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Vigils Reading – St William of Bourges
January 10
SAINT WILLIAM,
ARCHBISHOP OF BOURGES, FRANCE
From “In the Valley of Wormwood” by Thomas Merton4
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Seek peace and follow after her. The search for interior and exterior peace,
for himself and for others, is more or less the dominating theme of…Saint William
of Bourges… William de Donjean came from the family of the Counts of Nevers and
was born at the castle of Arthel near Nevers, probably about 1140… Going on to
Paris where he completed his studies for the priesthood, he became a canon there
also, but he renounced all that a brilliant career in the Church held out to him and
retired to the strictest Order he could find: the Order of Grandmont… After a short
golden age…the Order of Grandmont fell into a decline…notorious in the Church
for its incessant internal quarrels, dissensions, rebellions and scenes of violence…
About the time Saint William became a member of the Order, matters had already
reached a crisis… Having entered the Order about 1164, and made his profession,
he left it again about 1170. The peace he had sought, and which the Rule of
Grandmont had seemed to promise, was not to be found here. He made his way to
the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny…
Saint William so impressed all with his virtues and talents that he was soon
chosen as Prior of Pontigny. Some years later, about 1184, he became abbot of
Fountains-Jean, a thriving community of over two hundred monks with many lay
brothers, but he did not remain there long. In 1188 he was abbot of Chalis. He was
the admiration of all for his sanctity which made itself evident by the extraordinary
interior peace and spiritual joy which he radiated and which affected all who came
in contact with them…
The fame of his virtues and sanctity made it impossible for him to remain
longer in the cloister which he loved… In 1199 the Cathedral Chapter of Bourges,
having come to a deadlock in their efforts to select a new archbishop, drew up a list
that included several Cistercian abbots and submitted it to Odo of Sully, Bishop of
Paris, with the intention of accepting his choice as final… The archbishop…placed
three of the best names on slips of paper under the altar cloth while he said Mass,
and then afterwards in the presence of two other bishops, he took one of the papers.
The name on it was William of Chalis… Saint William made himself remarkable
from the very outset as a prelate who refused to maintain a private army and resort
to force in order to keep order in his diocese… William relied first on the example
of a life of uncompromising abnegation and ceaseless prayer and then on preaching
of the word of God and showing mercy and pardon to his enemies…
On the feast of the Epiphany, 1209, Saint William must have had a
presentiment that his end was near… He received the Body of Christ…kneeling on
the floor with his arms out in the form of a cross. After that… he entered into his
agony. He was then taken from his bed and placed on a haircloth and heap of ashes
in the middle of the floor, according to the Cistercian usages, and there he gave up
his soul to God…
His process was introduced, strangely enough, not at the suggestion of the
Cistercians but of the Grandmontines. The Prior of Grandmont, speaking of his
own memory of Saint William as a member of that Order, praised his holiness of
life to Innocent III at the Fourth Lateran Council… Saint William’s canonization
took only nine years… It was completed in 1218… At the present day…his life is
practically unknown. Yet he is one of our greatest saints, and we have much to
reflect upon and imitate in his perfection of Christ-like charity and apostolic love
of souls, which seeks to win men to the kingdom of God by love and mercy and
purity of life and prayer….
4 Merton, Thomas. In the Valley of Wormwood – Cistercian Blessed and Saints of the Golden Age. CS 233. Ed. Patrick Hart.
Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2013. 19-20, 22-24, 26, 28-30.9