Letter LVIII. To Ebal, Bishop of Chalons-SUR-MARNE

(Circa A.D. 1126.)

He begs Ebal to take means for the choosing of a fit man to preside over the Abbey of All Saints.

To the venerable EBAL, by the grace of God, Lord Bishop of Chalons, Brother BERNARD, Abbot of Clairvaux, health and all that the prayers of a sinner can avail.

1. It is not good that you should neglect or disregard the danger of that little vessel (I speak of the Church of All Saints')¹ which is drifting under your eyes, being deprived of its ruler. It is a matter which belongs to your charge; therefore I wonder what motive hinders you in conscience from requiring the acceptance of the post by that ecclesiastic, a pious man, as it is said, who has been elected by religious persons to the same, even although some of the monks of that abbey show themselves unworthy of your interest by their carelessness and indifference. I have understood that thev have nothing to object to him who has been chosen except that he is religious, and that they have dared to desire your Greatness to permit them to choose another who appears to them more agreeable and more affable, because he is not a stranger to them, but is as agreeable as he is well known to the citizens, and being well acquainted with the customs of the country is gratified for transacting the business of the Church. In reality that which you ask (I should reply to those very cautious advisers) is someone who will not object to your faults, and who will either consent or will not dare to oppose himself to your objectionable way of life. These are not to be listened to, but rather, whether they wish it or no, action ought to be taken by you, so as to put at the head of that unfortunate Church this man, whose reputation is unquestioned, since, if he is such as he is reported to be, God will, without doubt, be with him, will pour His grace upon him, that he may be acceptable to all and successful in all his enterprises.

2. If those people are altogether unworthy of him and he cannot by any means be obtained for the post, let another be sought out who shall seem fit, from some other religious house; not such a person as those people desire, who desire nothing but what flatters their carnal tastes, but one who, as he knows how to manage the temporal administration, so also is able to prefer the care of souls in all things. Under the Lord William, your predecessor of holy memory, the two monasteries of S. Peter and S. Urban l were similarly deprived of pastoral care; he was not deterred by the length of the journey, nor by the severity of the winter, but came in person twice to Cluny, and, if I do not mistake, once to Dijon. Thence he obtained a good man, Lord Hugo, who afterwards died, and from Cluny Lord Radulf, whom he had sought with many prayers, and who still survives. These he placed one over each monastery, not judging it safe to commit that charge to any one of the monks on the spot; which I have adduced as an example, for this reason that I may impress upon your charity how it becomes you to act with no less caution and care in this matter which is now in your hands.²

Footnotes

1. This was the Abbey of regular Canons of the Order of S. Augustine at Chalons-sur-Marne. Hugo Metellus, regular Canon of S. Leo at Toul, in Lorraine, wrote a Letter (unedited) to Peter, the abbot of this Church, perhaps the first after the reform. ↩

2. These were two monasteries of Benedictines, afterwards under the Congregation of S. Vito, the first in the town itself, the second in the Diocese of Chalons-sur-Marne, which William of Champeaux reformed. ↩