Hélinand of Froidmont

Hélinand von Froidmont (* around 1160 in Flanders ; † around 1230 ) was a Cistercian , troubadour and poet.

Life

Hélinand was born in Flanders around 1160. He studied in Beauvais under Magister Raoul, a student of Abelard . He was considered one of the most famous troubadours of his time. In 1182 he entered the Abbey of Froidmont, which had been founded in 1129 near Beauvais by Bernhard von Clairvaux . His conversion caused a decisive break with the "old man", but as a monk he also cultivated poetry and writing, which is well represented in the clergy.

Works

He expressed the basic experience that led to his conversion in a long moral poem in Old French, the Vers de la Mort (Verses about death). It consists of 50 stanzas of 12 eight-syllable lines each, became very famous and had a lasting influence on the literature of the Middle Ages.

Hélinand wrote his other works in Latin. The most extensive, but most unproductive for spirituality, is his Chronicon , a world chronicle in 49 books that covers the period from the year 634 to 1204. As prior at Froidmont he preached a lot; 28 of his sermons have been handed down in writing. They are imbued with the knowledge of his time; he quotes the Bible and the church fathers, especially Hieronymus , Augustine and Gregory , whose morals in Job he particularly values. Full of admiration, he often quotes "our Bernhard" (by Clairvaux), whom he places next to Augustine. According to Hélinand, the preacher's word should not only touch people's hearts, but pierce them, because “just as the holy Eucharist of the saving and convincing word can only be offered on the altar of a pure heart, it can only be offered with a graceful tongue (per linguam eucharim) to serve. ”His style is attractive; he gets involved in puns and nuances.

Characteristic of Hélinand is his citation of many pagan authors: Seneca , Horace , Plautus , Juvenal and Ovid appear more often. He tells pious and profane stories from mythology, world history, the acts of martyrs and from his own memories.

In his language he remained the troubadour and poet; these roles do not recede after his entry into the order, they even deepen.

Hélinand's utterances speak of a deep love for Jesus, his “most human Lord” (Dominus humanissimus) and for Christ, who is overflowing with love (Christ piissimus) . His love for the Bible is also typically Cistercian. In his piety to Mary , Hélinand translates the ideal of courtly love entirely to the spiritual realm. An expressive example of his homage to "our lady" can be found in his first Christmas sermon.

Hélinand also had a profound sense of the liturgy. He describes liturgical words and gestures in great detail. For him, the liturgy is a theological source, also for sermons. His speeches "bring the ecclesiastical office to life insofar as they contain clear echoes not only of the textual and tonal, but also of the performative and ritual side of the Catholic liturgy." His sense of sacred buildings, however, remained strictly Cistercian and therefore hostile to expensive or superfluous buildings.

spirituality

In addition to his sermons, we have a few other treatises from Hélinand; his letter to Walter, De reparatione lapsi (on the reconciliation of a fallen man) is particularly worth reading ; he was a former novice of the order. In this letter, Froidmont vividly describes the great dangers of the world and defends the rigor of the Cistercian order with enthusiasm.

Hélinand spent some time in Toulouse, where he must have met Bishop Folquet, who was also a famous troubadour, then Abbot of Thoronet and finally Bishop of Toulouse . When the University of Toulouse was opened in 1229, Hélinand gave two sermons in St. James' Church . He is considered a representative of the classical Cistercian spirituality.

literature

• Bernardin Schellenberger , Art. Hélinand von Froidmont (approx. 1160 - approx. 1230). In: The Spirituality of the Cistercians (Heimbach [Eifel], 1979) 2nd vol., Pp. 78–83.
• WD Paden: De monachis rhitmis facientibus. In: Speculum 55, 1980, pp. 669-685.
• Hermann Josef Roth: Minstrels and Cistercians. In: Cistercienser-Chronik 117, 2/3, 2010, pp. 225–227.
• Eugenius Lersch: love, death and minnesang. Cistercian spirituality using the example of Blessed Helinand of Froidmont. In: The world of the Cistercians. New studies on the history of a European order , ed. by Joachim Werz (Regensburg – Heiligenkreuz 2020) pp. 243–263.

Web links

• Hermann Josef Roth : Hélinand von Froidmont in the Biographia Cisterciensis , version of September 27, 2013.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Patrologia Latina 212,534D.
2. ↑ Patrologia Latina 212,757A.
3. ↑ Lersch: Liebe, Tod und Minnesang (as above), p. 251.
4. ↑ Patrologia Latina 212,745-760