Medieval Sourcebook:
William of St. Thierry:
A Description of Clairvaux, c. 1143
At the first glance as you entered Clairvaux by descending the hill you could see that
it was a temple of God; and the still, silent valley bespoke, in the modest simplicity of
its buildings, the unfeigned humility of Christ's poor. Moreover, in this valley full of
men, where no one was permitted to be idle, where one and all were occupied with their
allotted tasks, a silence deep as that of night prevailed. The sounds of labor, or the
chants of the brethren in the choral service, were the only exceptions. The orderliness of
this silence, and the report that went forth concerning it struck such a reverence even
into secular persons that they dreaded breaking it---I will not say by idle or wicked
conversation, but even by proper remarks. The solitude, also, of the place---between dense
forests in a narrow gorge of neighboring hills---in a certain sense recalled the cave of
our father St. Benedict, so that while they strove to imitate his life, they also had some
similarity to him in their habitation and loneliness....
Although the monastery is situated in a valley, it has its foundations on the holy
hills, whose gates the Lord loves more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things
are spoken of it, because the glorious and wonderful God therein works great marvels.
There the insane recover their reason, and although their outward man is worn away,
inwardly they are born again. There the proud are humbled, the rich are made poor, and the
poor have the Gospel preached to them, and the darkness of sinners is changed into light.
A large multitude of blessed poor from the ends of the earth have there assembled, yet
have they one heart and one mind; justly, therefore, do all who dwell there rejoice with
no empty joy. They have the certain hope of perennial joy, of their ascension heavenward
already commenced. In Clairvaux, they have found Jacob's ladder, with angels upon it; some
descending, who so provide for their bodies that they faint not on the way; others
ascending, who so rule their souls that their bodies hereafter may be glorified with them.
For my part, the more attentively I watch them day by day, the more do I believe that
they are perfect followers of Christ in all things. When they pray and speak to God in
spirit and in truth, by their friendly and quiet speech to Him, as well as by their
humbleness of demeanor, they are plainly seen to be God's companions and friends. When, on
the other hand, they openly praise God with psalms, how pure and fervent are their minds,
is shown by their posture of body in holy fear and reverence, while by their careful
pronunciation and modulation of the psalms, is shown how sweet to their lips are the words
of God---sweeter than honey to their mouths. As I watch them, therefore, singing without
fatigue from before midnight to the dawn of day, with only a brief interval, they appear a
little less than the angels, but much more than men....
As regards their manual labor, so patiently and placidly, with such quiet countenances,
in such sweet and holy order, do they perform all things, that although they exercise
themselves at many works, they never seem moved or burdened in anything, whatever the
labor may be. Whence it is manifest that that Holy Spirit works in them who disposes of
all things with sweetness, in whom they are refreshed, so that they rest even in their
toil. Many of them, I hear, are bishops and earls, and many illustrious through their
birth or knowledge; but now, by God's grace, all distinction of persons being dead among
them, the greater anyone thought himself in the world, the more in this flock does he
regard himself as less than the least. I see them in the garden with hoes, in the meadows
with forks or rakes, in the fields with scythes, in the forest with axes. To judge from
their outward appearance, their tools, their bad and disordered clothes, they appear a
race of fools, without speech or sense. But a true thought in my mind tells me that their
life in Christ is hidden in the heavens. Among them I see Godfrey of Peronne, Raynald of
Picardy, William of St. Omer, Walter de Lisle, all of whom I knew formerly in the old man,
whereof I now see no trace, by God's favor. I knew them proud and puffed up; I see them
walking humbly under the merciful hand of God.
Source.
From: Frederic Austin Ogg, ed., A Source Book of Mediaeval History: Documents
Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the German Invasions to the
Renaissance, (New York, 1907, reprinted by Cooper Square Publishers (New York), 1972),
pp. 258-260
Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by
Prof. Arkenberg.
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© Paul Halsall, August 1998
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