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The Cistercian World: Monastic Writings of the Twelfth Century
The Cistercian Order was born in Burgundy at the start of the twelfth century as a movement of radical renewal - an Order that survives to this day with the greater part of its written heritage preserved. This volume brings together a selection of its finest works, which speak powerfully across the centuries to modern readers. Writings by St Bernard of Clairvaux (c. 1090-1153) - including his letters, The Life of Malachy the Irishman, sermons on the Song of Songs and the sharply satirical Apologia for Abbot William - reveal him to be a highly individual and influential writer of the Middle Ages. Also included here are a charming description of Clairvaux, biographies of abbots and a series of exemplary stories, all drawing on the Scriptures to express intensely personal forms of monastic theology.
352 pages, Paperback
First published April 29, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 11, 2025
An extra star for the fact that a young arabic translator approached me to ask about this book when I was reading it on the tube & gave me his card
July 27, 2019
The Cistercian World was RUBBISH!!! St Bernard of Clairvaux overrated af
January 21, 2019
This is a collection of monastic writings centered around those who were part or associated with the Cistercian order. The most well known figure present in this book for many is Bernard of Clairvaux, but there are a number of other pieces by lesser known authors. Overall, I liked the book in some ways, but I can't say it was a very enjoyable or even a transformative work.
I have read a good portion of Bernard of Clairvaux's work before and haven't really enjoyed him that much, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked a number of the other works presented here much more than Bernard. I found this kind of strange, but I guess just because someone is the most well known doesn't necessarily mean that you will like him the best. Honestly, I almost liked all the other writers a bit better than Bernard. So I found that a happy surprise.
I also find these kind of works very interesting from a historical side. To get insight into the monastic life and the lives of some of the figures. This collection even contains a couple stories about men who lived in that age.
What keeps this work from being too enjoyable is that I just don't think I really get or like the monastic way of approaching faith. Given this it is hard to really glean too much for use in my own faith and makes it more of a window into monastic faith in the twelfth century. For that its useful, but for my own faith I found it not nearly as useful. This is also a collection full of abridged portions of works so you're not getting the full work when dealing with some of the larger writings.
Overall, this is a good resource if you're looking for a taste of medieval monastic Christianity. If you're very interested in the monastic approach towards spirituality for either personal devotion or historical knowledge this is a useful book to pick up. If you're not such a big fan of monastic spirituality you may still like the book, like me, but it probably won't be a favorite.
I have read a good portion of Bernard of Clairvaux's work before and haven't really enjoyed him that much, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked a number of the other works presented here much more than Bernard. I found this kind of strange, but I guess just because someone is the most well known doesn't necessarily mean that you will like him the best. Honestly, I almost liked all the other writers a bit better than Bernard. So I found that a happy surprise.
I also find these kind of works very interesting from a historical side. To get insight into the monastic life and the lives of some of the figures. This collection even contains a couple stories about men who lived in that age.
What keeps this work from being too enjoyable is that I just don't think I really get or like the monastic way of approaching faith. Given this it is hard to really glean too much for use in my own faith and makes it more of a window into monastic faith in the twelfth century. For that its useful, but for my own faith I found it not nearly as useful. This is also a collection full of abridged portions of works so you're not getting the full work when dealing with some of the larger writings.
Overall, this is a good resource if you're looking for a taste of medieval monastic Christianity. If you're very interested in the monastic approach towards spirituality for either personal devotion or historical knowledge this is a useful book to pick up. If you're not such a big fan of monastic spirituality you may still like the book, like me, but it probably won't be a favorite.
December 6, 2019
An interesting book. It discussion on love and friendship in all male monasteries and even between monks and nuns is fascinating. I found it hard to connect it with the outside world but I suppose that is the point. As an Anglican Christian and a sceptic I found it more convincing than some Hagiographies I have read
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October 25, 2024For my purposes, I read through up through the meditations of William of Thierry. I can't speak to the entire book since this took me just about halfway through, but I thought the selections were very well chosen and the editorial information was concise, readable, and offered in a spirit of thoughtfulness and respect. I borrowed this book but I would be happy to own it!
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March 15, 2024[read intro and two beautiful sermons by St Bernard of Clairvaux on the Song of Songs.]
August 25, 2022
Cistercian, byname White Monk or Bernardine, member of a Roman Catholic monastic order that was founded in 1098 and named after the original establishment at Cîteaux (Latin: Cistercium), a locality in Burgundy, near Dijon, France. The order’s founders, led by St. Robert of Molesme, were a group of Benedictine monks from the abbey of Molesme who were dissatisfied with the relaxed observance of their abbey and desired to live a solitary life under the guidance of the strictest interpretation of the Rule of St. Benedict. Robert was succeeded by St. Alberic and then by St. Stephen Harding, who proved to be the real organizer of the Cistercian rule and order. The new regulations demanded severe asceticism; they rejected all feudal revenues and reintroduced manual labour for monks, making it a principal feature of their life. Communities of nuns adopting the Cistercian customs were founded as early as 1120–30, but they were excluded from the order until about 1200, when the nuns began to be directed, spiritually and materially, by the White Monks.
Cistercian government was based on three features: (1) uniformity—all monasteries were to observe exactly the same rules and customs; (2) general chapter meeting—the abbots of all the houses were to meet in annual general chapter at Cîteaux; (3) visitation—each daughter house was to be visited yearly by the founding abbot, who should ensure the observance of uniform discipline. The individual house preserved its internal autonomy, and the individual monk belonged for life to the house where he made his vows; the system of visitation and chapter provided external means for maintaining standards and enforcing legislation and sanctions.
The Cistercians might have remained a relatively small family had not the fortunes of the order been changed by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who joined Cîteaux as a novice, along with about 30 relatives and friends, in 1112 or 1113. In 1115 he was sent out as founding abbot of Clairvaux, and thenceforward the growth of the order was spectacular. No other religious body was increased so greatly in so brief a time. At St. Bernard’s death the total number of Cistercian abbeys was 338, of which 68 were direct foundations from Clairvaux, and the order had spread from Sweden to Portugal and from Scotland to the countries of the eastern Mediterranean.
With compact broad estates and with a large, disciplined, unpaid labour force, the Cistercians were able to develop all branches of farming without the hindrances of manorial customs. In reclaiming marginal land and in increasing production, especially that of wool in the large pastures of Wales and Yorkshire, the Cistercians played a large part in the economic progress of the 12th century and in the development of the techniques of farming and marketing.
The golden age of the Cistercians was the 12th century.
Bernard of Clairvaux, whose mature and most active phase occurred between 1130 and 1145. In these years both Clairvaux and Rome, the centre of gravity of medieval Christendom, focussed upon Bernard. Mediator and counsellor for several civil and ecclesiastical councils and for theological debates during seven years of papal disunity, he nevertheless found time to produce an extensive number of sermons on the Song of Solomon. As the confidant of five popes, he considered it his role to assist in healing the church of wounds inflicted by the antipopes (those elected pope contrary to prevailing clerical procedures), to oppose the rationalistic influence of the greatest and most popular dialectician of the age, Peter Abelard, and to cultivate the friendship of the greatest churchmen of the time. He could also rebuke a pope, as he did in his letter to Innocent II:
There is but one opinion among all the faithful shepherds among us, namely, that justice is vanishing in the Church, that the power of the keys is gone, that episcopal authority is altogether turning rotten while not a bishop is able to avenge the wrongs done to God, nor is allowed to punish any misdeeds whatever, not even in his own diocese (parochia). And the cause of this they put down to you and the Roman Court.
Bernard’s confrontations with Abelard ended in inevitable opposition because of their significant differences of temperament and attitudes. In contrast with the tradition of “silent opposition” by those of the school of monastic spirituality, Bernard vigorously denounced dialectical Scholasticism as degrading God’s mysteries, as one technique among others, though tending to exalt itself above the alleged limits of faith. One seeks God by learning to live in a school of charity and not through “scandalous curiosity,” he held. “We search in a worthier manner, we discover with greater facility through prayer than through disputation.” Possession of love is the first condition of the knowledge of God. However, Bernard finally claimed a victory over Abelard, because of his homiletical denunciation and his favoured position with the bishops and the papacy.
Cistercian government was based on three features: (1) uniformity—all monasteries were to observe exactly the same rules and customs; (2) general chapter meeting—the abbots of all the houses were to meet in annual general chapter at Cîteaux; (3) visitation—each daughter house was to be visited yearly by the founding abbot, who should ensure the observance of uniform discipline. The individual house preserved its internal autonomy, and the individual monk belonged for life to the house where he made his vows; the system of visitation and chapter provided external means for maintaining standards and enforcing legislation and sanctions.
