather, according to the truth of the Gospel.(3)
These brethren with many tears sought
nothing but . . . that they might not be impeded
from living in evangelical peace and observing the Rule of the Blessed Father
Benedict.(4)
All of them are seeking full observance
of the Rule and of their profession and likewise of
the Gospel.(19)
. . . these men who wish truly to obey
the Gospel of Christ and the Rule of St. Benedict .
. .(20)
The Epistle of Thurstan, Archbishop of
York
To William his most revered Lord in Christ's
love, by the grace of God Archbishop of
Canterbury and Legate of the Apostolic See, Thurstan, by the same grace, Archbishop
of York, expresses the earnest desire that his Lord might grow in Christ and never fall
away.
1. It is the highest honor of an ecclesiastical
dignitary to give the best counsel to the
finest sons of the Church when they are in most difficult situations. Wherefore, my
venerable Lord and esteemed Father, we have decided to bring to the attention of your
Paternity an unusual thing which has happened recently among us here at York.
2. Indeed, it is well known and certain
to many men how great in the eyes of all is the
goodness and virtuous renown of the outstanding Monastery of St. Mary's of York.
Because it is without doubt true that when riches increase, virtue begins to wane and be
less constant, some of the brethren of this monastery for the past half-year, moved by
divine inspiration I believe, have begun to be very concerned about the manner and
condition of their way of life. The gnawing of their consciences, as they have testified,
has caused them much distress. For they fear that they would be wholly failing if they did
not live out in a holy way their awesome vows. Whence, these brethren of York were
struck with a very terrible fear in that they seemed to carry out their profession in nothing,
or, at least, in very few things. They feared, indeed, lest they were running or had run, if
indeed not to damnation itself, at least in vain because of the guilt that lay upon them for
such great infidelity to their vows. They believed it to be a crime, or rather insanity, to
bear the yoke of the Rule of St. Benedict not unto salvation but unto condemnation.
3. Therefore, disturbed by these things,
these brethren undertook to make known the
concern that was burning in their hearts to their Prior, Richard, revealing their fear
concerning their transgressions. They sought his help to correct the situation; and lest
he fear to be of help out of considerations of prosperity or adversity, they ad-
jured him by the Spirit of God and the
Name of Christ. He was alarmed at the novelty of
the thing they offered. But although among his own his position was the best, once he
heard the quiet call to a better life, he pondered seriously upon the doubtful promise of
his transitory good fortune. For a short time he took counsel within himself, considering
the alternatives, and then he made his decision. He promised not only to help, but,
indeed, to ally himself with their desires. What then? Within a short time the number
increased to fully thirteen who were determined to correct their way of life according to
the Rule of St. Benedict, or rather, according to the truth of the Gospel.
4. Therefore, on the Vigil of the holy
Apostles Peter and Paul, our beloved brother, Prior
Richard, on whom almost the whole care of the monastery rested, taking with him his
Subprior, Gervaise, who was well known among his brethren for his religious spirit, went
to their Lord Abbot and frankly made known to him the whole matter as it had developed.
The Lord Abbot, a man who, in his own way and according to his own lights, is decent
and good, but, however, overly simple and unschooled, was terrified by the miracle of
this new spirit. He denied that he could change in his monastery the ancient rites and the
usual practices which generally obtained throughout the whole world. But the Prior, as a
man well read, responded: "Father, we do not seek to introduce anything crude or new.
We must undertake with all our strength to observe by God's grace the true and age-old
service of our blessed Father Benedict, or rather, the more ancient Gospel of Christ,
which precedes all vows and rules. We do not seek to detract in any way from the rest
of the monks. We are not envious of their practices. We know that in every place one
Lord is served. We fight under one King. Both in the public square and in the cloister the
same grace of God prevails and wins out. For Job is stronger on his dungheap than
Adam in Paradise. Whatever the blessed Benedict established, the whole of it was
designed by the Providence of the Holy Spirit, so that nothing more useful, more holy, or
happy can be conceived. As he knew and taught that idleness was the enemy of the
soul, he arranged that certain times should be given to reading and to fervent prayer and
that certain times be given to labor and to work, in such wise that at one time the soul
would be fruitfully employed, at another, the body, and thus both would be saved from
weariness. And, moreover, he added this, 'Coarse jests and idle words or words that
move to laughter,
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these we exclude forever from every part
of the cloister. For such speech we do not
permit the disciple to open his mouth.' And in another place he says: 'At all times a monk
should be zealous for silence, but especially during the night hours.' How diligently this
decree has been observed is not unknown to anyone who knows our practices. For
while some are going to church after collation, others step aside to jest and to exchange
useless and garrulous talk, as if the evil of the day were not sufficient, unless there were
added to it that of the night."
