Treatises Epistles and Sermons

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>To encounter a person who makes holiness attractive is an enviable experience. Such a person was Gilbert of Hoyland abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Swineshead in Lincolnshire friend of Aelred of Rievaulx and continuator of the sermons on the Song of Songs of Bernard of Clairvaux.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>When the great saint of Clairvaux died in 1153 he had reached only the first four versus of chapter three of the Canticle in his eight-four sermons. It was Gilbert who took up his unfinished task. When Gilbert in his turn died leaving the commentary unfinished it was brought to completion by yet another English abbot John of Ford.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Those who know and admire Bernard's eloquence and contemplative insight will want to make the acquaintance of his successors. While conscious of continuing his work and remaining true to his spirit they infused their sermons with their own personalities and through them shared with others their own rich experiences of God. As Lawrence C. Braceland says in his introduction to this first English translation of Gilbert's work: Gilbert is an experience. He has found the Beloved.</span></p><p></p>