The Cistercians might have remained a relatively small family had not the fortunes of the order been changed by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who joined Cîteaux as a novice, along with about 30 relatives and friends, in 1112 or 1113. In 1115 he was sent out as founding abbot of Clairvaux, and thenceforward the growth of the order was spectacular. No other religious body was increased so greatly in so brief a time. At St. Bernard’s death the total number of Cistercian abbeys was 338, of which 68 were direct foundations from Clairvaux, and the order had spread from Sweden to Portugal and from Scotland to the countries of the eastern Mediterranean.
With compact broad estates and with a large, disciplined, unpaid labour force, the Cistercians were able to develop all branches of farming without the hindrances of manorial customs. In reclaiming marginal land and in increasing production, especially that of wool in the large pastures of Wales and Yorkshire, the Cistercians played a large part in the economic progress of the 12th century and in the development of the techniques of farming and marketing.
The golden age of the Cistercians was the 12th century.
Bernard of Clairvaux, whose mature and most active phase occurred between 1130 and 1145. In these years both Clairvaux and Rome, the centre of gravity of medieval Christendom, focussed upon Bernard. Mediator and counsellor for several civil and ecclesiastical councils and for theological debates during seven years of papal disunity, he nevertheless found time to produce an extensive number of sermons on the Song of Solomon. As the confidant of five popes, he considered it his role to assist in healing the church of wounds inflicted by the antipopes (those elected pope contrary to prevailing clerical procedures), to oppose the rationalistic influence of the greatest and most popular dialectician of the age, Peter Abelard, and to cultivate the friendship of the greatest churchmen of the time. He could also rebuke a pope, as he did in his letter to Innocent II:
There is but one opinion among all the faithful shepherds among us, namely, that justice is vanishing in the Church, that the power of the keys is gone, that episcopal authority is altogether turning rotten while not a bishop is able to avenge the wrongs done to God, nor is allowed to punish any misdeeds whatever, not even in his own diocese (parochia). And the cause of this they put down to you and the Roman Court.
Bernard’s confrontations with Abelard ended in inevitable opposition because of their significant differences of temperament and attitudes. In contrast with the tradition of “silent opposition” by those of the school of monastic spirituality, Bernard vigorously denounced dialectical Scholasticism as degrading God’s mysteries, as one technique among others, though tending to exalt itself above the alleged limits of faith. One seeks God by learning to live in a school of charity and not through “scandalous curiosity,” he held. “We search in a worthier manner, we discover with greater facility through prayer than through disputation.” Possession of love is the first condition of the knowledge of God. However, Bernard finally claimed a victory over Abelard, because of his homiletical denunciation and his favoured position with the bishops and the papacy.
July 5, 2016
This was my Lent reading for 2016. It is the second Penguin Classic translated by Pauline Matarasso that I’ve read, the first having been her superb The Quest of the Holy Grail. This volume is an excellent anthology in readable English of selections from some of the most important figures in the twelfth-century Cistercian movement. It moves chronologically from the founding of the abbey at Cîteaux to the close of the century.
Matarasso gives a handy introduction to the origins of the Cistercians and their move away from some of the decadence of contemporary Benedictine abbeys, especially many associated with Cluny. Cistercians sought to return to the original letter and spirit of the Rule of St Benedict. Cistercian spirituality is a spirituality based on simplicity of life, dress, manners, art, architecture. It is based upon Scripture and the Fathers, and Cistercians sought through their patristic, scriptural simplicity, to attain union with God through contemplative prayer in the midst of the opus dei, the liturgy of hours. To further assist the reader in interpretation, each text has its own introduction, and there are endnotes.
Cistercians included in this volume are Stephen Harding, Bernard of Clairvaux, William of St Thierry, Guerric of Igny, Amedeus of Lausanne, Aelred of Rievaulx, Isaac of Stella, Gilbert of Hoyland, John of Ford, and Adam of Perseigne, as well as an anonymous description of the abbey and selections of exemplary stories about Bernard and other early Cistercians.
These men are aware of their own finitude in the face of the transcendent God. However, equipped with love, with the Scriptures, and with the power of prayer, they set out to clarify their knowledge of the divine and enter into God’s loving embrace, encountering the bridegroom of the human soul.
