Aleth of Montbard

Aleth von Montbard (also: Aleidis von Montbard or von Dijon ) (* approx. 1072 in Montbard ; † between 1103 and 1108 in Fontaine-lès-Dijon ) was a Burgundian nobleman and mother of St. Bernard of Clairvaux .

Life

Aleth or Aleidis (Adelheid) was the daughter of Bernhard I, Herr von Montbard , from the Tonnerre family . She was intended for monastic life and received a comprehensive intellectual education. At the age of 16 she married Tescelin de Fontaine . She gave him six sons and a daughter: Guy (Guido), Gérard , Bernard , André, Barthélémy, Nivard and Hombeline . For the education of her highly gifted third son Bernhard, who was not intended for the military trade like the older brothers, she moved her residence to the house that her husband owned in Châtillon-sur-Seineowned. Bernhard attended the elite college of the Canons of Saint Vorles , the Collège Notre-Dame , but continued to enjoy the warmth of the family. During the holidays, people lived in their father's castle in Fontaine near Dijon . There Aleth died in the call of holiness at a point in time which, depending on the source, can be set between 1103 and 1108.

Burial and remains

The abbot of the Saint-Bénigne Abbey of Dijon insisted that the honored woman be buried in the crypt of the monastery church. The body was brought by the monks in procession to Dijon and buried there in the presence of a large crowd next to the tomb of St. Benignus . In 1250 Stephen of Lexinton , Abbot of Clairvaux Monastery , had the remains transferred to the monastery church there with the permission of Pope Innocent IV , where they rested next to the altar, until all remains were scattered when the monastery was closed by the French Revolution .

Meaning for Bernhard von Clairvaux

For Aleth's favorite son Bernhard, who was between 12 and 17 years old when she died, the early loss was a shock which, according to Wilhelm von Saint-Thierry, was decisive for his vocation. Aleth shaped his ideal of women for a lifetime. According to him, she appeared to him several times at crucial moments in his life.

The blessed

There was never an official beatification for Aleth. The Cistercian Menologium by Chrysostomus Henriquez (Antwerp 1630) as well as the M enologium benedictinum by Gabriel Bucelinus (Feldkirch 1655), however, list them as blessed.

An epitaph

The poet Guillaume Flameng (1455–1520), who died in Clairvaux and wrote a biography of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, dedicated a poem to Aleth in 112 verses with the title Épitaphe en vers de dame Aelis, ou Aeleth, mère de saint Bernard (recorded in the Patrologia Latina by Migne , vol. 185, column 1405-1407).

literature

• Pierre Aubé: Saint Bernard de Clairvaux . Fayard, Paris 2003.
• Jacques Gazin-Gossel: ALETH (Aleysa, Aleydis) . In: Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques , Vol. 2 (1914), Col. 168-170.

Web links

• Entry Aleth of Dijon (also: Aletha, Aleidis, Adelaïs, French name: Alice) in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints