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Internal life under Aelred
(3/15)
Monastic life at Rievaulx thrived under Aelred, but the road
to salvation was not always easy. One novice found the Cistercian
way of life a struggle and complained:
I cannot endure the daily tasks here; the sight of it all revolts
me.
I am tormented and crushed down by the Vigils, the food cleaves
to my mouth, more bitter than wormwood, the rough clothing
cuts
through my skin and flesh down to my very bones.(7)
For another, however, the Cistercian life was a haven of solitude:
Nowhere are there quarrels, nowhere conflicts, nowhere the
wailing complaint of peasants about dreadful oppression, nowhere
the pitiful outcry of poor people wronged; no legal trials,
no secular
courts. Everywhere is peace, everywhere tranquillity, and
wonderful
freedom from the hustle and bustle of worldly affairs. There
is among
the brothers such great unity, such great harmony, that what
each has
considered as belonging to everyone has to each one. What
pleases me
in a marvellous way is that there is no partiality and no
favouritism
because of birth. Necessity alone gives rise to diversity
and infirmity
alone to disparity.(8)
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