The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1868-07-19
sANcTuAR1Es OF THE MADONNA.


The Order of Citeaux may in some sense
be called an English order. Not only was
st. Stephen Harding, one of its first foun-
ders, an Englishman by birth, but the order;
special way to the habits and requirements
of English devotion, if we may judge from
the extent and rapidity with which it was
propagated in this island. The abbeys of
York, Waverley, Buildewas, Clarendon,
were all founded in England before the
death of st. Stephen, and to use the express
sion of his biographer, Z" the order had taken
to itself all the quiet hooks. and valleys,
and all the pleasant streams of old England"
agricultural character, and perhaps also by
its union of manual work with cOntempla-
tion.
1t is no less true, that the Cistercian Or
der was one of those which merited in |
rigorous sense to be derominated the Order
" Liber Priuilegi0rum' declares that this
was the first order in the Western Church
dedicated in honor of the Blessed Virgin,
and among the rules drawn up by blessed
was one which established that all their
churches and monasteries without exception
should be dedicated in honor of the Mother
of God. Pope Gregory X, in one of the
bulls granted by him in favor of the. order,
describes it as standing on the right hand
and distinguished above every order in the
Church for it's devotion to the Sacred Nir-
gin; and this devotion was outwardly ex-
pressed by exchanging the black habit of
according to the Cistercian traditions, was
given to Blessed Alberto by the hands OF
the Blessed Virgin herself
| Another tradition atfirms that the white
woolen girdle worn by the Spanish Cister-
clans over their scapular, was assumed in
| NJ n fav fa1 fn
Stephen, who, as he one day worked in the
fields, found himself hindered by his long
scapular, when the Blessed Virgin appeared
to him, and girded him with a white girdle.
which confined the habit and scapular. He
is also said to have received a miraculous.
intimation of his approaching death, when
praying before an image of the Blessed Vir-
gin.
Legends of this sort may at least he
taken as showing the kind of devotion
in direct and very special way under the
patronage of Mary; but all its churches
and monasteries bore her name, and all its
members inherited certain familiar affec-
ton toward her, such as favored children
are permitted to feel and express toward an
indulgent mother.
If this were the true Cistercian spirit, it
certainly in no degree decayed when the
order was transplanted into England, and
the history of not a few of the English Cis-
: : which the Blessed Virgin is represented as
directly assisting in the foundation of her
favorite sanctuaries. Ofthese we will quote
but two, of which the first shall be that
, which attaches to the origin of Kirkstall
, Abbey, founded in the reign of Stephen by
Henry de Lacy, in consequence of u vow he
had taken to build some monastery in honor
of the Blessed Virgin, if he should recover
ration to health, he lost no time in accom-
: plishing the vow, and made over the will OF
y Bernoldwic, which he held under Hugh
!; Begod, Earl of Norfolk, to the monks OF
y y Fountains, who in 1147 sent thither a colony
u u of twelve monks and ten lay brethren,
z headed by their prior, Alexander, as abbot
L They changed the name of the place to St
= Mary's Hill, and remained there six years
u But the site had not been well chosen. Tho
u u air was unhealthy, and they suffered not
= = only from succession of bad harvests, but
also from the depredations of the wild ban
dtti with which the civil wars had tilleC
:, the land.
II Abbot Alexander greatly desired to fine
- some spot better fitted for monastic resi-
!, u dence; ;nnd, on a time, going on a journey
&c. le he Glanced to pass through a valley whicI
- - ut that time was thickly shaded with woods
~ which clothed it's sides. Itwas called Air
- dale, from the river Air which ran through
- it, IL clear and beautiful stream, such a.
10 Cistercian monks loved to have near thc
~ ~ dwellings. In short, the spot seemed tt
u, ~ present every convenience for a foundation
~ ~ plenty of wood and water, a site sheltered
" : from cold winds by the lofty hills, ant
u. abundance of good stone for building
y y Though now scarcely three miles from tn
iu ~. great manufacturing town of Leeds, it wa
ea ea then solitary wilderness-inhabited onl.
he by q few brethren, whom the abbot foun'
=: leading an eremitical life i'll the woods. H
II. II. inquired of them their order of life, ant
ne ae how they had come hither, and who, more
q Is over, had given them permission to settl
~ in his valley. Then one of them, who's
tn perior, made answer, saying: I" 1 was Dor
~ in the southern parts of this kingdom, an
~ came hither in consequence of a divine rev
- - elation. For when l was in my country,