Vigils Reading – St Norbert

ST NORBERT

The Patron of Peace5

◊◊◊

Norbert is deservedly numbered by historians among those who made an

effective contribution to the reform movement under Pope Gregory VII. He

established a clergy dedicated to the ideals of the Gospel and the apostolic

Church. They were chaste and poor. They wore “the clothing and the symbols

of the new man; that is to say, they wore the religious habit and exhibited the

dignity proper to the priesthood.” Norbert asked them to “live according to the

norms of the Scriptures with Christ as their model.” They were “to be clean in

all matters pertaining to the altar and divine worship, to correct their faults and

failings in their chapter meeting, and to care for and give shelter to the poor.”

The priests lived in community, where they continued the work of the

apostles. Inspired by the practice of the early Church, Norbert exhorted the

faithful to join the monastic life in some capacity. So many men and women

responded to the invitation that many asserted that no man since the apostles

themselves had inspired so many to embrace the monastic life.

When Norbert was appointed an archbishop, he urged his brothers to

carry the faith to the lands of the Wends. In his own diocese he tried

unsuccessfully to convince the clergy of the need for reform and was confronted

with noisy protests both in the street and in the church.

One of the principal goals of Norbert’s life was to foster harmony between

the Apostolic See and the German empire. At the same time he wanted to

maintain Rome’s freedom in the matter of ecclesiastical appointments.

Apparently his efforts were so successful that Pope Innocent II thanked him

profusely in a letter in which he called him a “devoted son”, and Lothair made

him chancellor of the realm.

Norbert did all these things with a steadfast faith: “Faith was the

outstanding virtue of Norbert’s life, as charity had been the hallmark of Bernard

of Clairvaux.” Affable and charming, amiable to one and all, “he was at ease in

the company of the humble and the great alike”. Finally, he was a most eloquent

preacher; after long meditation “he would preach the word of God, and with his

fiery eloquence purged vices, refined virtues and filled souls of good will with

the warmth of wisdom”. He spent many hours in contemplation of the divine

mysteries and fearlessly spread the spiritual insights which were the fruit of his

meditation.

5 Dawson, Christopher. “The Making of Europe”, New York, 1956, pp 185-186.11