Robert Alberic Stephen of Citeaux

Saints Robert, Alberic & Stephen
Cistercian Founders
Chapter Sermon Jan 26 2008
Br. Philip

“Whoever sets foot in some peaceful haven of the Cistercians, whoever comes upon a scene of ruins in the snow, a church choir forgotten in the woods, - is moved by them. Serenity, calm and dignity speak from these stones”. quotation from ‘Monasteries of Western Europe’.
The Cistercians first appeared on the scene of medieval Burgundy at the end of the 11th century. Until that time, Western monasticism had relied almost entirely on the Rule of St. Benedict of Nursia to give it form and structure. Yet Benedictine himself he would have been the first to express surprise at the idea of his Rule sprawling an Order. To this day the independence of each Benedictine house is jealously guarded. The Abbot Primate of the Order is in effect only a figurehead.
Benedict provided, in his ‘little Rule for beginners’, a life of severity and humility, balanced by a healthy dose of humanity and sound practical good sense. Total obedience to the Abbot was tempered by the obligation laid on the Abbot himself to take counsel of the whole community.
The concentrated power of any ideal which gains currency tends to become more diluted as it spreads. Benedict’s Rule was no exception. By the end of the tenth century when his Rule had been accepted in almost every monastery in Christendom, it was ripe for reform.
Also the involvement of the Church in temporal quarrels and worldly affairs provided a reaction in the more spiritually sensitive men of the day.
St. Romuald fled to a secluded valley in Tuscany where he founded the Abbey of Camaldoli.
St. Giovanni Gualbert took to the hills around Florence, founded an isolated monastery in the forest of Vallambrosa
St. Peter Damian’s retreat from the world was a retreat high in the Apennines on the Borders of Umbria.
In 1098, a group of monks seeking to perfect their way of life in stricter observance of the Rule of St. Benedict abandoned the Cluniac Abbey of Molesme in Burgundy and followed their Abbot, Robert, to found a new monastery. They took possession on 21st March 1098 of a parcel of land south of Dijon, given them for the express purpose of founding on it their ‘novum monasterium’. The land was distinctly unwelcoming, consisting of dense forest, interspersed with marshy bog land. The place was called Citeaux.
Not many months passed, however, before the monks of Molesme appealed to the Pope to have their Abbot returned. In obedience to the Pope, Robert returned to his former post.
Robert, born around 1028 died peacefully at Molesme in 1111. He was canonised in 1220. It is only after 1222 that official Cistercian documents start to include his name at the beginning of lists of the Abbots of Citeaux.
Despite the comparative lack of reliable historical detail regarding Robert’s career and motivation, it is difficult not to get a picture if a man of intense feeling whose restlessness and dissatisfaction with the rhythm of Cluniac life prevailing in his day combine with an immense charisma over his fellow monks. A man living a life he feels to be too far removed from what St. Benedict was talking about 600 years earlier, and determined to take steps to remedy the situation: the Cistercian ideal had been conceived. It is thanks to his vision alone that the seeds were sown which were to change the face of medieval monasticism.
A large majority of the original community returned to Molesme in Robert’s wake, leaving a mere handful to persevere with the idea.
This handful elected as Abbot Robert’s deputy, Prior Alberic, to be Abbot, and it was he who against all likelihood, strengthened and consolidated the spiritual and material legacy of Robert, encouraging new vocations, adhering strictly to the letter of Benedict’s Rule, and at the same time dealing with the physical business of setting the Abbey on its feet.
Accepting realistically that the first piece of land that they had occupied was totally unsuitable for settling, and that no monastic foundation could be expected to survive on it, Alberic promptly moved to a site one Kilometre away just as unwelcoming and wild as the first piece of land, this one however was served by a brook. It was under him that the Abbey’s independence was confirmed by papal privilege that put this new monastery under the protection of the Pope Alberic’s lasting contribution to the Cistercians, however, was his decision to abandon the black habit of the Benedictines and clothe his small flock in a habit of undyed wool.
After the death of Alberic on Jan 26th 1109, the monks elected the Prior, Stephen Harding, an Englishman. Stephen was one of the veterans of the group at Citeaux, and probably the one closest in sensibility to Robert’s original aims. So it is not surprising that he was unanimously agreed upon to be the perfect choice as Abbot. Essentially likeable, kind natured and possessed of great charm, Stephen’s greatest legacy to the Cistercians is the constitutional framework he gave to the Order know as the ‘Carta Caritatis’, the Charter of Charity. From now on, as the name of the document implies, charity, rather than the exercise of power, was to be the guiding principle behind the organisation of the monastic family.
The fast expansion of Citeaux’s estates began in his administration. However, at heart, Stephen was far more a scholar than an economist. His erudition enabled him to undertake tasks that would test the talents of the most modern researchers.
Through the highly competent Scriptorium at Citeaux, he not only produced works of great care and accuracy but also of outstanding beauty. Citeaux harboured some of the greatest artistic talents of France.
Citeaux’s rise from obscurity to prominence and Stephen’s engaging personality, attracted numerous disciples, and by 1112 there emerged a plan for a new foundation. La Ferte was founded in 1113. Other foundations quickly followed; Clairvaux, led by the 25 year old Bernard, in 1115.
By the time of Stephen’s death in 1134, seventy Abbots attended the General Chapter.
Stephen Harding is responsible for the survival, and indeed the very existence of the Cistercian movement in the form it left its mark on history.
He found Citeaux just another reformed Abbey, and left it the head of the first Religious Order in the true sense of the word.

Sts. Robert, Alberic and Stephen pray for us.
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