The Life of Saint Gilbert
A
narrow track from the main road in the Lincolnshire
village of Sempringham leads eventually to the tiny
church dedicated to St. Andrew. Standing on a
hilltop and noticably isolated are the visible
remains where St. Gilbert of Sempringham began his
work which resulted in the only English monastic
order for nuns, canons,lay brothers and sisters
being founded. Little may be known about him but
his influence, even after some 900 years has not
been forgotten.
Gilbert was the eldest son of Jocelyn, a Norman
knight and his low born Anglo-saxon wife. He was
born between 1083-89,(in most biographies it is
1083), his mother had a vision that he would be
special before his birth. It was a time within
memory of the Norman invasion of England and he was
half Norman half Saxon.
He is said to have been born with some form of
disability and a variety of suggestions have been
made as to the form that this was manifest -
curvature of the spine being one. Whatever it was,
the household servants would not eat at the same
table with him. He was unfit for military service
and in his very early childhood seemed to have no
enthusiasm of learning and is said to have been
cared for by his mother and this is maybe why he
had such an affinity and kindness for women in an
age when women were not generally allowed an
education. At some point, however, his education
led him to France. He returned having acquire the
title of Master, by which he was known for
posterity.
When he returned we see him educating the local
children, of both sexes, which was unusual for the
time in his district of Lincolnshire. His father
was impressed with his education and abilities and
his religious manner and presented him with the
rectories of Sempringham and West Torrington so
that he had an income.
He only held minor orders but for a time joined the
household of the Bishop of Lincoln, firstly with
Robert Bloet (died 1123)and with Alexander
(1123-1148) as a clerk.
He did not take holy orders until he reached his
40th year, due to his reservations of being
unworth, and for similar reasons he refused the
position of archdeacon in the diocese which
stretched from the Humber to the Thames and was the
largest diocese in Europe.
In 1131 he founded a home for girls whose residence
was attached to his church at Sempringham and hired
a priest named Geoffrey, and they shared rooms
above the church entrance. In 1139 he moved his
small community to a new site a field's distance
from his church and in due course this became the
mother-house for the Gilbertine Order of
Sempringham. He was later to add lay sisters,
ministering priests (ordained canons) and lay
brothers.
In 1147 Gilbert travelled to France hoping to
persuade the Cistercian Order to adopt his
community of nuns. This was refused but with the
encouragement of Pope Eugenius III, who himself had
been a Cistercian monk, and Bernard of Clairvaux,
he drew up the Institutes of the Gilbertine Order.
Back in England Gilbert became "Master" of the
Order by the Popes rule. He was not attached to any
particular house and was not the Prior of
Sempringham. It was his responsibility to visit all
the houses in his care, there being no visitation
rights given to the diocesan bishops.
At the point when in old age he became blind he
transferred with the consent of the Order, his
responsibility to Roger, the prior of Malton.
Gilbert did not take the vows of the Gilbertine
Order until he was close to death. He felt that
doing so would be a sign of arrogance as he had
written the Gilbertine Rule.
Miracles were attributed to him during his lifetime
as well as after his death. Some are said to have
taken place at Chicksands. When he reached his
centennial year he felt compelled to "pass from
this life in which he was so greatly broken for
penance which he had endured in God's service, but
yet all his members were whole as we have said
before, save his sight."
On Christmas night in 1188, whilst at his island
house of Cadney (Newstead in Ancholme) he was taken
ill. He was given the last rites (then known as
extreme unction) and carried by his companion Roger
and chaplain to Sempringham, a distance of forty
miles. On the 3rd February of 1189, the priors of
all his churches went to Sempringham to receive his
blessing. On the last day, he lay unconscious with
Roger (Prior of Malton), his successor, at his
bedside. He died the following morning about the
hour of Matins. He was buried three days later. His
tomb was placed between the altars of St. Mary and
St. Andrew, on either side of the wall which
divided the canons from the nuns, so that all alike
might see him. During his lifetime Gilbert had
built 13 monasteries, nine for men and women
together, four for men only. Besides these had had
also built hostels for the poor, the sick, the
leper, the widow and the orphan
Eleven years after his death, Hubert Walter,
Archbishop of Canterbury sent the Priors of the
Lincolnshire Gilbertine houses of Swineshead, Bourn
and Croxton to make inquisition to write an account
of his life about him and his miracles. King John
and some of his nobles visited Gilbert's tomb, 9th
January 1201. The Abbots arrived the same day and
were satisfied as to the truth of the miracles. The
King, Archbishop, Bishops and the three Priors sent
letters to Pope Innocent III, asking for the
canonisation of Gilbert of Sempringham. The pope
decreed a three day's fast on the whole Order and a
further investigation into the life and miracles of
Gilbert; the fast took place, 24 September 1202
with the inquisition on the third day.
Five canons and six men cured of infirmities by
Gilbert, set out for Rome arriving on 31 December
1202. The Pope gave the decree on 11th January and
the feast of St. Gilbert was commanded to be on 4th
February, The Papal Bull was issued 30 January 1202
and sent to the two Archbishops (Canterbury &
York) and the Gilbertine Order.
The occasion of St. Gilbert's translation (death)
is detailed in depth, 13 Oct 1202. Brian Golding
tells us that it was "marked by the usual
manifestations of bright lights, sweet odours, and
incorrupt clothing". Additionally the archbishop of
Canterbury was privileged with a cure from illness
which threatened to prevent him continuing with the
lengthy ceremonies. The archbishop issued an
indulgence of 40 days and an additional one of 169
days from bishops assisting at the translation, to
all those visiting the shrine or making grants to
the priory."
In the centuries which have followed the life and
death of St. Gilbert of Sempringham, little is now
visible of the convents and monasteries that he
founded.The Priory church of Malton in Yorkshire is
in use, Chicksands, however, has the most
substantial remains of a cloister of the twenty
five that were built in England.
In 1984 a group of parishioners met at the
Cistercian abbey of Mount St. Bernard,
Leicestershire. As a result a devotional
society,The Oblates of St. Gilbert,meet regularly
to recite the Gilbertine liturgy.
