ON BLESSED VITALIS, ABBOT OF SAVIGNY.
About the year of Christ 1122.
CommentaryVitalis, Abbot of Savigny in Gaul (Bl.)
From various sources.
[1] The birthday of Vitalis, Abbot of Savigny, is recorded on this day by Chrysostom Henriquez in his Cistercian Menology in these words: "At Savigny in Gaul, Blessed Vitalis the Abbot, who departed this life renowned for virtues and miracles." Andreas Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology The feast day of Vitalis. on the same day: "On this day the venerable Vitalis, Abbot of Savigny of the Cistercian Order, distinguished for virtues and miracles, died a pious death." And indeed Saussay counts Vitalis only among the Pious, for whom no public veneration has yet been decreed. But that his body was solemnly elevated by bishops — indubitably for some form of veneration — Translation. Hugo Menard testifies, who has this on the Kalends of May in his Martyrology: "In the territory of Avranches, the Elevation of the Saints of Savigny, namely Vitalis, Geoffrey, and William, Abbots, and Peter and Hamo, monks." Then in Book 2 of his Observations he writes: "The bodies of these blessed Abbots and monks of the monastery of Savigny were honorably elevated and placed in a certain location within the same monastery, by the Bishops of Le Mans, Avranches, and Rennes; in memory of which a solemn procession takes place annually in the same monastery on the Kalends of May." He then adds further details about each of them. Andreas Saussay mentions this translation on the same day but omits the name of Vitalis. Savigny, or as it is called below, Savineum, commonly Savigny, is situated on the borders of Normandy, Brittany, Maine, and Anjou, as Claude Robert testifies — whence this translation was performed by the neighboring Bishops of Rennes, commonly called Rennes in Brittany, Le Mans, and Avranches in Normandy, commonly called Avranches, in whose diocese the monastery is also situated; founded, as Menard says, in the year 1112, with the Baron Radulf of Fougeres contributing his resources for it.
[2] Perhaps it is this Abbot Vitalis whom the manuscript Florarium treats on January 29 in these words: "On the same day, Blessed Vitalis the Abbot." And the Carthusians of Cologne in their Additions to Usuard: "Vitalis the Abbot." His life is briefly described by Ordericus Vitalis in Book 8 of his Ecclesiastical History. Life from Ordericus. "The venerable Vitalis, who had formerly been chaplain to Robert, Count of Mortain, and a Canon of St. Evroul at Mortain, having laid aside the burdens of worldly cares and riches, resolved to bear the light yoke of Christ in the footsteps of the Apostles, and for some time dwelt in desert places with certain religious men. There he subdued the former habits of a softer life, He devotes himself to penance. and learned the practices of a more rigid observance. At length he considered the village of Savigny, where the immense ruins of ancient buildings appear, chose it as a seat for himself and his followers to inhabit, He builds a monastery. and in the adjoining woodland began to found a monastery in honor of the holy and undivided Trinity. He did not imitate the customs of the Cluniacs or others who had long been devoted to monastic observances, but embraced the modern institutions of the neophytes, as pleased him."
[3] "He was thoroughly imbued with literary learning, endowed with fortitude and eloquence, and bold in saying whatever he wished. He preaches with great fruit. Sparing neither the lowly nor the powerful in his public preaching, he raised his voice like a trumpet, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, announcing to the Christian people their crimes and to the house of Jacob their sins Isaiah 58:1. Kings and Dukes therefore revered him. He reveals hidden sins. Great crowds rose early to hear his words; who afterwards, having heard of crimes secretly committed long ago, returned mournful and abashed from his presence. Every order was inwardly stung by his truthful assertions. All the people trembled before him at his rebukes, and both sexes, flushed with shame, were put to confusion at his reproaches. For he openly assailed naked vices and prodded those conscious of hidden things with shameful reproofs. Thus indeed he usually subdued proud champions and untamed throngs of the populace, and compelled wealthy ladies, delicately clothed in silken garments and Canosan furs, to tremble, as he raged against sins with the sword of God's word and severely struck consciences defiled by impurities and terrified them with the thunderous crash of divine retribution. The skillful preacher thus profited many and gathered many to himself."
[4] He dies piously. "In the monastery he had built, he served God for seven years and persevered in a good life to a good end. In the Oratory, after some illness during which he had faithfully confessed and devoutly received the viaticum of holy Communion, he gave his blessing to the Reader requesting it at Matins of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and when 'Amen' had been said by all present, he immediately breathed forth his spirit. After his death, Geoffrey of Bayeux, a monk of Cerisy, succeeded him; he too pursued immoderate innovations and placed a heavy yoke upon the necks of his disciples." So says Ordericus. That Count Robert of Mortain was a uterine brother of William I, King of England, as the same Ordericus relates in Book 7. St. Evroul, in whose church Vitalis had been a Canon, is venerated on December 29. Ordericus calls the followers of the Cistercian institute "neophytes"; toward them, as did many other monks in the very early days of the Order, he was not entirely fair. Geoffrey, or Gaufridus as Saussay calls him, or Gauftidus as Menard, had previously been a monk in the monastery of St. Vigor at Cerisy, commonly called Cerisy, in the diocese of Bayeux.
[5] Bernard of Tiron and Robert of Arbrissel, his companions. William of Newburgh, in Book 1, Chapter 15 of his work On English Affairs, also writes the following about Vitalis: "In the lands across the sea, as I have received from our elders, there were three memorable men at one time, namely Robert surnamed 'of Arbrissel,' Bernard, and Vitalis. These men, not ignobly educated and fervent in spirit, went about through towns and villages, and sowing, according to Isaiah, upon all waters, they gathered abundant fruits from the conversion of many, having established among themselves a pious agreement that Robert would take charge of women converted to a better life by their common labor, while Bernard and Vitalis would more especially provide for men. Isaiah 32:20. Each builds monasteries. Robert therefore built that most famous monastery of women at Fontevraud and formed it with regular disciplines. Bernard at Tiron and Vitalis at Savigny, having established monks according to a regular rule, each distinguished his own followers from the others by certain distinctive precepts. And when from these three, as from roots, religious shoots of the servants and handmaids of God sprouted throughout various provinces, certain monks of Savigny founded our Byland." A little further on he says that the monks of Savigny, through the religious insistence of a certain Abbot, transferred to the customs of Clairvaux. Indeed, Menard testifies that the constitutions were established by Vitalis in the likeness of the Cistercians.
[6] We shall treat of Robert of Arbrissel, or Abricellis, or as he is here called Arbusculus, on August 30, where we shall also discuss the most celebrated monastery of Fontevraud, or as it is here called, Fontebraud. We shall treat of Bernard and the monastery of the Holy Trinity at Tiron on April 14. Byland monastery was in the diocese of York, now commonly called Byland, one mile distant from Newburgh, in which William of Newburgh writes that he was educated from boyhood.