Last week I mentioned the attempt to poison Abelard by his monks as he was apparently too strict.
This response from the monks does seems a little extreme and from the monastic stereotype of gentle men, living asceticaly and refraining from sex, violence and other exciting things, it sounds like it should be an anomaly....Right?
Norbert (foundered of the 12th century Norbetines/Premonstratensians, a reforming order) survived several attempts to kill him including one man who brought a dagger to church in the hope of stabbing him.
Preaching reform and virtue to thoroughly sinful communities was not a popular pastime it appears but Norbert and Abelard needn't feel hard done by. St Benedict, often referred to as the founder of Western monasticism as it was his rule that became the basis for the majority of medieval monasteries, also survived several poisoning attempts.
The story goes that he was attempting to teach a monastery of monks, who had asked him to be their abbot, the 'proper' monastic life. However, it looks as though the monks quickly changed their minds upon learning what the monastic life entailed. First, they poisioned his cup of wine and when Benedict prayed a blessing over the cup, the cup shattered. Next they tried poisoned bread, but he blessed this too and a raven swept in and took the loaf away.
Benedict eventually took the hint and returned to his hermit life in a cave.
Sources:
- Constable, G., The Reformation of the Twelfth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) p. 115
- Catholic Encylopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02467b.htm)
This response from the monks does seems a little extreme and from the monastic stereotype of gentle men, living asceticaly and refraining from sex, violence and other exciting things, it sounds like it should be an anomaly....Right?
Norbert (foundered of the 12th century Norbetines/Premonstratensians, a reforming order) survived several attempts to kill him including one man who brought a dagger to church in the hope of stabbing him.
Preaching reform and virtue to thoroughly sinful communities was not a popular pastime it appears but Norbert and Abelard needn't feel hard done by. St Benedict, often referred to as the founder of Western monasticism as it was his rule that became the basis for the majority of medieval monasteries, also survived several poisoning attempts.
The story goes that he was attempting to teach a monastery of monks, who had asked him to be their abbot, the 'proper' monastic life. However, it looks as though the monks quickly changed their minds upon learning what the monastic life entailed. First, they poisioned his cup of wine and when Benedict prayed a blessing over the cup, the cup shattered. Next they tried poisoned bread, but he blessed this too and a raven swept in and took the loaf away.
Benedict eventually took the hint and returned to his hermit life in a cave.
Sources:
- Constable, G., The Reformation of the Twelfth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) p. 115
- Catholic Encylopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02467b.htm)
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