Saint Robert of Newminster
- Memorial
- 7 June
- Profile
- Studied at the University of Paris.
Composed a commentary on the Psalms, which has been lost.
Parish priest at Gargrave, and later a Benedictine monk at Whitby, England.
With his abbot's permission, he joined the founders of the Cistercian monastery of Fountains.
He headed the first Cistercian colony sent from Fountains in 1138.
He established abbey of Newminster near the castle of Ralph de Merlay, Morpeth in Northumberland, Pipewell, in 1143, Roche in 1147, and Sawley in 1148.
Friend of Saint Godric.
Reputed to have had supernatural gifts, visions, and encounters with demons.
At least one biography says the he was accused by his own monks of sexual misconduct with a local woman, and that he went abroad c.1147-1148, to defend himself before Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.
However, there seems little support for this story except the desire by its originator to claim he was acquitted by the great Bernard.
Legend says that he fasted so rigorously during Lent that a brother monk pleaded with him to eat.
Robert agreed, and was given some buttered oatcake.
But he suddenly feared to commit the sin of gluttony, and asked it be given to the poor.
A beautiful stranger at the gate took the cake - and the dish.
As a brother was explaining the incident, the dish suddenly appeared on the table before the abbot; the brothers decided the stranger was an angel.
- Born
- c.1100 at Gargrave, Craven district, Yorkshire county, England
- Died
- 7 June 1159 at Newminster England, and is entombed there;
Saint Godric said he saw Robert's soul ascend to heaven as a ball of fire;
miracles reported at the tomb
- Representation
- abbot holding a church
- Additional Information
-
Google Directory
Catholic Online
Catholic Encyclopedia, by Raymund Webster
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
New Catholic Dictionary
- Translate
-
español | français | deutsch | italiano | português