Some of St Bernard’s Sermons on the Song of Songs are included here, and they are mightily inspiring, reminding us of the different kinds of love and how we can fulfil the commands. Also inspiring for me were the Meditations of William of St Thierry, who demonstrates the heart of the contemplative. Aelred of Rievaulx’s On Spiritual Friendship is important for us to think over as we live in relationship with others—what sort of friendship is to be cultivated, and how to use friendship to attain spiritual heights.
This is the sort of book that makes you want to pray more and engage in ascetic endeavour. I am a most imperfect example of someone who fulfils that desire, however. Nonetheless, I have copied out some of the passages of the book for private meditation and hope to reread the whole anthology again someday in order to further deepen the grace God gives through his servants. Finally, I would urge anyone interested in the Christian mystical tradition to read this book and see what our forebears in the faith said, thought, and did, and also to be reminded (if you know of the eastern tradition) of the silent ecumenism that links mysticism across time and space and ecclesial boundaries.
Matarasso gives a handy introduction to the origins of the Cistercians and their move away from some of the decadence of contemporary Benedictine abbeys, especially many associated with Cluny. Cistercians sought to return to the original letter and spirit of the Rule of St Benedict. Cistercian spirituality is a spirituality based on simplicity of life, dress, manners, art, architecture. It is based upon Scripture and the Fathers, and Cistercians sought through their patristic, scriptural simplicity, to attain union with God through contemplative prayer in the midst of the opus dei, the liturgy of hours. To further assist the reader in interpretation, each text has its own introduction, and there are endnotes.
Cistercians included in this volume are Stephen Harding, Bernard of Clairvaux, William of St Thierry, Guerric of Igny, Amedeus of Lausanne, Aelred of Rievaulx, Isaac of Stella, Gilbert of Hoyland, John of Ford, and Adam of Perseigne, as well as an anonymous description of the abbey and selections of exemplary stories about Bernard and other early Cistercians.
These men are aware of their own finitude in the face of the transcendent God. However, equipped with love, with the Scriptures, and with the power of prayer, they set out to clarify their knowledge of the divine and enter into God’s loving embrace, encountering the bridegroom of the human soul.
Some of St Bernard’s Sermons on the Song of Songs are included here, and they are mightily inspiring, reminding us of the different kinds of love and how we can fulfil the commands. Also inspiring for me were the Meditations of William of St Thierry, who demonstrates the heart of the contemplative. Aelred of Rievaulx’s On Spiritual Friendship is important for us to think over as we live in relationship with others—what sort of friendship is to be cultivated, and how to use friendship to attain spiritual heights.
This is the sort of book that makes you want to pray more and engage in ascetic endeavour. I am a most imperfect example of someone who fulfils that desire, however. Nonetheless, I have copied out some of the passages of the book for private meditation and hope to reread the whole anthology again someday in order to further deepen the grace God gives through his servants. Finally, I would urge anyone interested in the Christian mystical tradition to read this book and see what our forebears in the faith said, thought, and did, and also to be reminded (if you know of the eastern tradition) of the silent ecumenism that links mysticism across time and space and ecclesial boundaries.
November 9, 2010
I found this at Powell's Books tonight for $8.50 (brand spankin' new!). The Cistercian writers included are:
Bernard of Lairvaux
William of St. Thierry
Guerric of Igny
Amedeus of Lausanne
Aelred of Rievaulx
Isaac of Stella
Gilbert of Hoyland
John of Ford
Adam of Perseign
Bernard of Lairvaux
William of St. Thierry
Guerric of Igny
Amedeus of Lausanne
Aelred of Rievaulx
Isaac of Stella
Gilbert of Hoyland
John of Ford
Adam of Perseign
Want to read
April 7, 2013As seen in the
New York Times
.
Thanks to Stan Lemberg for calling this article to my attention.
Thanks to Stan Lemberg for calling this article to my attention.
November 12, 2015
An incredibly valuable resource for my works in progress, found by accident in O Beloved Housing Works, Crosby St, NYC. We shall be together again soon.
December 27, 2023
This collection of letters and other works are worthwhile in themselves. To me this volume was also the 1000th Penguin Classic that I'd read back in March this year.
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November 21, 2009None
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews