Gilbertine order

The Gilbertine order was a duplex religious order, composed for female monastic communities under the Rule of Saint Benedict and Cistercian statutes and communities of regular canons, under the < i>Rule of Saint Augustine; In addition, there were lay brothers and sisters.

It was founded by Saint Gilbert of Sempringham around 1130, being the only religious order originating in England. Spread throughout the British kingdoms, its houses were suppressed in 1538 by Henry VIII of England during the dissolution of the monasteries, thus disappearing the order.

Foundation

Saint Gilbert, fascinated by the monastic ideal that Bernard of Clairvaux promoted, thought of founding a male community of monks. In 1131, he changed his mind by founding a community with seven women whom he had educated at the parish school he had founded in Sempringham: they followed the Cistercian rule and were the first nucleus of the future order.

Little by little, it admitted lay sisters, who were in charge of doing the daily maintenance tasks, and lay brothers who tilled the fields, which allowed the nuns to dedicate themselves to prayer and the contemplative life. In 1139 the order received from the bishop of Lincoln, Alexander, some land in Haverholme, where the first Gilbertine foundation was established. Years later, when he had already founded other monasteries, and seeing that he could not guarantee spiritual assistance to the nuns, Gilbert asked the Cistercians for help.

Development

In 1147 he went to the Cistercian Abbey, in France, to ask Bernard of Clairvaux and the general chapter of the order to admit their monasteries to the Cistercian Order. This order, however, still had no intention of creating a female branch and they rejected the proposal. Eugene III, who had been a Cistercian monk, granted Gilbert great autonomy to reorganize his monasteries as best he could.

Upon returning to Sempringham, and possibly influenced by the knowledge he had had of the order of Fontevraud, a double order with men and women, which Robert of Arbrissel had founded in the Abbey of Fontevrault, Gilbert decided to found, to complement the female communities, an order of canons regular that would provide priors, chaplains and spiritual directors for the nuns. There would be seven canons for each house and they would follow the Rule of Saint Augustine. Thus, each community had four types of religious: nuns, lay sisters, regular canons and lay brothers.

The statutes of the new order were approved by Eugene III in 1148 and confirmed by Hadrian IV and Alexander III.

Everyday life

The habit of the Gilbertine canons consisted of a black tunic and a white wool cape and hood. The Gilbertine nuns, in imitation of the Cistercians, wore a white habit with a black veil.

The abbeys had the church in their center, where a wall separated the nuns from the canons; In the north there was the nuns' monastery, and in the south the canons' area. Despite the segregation, there was no shortage of scandalous episodes. All communities were under the authority of a prior general who resided in Sempringham, named "Master of Sempringham" and who was elected by the general chapter, composed of the priors, prioresses and cellers (bursars) of each house. The chapter met once a year and could depose the prior general.

Diffusion

The Gilbertines had a rapid spread in England and Ireland: in 1189, when the founder died, there were 13 monasteries (nine double and four male) with 1,200 nuns and 700 men. Many children of noble families entered and bishops of important sees emerged from among their ranks. In 1282, when the English conquered Wales, they forced the country's great families to assign some of their children to the Gilbertine order. At the time of maximum expansion, there were 26 monasteries.

Scandals

The Nun of Watton

In the middle of the 12th century a girl was forced to be taken to Watton Priory. She had sexual relations with a lay brother, becoming pregnant. According to the chronicles of the time, after capturing her father, the other nuns forced the young woman to castrate the man, and then chain her. According to the Archbishop of York Henry Murdac, the nun "lost" the child thanks to two angelic women. Saint Elred of Rieval declared that it was a miracle, although he harshly criticized the monastic community and Saint Gilbert himself for his lack of charity.

The Sempringham Revolt

Near the end of Saint Gilbert's life, when he was nearly ninety years old, some of the lay brothers of Sempringham rose up against him, because of excessive work and little food. The rebels, led by two artisans, received money from both laymen and religious to present their case to the pope. Alexander III, on the other hand, supported Gilbert, despite whom the conditions of the lay brothers were improved.

Decline and suppression

At the end of the 15th century, Henry VI of England revoked the tax privileges that the Gilbertine monasteries had, thereby The economic decline of the order began, which continued until in 1538, Henry VIII decreed the dissolution of all the monasteries of England, Ireland and Wales. The order was never revived again. The last monks took refuge in Rome, where they took the relics of the founder.