The Life of Blessed Bernard of Tiron life of Blessed Bernard of Tiron

CHAPTER 4 Solitary Life on the Chausey Island. Pirates Corrected

CHAPTER 4 Solitary Life on the Chausey Island. Pirates Corrected 26. A hermit who pitied Bernard's poverty gave one of his companions eighteen coins.1 Compassionately he let them have rhis little bit of money so rhey could pay rheir travel costs, at least for a few days. When the man of rhe Lord found out, in high indignation, that rhe companion was taking money with him, he said: "Either you will not be my companion or you will stop carrying rhose coins. Do you expect to find Christ poor in rhose parts we are hurrying toward, when we know that He is rich everywhere? Since Christ is rich, do not fear poverty. Christ will provide you adequately with what you need, iffairhfully you seek first his kingdom (Mt 6:33)." When Bernard had said these words, a poor peasant came toward rhem, and Bernard ordered rhe coins to be given to him. When the poor man received the money, it made him happy because he had come by rhe coins easily, whereas it actually made Bernard even happier, because he was completely rid of rhe coins (Mt 10:9). Therefore borh were 1. The coins show that hermits, unlike monks, were allowed to earn and save money and thus to hold private property. John of Ford's life of Wulfric of Haselbury states that the hermit accrued gold, silver, and precious cloths and had a strong chest for valuables. See H. Mayr-Harting, "Functions of a Twelfth-century Recluse," History 60 (1975): 337-52, especially 343. 33 made happy for different reasons.2 1he man with money hurried to his home, the man without money, who did not have the first house where to lay his head (Lk 9:58), did not know where he was going, but, since he trusted in God's goodness and generosity , he began his journey, as he planned. Hurrying to its end, he came to the English Channel, where he learned of an island ten nautical miles away that was a suitable wilderness for hermits, which the ancients named the Chausey Island.3 He boarded a boat, and when he came to the island, he lived on it for several years. 27. Situated in such a hidden remote place, separated from the clamor and confusion of humankind, and isolated from the sound of all human conversation, Bernard devoted himself entirely to heavenly contemplation. Day and night, constantly in prayer, in contrition of heart, and in floods of tears, he continuously reflected upon the days of old and bore in mind the years of eternity, and he was nourished by his contemplation of the Supreme Good.4 He did not burn with much desire for earthly food, for he was constantly satisfied by the sweetness of divine contemplation. Many days he stayed in this place without bread or a fire, with no companions. When we5 asked him, he would refuse to disclose what food he lived on, when his supplies ran 2. St. Maieul, abbot of Cluny, prayed for help in feeding paupers and found seven solidi lying before his eyes. He thought they were a fantasy, but when they proved to be real he distributed them to the poor. Nalgod, De Sancto Majolo, 1.7, AASS May 2: 0659F. 3. The Chausey Islands are an archipelago of granite islands and reefs lying off the Cotentin Peninsula in the Bay of Saint Michel between Jersey and Saint-Malo. The largest island, Grande Iie, also called the Chausey Island, is 2 kilometers by 700 meters (1.2 miles by 2,297 feet) at its widest point, and lies 17 kilometers (IO.2 miles) offshore Granville and further from Coutances or Mont-Saint-Michel. Beck (SaintBernard , 138, 254-55) notes that Geoffrey seems unaware that the Chausey Islands, with their stone quarries, belonged to the abbey ofMont-Saint-Michel and that Bernard required permission from Abbot Roger (r. ro85-II06) to live there. 4. The translation ofsummum bonum as supreme good is based on the reference to Cicero in Simpson, Cassell's New Latin Dictionary, 79. 5. The narrator here may be a member of the hermit community, not Geoffrey . 34 SOLITARY LIFE ON THE CHAUSEY ISLAND out, since he hid his virtues as skillfully as a wicked man is apt cunningly to conceal each and every one of his bad deeds.6 In fact, as some members of his brotherhood discovered afterward...