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Letter CCXCIII. To Peter, Abbot of Moustier La Celled on Behalf of a Monk of Chkxy, who had Changed Over to Clairvaux

(Circa A.D. 1150.)

To the cause of your writing I thus reply. I think that the annoyance of my lord of Chezy is not more annoying to anyone than to myself. But I suppose that you know that a long time ago, by his own wish and precept, that monk was made mine, and that he promised obedience to1 me, and that I undertook the charge of him. It is not easy to recollect how often since then I have opposed his desire to come to me, and sent him back when he came. Only now at last has he come and remained, but against my will, and I can in no way persuade him to return. He said, indeed, that if I sent him away he would go away altogether and never return. But not even so had he my consent; nay, he entered even against my advice. But having entered so, my conscience would not let me reject him, nor can I now do so, inasmuch as he was before put under my care, as I said, and I shall have to give account of him. For a long time, I confess, had I passed over this danger to my conscience, lest I should annoy the good abbot; and2 would have still have passed it over, if the monk would have in any way listened to my advice. But since this is the state of things, it is yours to console the abbot, to blot out his sadness, to make my excuse to him for this reason able cause. Lastly, he himself, as you know, is in a state of uncertainty, and has often thought of leaving his house.1 But if he wished now to carry out what he has meditated I would not stand in his way, because I know that he remains in the house not without great anxiety.

Footnotes

  1. Petrus Cellensis is better known by having been Abbot of Cella, a monastery in the suburbs of Troyes, than from having- been Abbot of S. Remigius, or even Bishop of Chartres. He wrote two Letters to the monks of Che'zy, which are epp. 14 and 15, lib. ii. Nothing is known of this monk, except that his name seems to have been Adam, from two Letters written in his name to Peter of Cella by Nicholas of Clairvaux, in which Peter is congratulated on the reformation of his monastery. It was this Peter who defended the memory of S. Bernard, and his opinion about the Conception of the Blessed Mary, against the attacks of another Nicholas (ep. 174 note). He says that he was a disciple of S. Bernard in lib. ix. ep. 8 to the Cistercian Chapter (see also ep. 263). ↩

  2. Ep. 15 of Peter of Cella to the monk of Che'zy, lib. ii., alludes to this: " As long as you can retain with you your father, who is also ours; do not think of another.'' This must be understood of Simon, who finally, on the death of Bernard, retired to Clairvaux. See above on ep. 263. ↩

Chapter 293 of 491