5. He added many things, moreover, concerning
the delicate food, the sweet and
expensive variety of drinks, the expensive quality of the clothes. "This was not the taste
of our blessed Father Benedict; it was not what he taught. He did not attend to the color
of the clothes but to the needed warmth. He did not look after the tasti-ness of the
vegetables. Rather, necessity was hardly satisfied by frugality. St. Benedict
acknowledges as his own only those who live in the monastery under a rule and an
abbot. So, venerable Father, if you will allow, we will hasten back to the purity of the
Gospel, to evangelical perfection and peace. For we see that nothing or very little shines
forth in our conduct and in our actions which was taught by Christ. We are filled with
concupiscence, we are angry, we quarrel, we steal from others, we go to court to get
our goods back, we defend ourselves with fraud and lies, we follow the ways of the flesh
and its desires, we live for ourselves, we please ourselves, we fear being overcome, we
glory in overcoming others, we oppress others and seek to avoid being oppressed, we
envy others and we glory in our own perfections, we take our pleasure, grow fat on the
sweat of others, and the whole world does not suffice for our wickedness. It seems as if
the Gospel had perished and become impossible for us.
6. "We think of the monks of Savigny
and Clairvaux who recently came to us. The
Gospel so clearly shone out in them that it must be said it would be more useful to
imitate them than to recite it. When, indeed, their holy life is seen, it is as if the Gospel
were being relived in them. They alone do not seek their own. They alone possess
nothing by which they would seek to prefer themselves to their brethren. They alone do
not seek the harm of their neighbors. They are content to cultivate a little land and to use
some cattle. And these things, indeed, they do not desire to have except insofar as God
wills it. Because when God wills to take them away from them they do
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123
not seek to keep them. For them, if I
be not mistaken, it is fitting to say: 'The world is
crucified to us and we to the world.' For them it is fitting to say: 'Forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,' because they have no
trespasser from whom they wish to demand anything. Happy, indeed, are men such as
these whose clothing, food, and whole way of life savor of the Gospel. Their portion is
God alone. They know, insofar as it is humanly possible, how to be filled with the love of
God and neighbor. Adhering to God alone, they so fully leave behind all temporal things
except for a poor contemptible habit, they desire nothing over which a neighbor could
become angry."
7. "Therefore, Father, never let
it seem to be impossible to hold fast to the Rule of St.
Benedict, as long as God gives us such examples as these who go before us in the way
of holiness and virtue so that we may follow them. If, indeed, because of the nearness
and the noisiness of the people we are not able wholly to follow them, let us at least
advert to our way of life and profession according to our Rule, and moreover, to the fact
that we are not monks but rather dead men."
8. In this manner, the Lord Prior, Richard,
spoke with their Lord Abbot, Geoffrey,
concerning the reformation of their monastery. The Lord Abbot did not receive these
words with joy because it is difficult to change long standing practices.
9. Nevertheless, confessing himself to
be unlearned and less perspicacious, he asked if
he might be more fully informed in writing as to how such things could be accomplished
in his monastery. Prior Richard willingly accepted this and was not slow in fulfilling it. He
wrote that they ought to conform to what the Rule permitted in speech, clothes, and
food. He so carefully explained the arrangement and order of the monastery that it
seemed as if the Rule could be observed in the city hardly less perfectly than in a desert.
Knowing secular affairs well, he arranged their temporalities with such fidelity that he in
no way departed from evangelical justice. Everything concerning the incomes from
churches and tithes, in regard to the investment of which monks are usually held to be
more reprehensible, was to be undertaken and done with the legitimate and canonical
advice of the bishops, and they were to be used only for the poor, the pilgrims, and for
guests. He decreed that the monks were to live by agriculture and the rearing of cattle.
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10. When the rumor of all these things
began to reach the others 1 the anger of the rest
of the community burst forth in a jealous rage' They thought that this man and his
companions should be sent into! exile or thrown into prison.
11. After meeting with them many times
in different places for' friendly talks, the Lord
Abbot saw that only with difficulty could he change what his predecessors seemed to
have upheld. Nevertheless, wishing in this matter to use good counsel, he put off a full
reply until after the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Meanwhile some of the brethren,
vainly fearing that they were to be constricted by more than the regular discipline, began,
out of envy toward the Prior and the others, to plot like the Pharisees. If the benignity of
some had not brought about a delay, immediate persecution would have burst out.
12. At the same time the rumor of the
internal strife spread among the people outside.
We heard this talk among the people, but the truth of the matter remained hidden. Then
Prior Richard, bringing with him the Subprior and the Secretary of the monastery, came
to make the truth of the situation known to us. They sought the clemency of St. Peter
and of ourselves in order that they might begin without delay to undertake to observe
what they had vowed. They said their need was pressing, especially because the
brethren had so conspired that if any one of them said anything about his profession he
would be excommunicated. Some of the companions of the Prior, shaken by fear or self-
love or vanity, so turned back because they could not otherwise find peace, that they
confessed it as a fault that they had said anything about observing their profession.
13. Therefore, I, Thurstan, by the grace
of God, Archbishop of York, heard these
servants of Christ who, according to the command of St. Benedict, wished to prefer
nothing to the love of Christ. I feared to offend in them Christ's grace if I did not receive
their just petition with pastoral concern. It pertains to the primary responsibilities of a
bishop to provide for monks a sacred peace and to comfort the oppressed in their need.
Therefore, taking the advice of holy men, I convoked the Lord Abbot Geoffrey and the
Prior Richard with his Subprior to a suitable place in order that with some other holy men
I might peacefully receive the petition of the brethren and the reply of the Abbot.
14. These brothers, with many tears, sought
nothing but what they had previously asked,
namely, that they might follow the poor Christ
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125
in voluntary poverty, that they might
carry the Cross of Christ in their own bodies, that
they might not be impeded from living in evangelical peace and observing the Rule of the
blessed Father Benedict. To do this, they earnestly sought the permission and the
paternal help of their Lord Abbot. And, indeed, the Lord Abbot with tears confessed that
their undertaking was something very much needed and he promised that he would not
stand in the way of their desire, which was holy, but without the consent of his chapter
he dared not promise anything in regard to the assistance they sought.
15. And so the Lord Abbot returned to
the monastery with his monks. In the meantime
there was peace and a day was established on which I would come to their chapter and,
with some religious who would come with me, would treat with the Abbot on this matter.
Meanwhile, the rest of the brethren displayed their envy with increasing cruelty as these
men sought more manifestly to carry out their desire. They called in some men from the
Great Abbey and some monks of Cluny who were dwelling in the neighborhood. And in
their presence and with their approval they deprived these monks, as men who had
profaned and deserted the common order, of every dignity and responsibility in the
monastery, for, after the Abbot, the greatest responsibility in the monastery had been in
their hands. All of this happened in the interim.
16. On the established day, early in the
morning, I prepared to come to the chapter of the
monks. I had almost arrived at the very door–with me there were a number of wise and
religious men: Hugh, the Deacon; William, the Prior of the Clerks Regular of Cisbarne;
William, the Treasurer; Hugh, the Archdeacon; Serlo, the Canon; Alfred, my Chaplain
and Canon; and Robert, the Chaplain of the Hospital. We had left our horses outside the
inner gate with a few men.
17. Then, as I have said, as we were about
to enter the door of the chapter, the Lord
Abbot met us at the door with his monks, who fairly filled the chapter room. He forbade
me to enter unless some of the clerics who were with me were sent away. I was
scarcely able to reply that I ought not to enter upon such an affair without my clerics who
were good and wise men and their friends, when, behold, the whole chapter resounded
with shouting and terrible cries. It seemed that I was faced with the seditious outburst of
drunken and debauched men rather than with the humility of monks, of which nothing
was there. Many rose up, and swinging their arms as if they
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would charge to the attack, cried that
they would leave if I entered. I said: "God is my
witness, that I came as a Father, with no thought of inflicting harm on you, desiring only
that there be peace and Christian fraternity among you. Now, in truth, because you have
sought to take away from me what pertains to the episcopal authority and office, I, in like
manner, take from you what you need. I place your church under interdict." Then one of
them, Simon by name, said: "We would prefer to have our church a hundred years
under interdict." To this all assented and cried in upraised voices: "Seize them!" Seizing
the Prior and his companions, they began to pull them away, wishing, as they had
decided among themselves, either to throw them into prison or to send them into exile.
The latter, indeed, having no other hope of escaping their hands, clung to me, looking for
the peace of Peter and our peace. So we ran to the church, and they, all the way,
screamed and cried: "Seize the rebels! Apprehend the traitors!" Thus we escaped into
the church. The Abbot and the rest of his monks returned to their chapter.
18. While this was going on, the men of
the Abbey stood around the closed doors and
the entrance gates as if lying in ambush. We (as I must truly confess), fearing an attack
from the monks, took care to bar, from within, the door of the church which opened on
the cloister. Meanwhile, the news spread abroad and people gathered, but no untoward
thing was said or done by them.
19. Since, therefore, nothing could be
done to establish concord among the monks, we
returned home, taking with us the group: twelve priests and a subdeacon. Several of
them are learned men. All are seeking full observance of the Rule and their profession
and likewise of the Gospel. And so they dwelt as guests in the house of St. Peter, our
residence. They are in no wise deterred from their proposal by the violence they have
suffered. However, the brethren of the abbey, on their part, carry on without restraint, and
the Abbot–I know not for what reason–has gone off on a journey.
20. Wherefore, we beseech your paternity,
in Christ, to defend with your authority the
interests of these monks who desire to change to a stricter and more austere life. If, in
fact, their Abbot comes to you, guide him back to peace with your God-given authority
and wisdom, and warn him not to impede the holy resolution of his sons. If he has
already come and gone, we ask that through the present messenger you send letters to
him, exhorting him not to stand perti-
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127
naciously against these men, who wish
truly to obey the Gospel of Christ and the Rule of
St. Benedict, but rather to give them his assistance and the opportunity to do as they
desire. The Abbot and his monks ought at least in this to imitate the Egyptians and the
Babylonians, who allowed the Israelites to go in quest of the Land of Promise. Indeed,
when Jacob secretly fled from Laban's domination, Laban, after a cruel persecution, let
him return to his fatherland. In truth, they are not to be thought deserters but prudent
men who wish to leave a place where there is greater liberty to sin, desiring one where
they can live more safely in communion with God. Indeed, Christ himself threatens
them! Did he not rebuke the Pharisees in that they themselves did not enter, and would
not permit others to enter? It is indeed known to all that the Rule of St. Benedict
commonly, and it might be said almost everywhere in the world, has lost its proper place
and observance in almost everything. Really, no one can be sufficiently amazed that
some dare to promise before God and his saints with such solemnity that which they will
daily neglect, or, if I might speak more truly, will be compelled not to observe. What the
prophet says fits them perfectly: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is
far from me." And, as the Apostle says: "They confess with their voice to know God but
in their deeds they deny him."
21. Perhaps it is true that many act in
this way. Frequency makes for audacity. Truly, I
must say in sorrow, it is deceived, it is wholly deceived, this audacity of the monks,
because a multitude of sins does not grant impunity to the sinners. Wherefore, those
who wish to observe the Rule of their profession are not to be impeded but to be
protected. They are not to be reprehended when, for this reason, they hasten to change
their place, for God is not chosen for the sake of a place. The place is chosen for the
sake of God. St. Benedict clearly testifies that in every place it is the same Lord God who
is served, the same King for whom the battle is fought. In the Conferences of the
Fathers, the hermit Joseph said very clearly that that man was more faithful to his
profession who went where he could more fully live out the precepts of the Lord of faith.
And, indeed, "He who helps us in our needs and in our tribulations helps us to seek a
holy situation." If I be not mistaken, they should be considered Pharisees and heretics
who do not fear nor permit others to fear what Truth himself has said: "Unless your
justice exceeds
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that of the Scribes and the Pharisees,
you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." For, if
an angel from heaven preaches other than that which must be preached, let him be
anathema. And he preaches a Gospel other than Christ's Gospel who tries to impede
men who seek angelic peace and the observance of the Rule of their profession.
Whoever he be, he must be totally refuted, as Truth himself says: "If your right eye
scandalize you, tear it out and cast if from you." Nothing in the body causes more pain
when it is wounded, or is more carefully taken care of, than the eye. Nevertheless, when
it becomes an impediment, it must be spiritually torn out. For this is the prudence of the
serpent, to free the head–that is, the mind– from all folly that can wound the soul.
22. -Because of the scandal of the weak,
who have less ability to discern the truth, we
ask Your Holiness and all who wish to hear this petition of ours, to endeavor, insofar as it
is possible, to restore peace between the Abbot of York and these brothers. We ought to
recall wliat happened in the affair of the Molesme monks, which is quite similar. The
Cistercians went forth to establish and found a most perfect way of life which has set the
whole Church at wonder. The Lord Hugh, of venerable memory, the Archbishop of
Lyons, with true Christian piety praised the extraordinary purity of their life. They faithfully
undertook a renewal of the Holy Rule and a total living of it. And then, when complaints of
the jealous came to the knowledge of the Apostolic See, Pope Urban II issued a decree
to the effect that as long as the Abbot returned to his duties as Abbot in his former
monastery, none of the others who wished to persevere in a full living of the Rule should
suffer any impediment or molestation. Indeed, it is clearer than light that in their
wonderful way of life the truth of the whole Gospel shines forth.
23. We have been very long, and perhaps
tiresome, in this letter. But, although it will not
please them, it seemed that the situation of the monks remaining at St. Mary's should be
clearly set forth, lest only the opinion of these jealous men be known, which should not
be the case.
24. May Your Holiness prosper in Christ.
