Saint Étienne
Harding, abbé
Il était né en
Angleterre. Il se fit moine à Molesme. En 1098, il quitte son monastère avec
une vingtaine de moines, dont le futur saint Robert pour essaimer et fonder à
100 kilomètres de là un monastère plus austère. Ainsi naquit Cîteaux, en
Bourgogne, dont il devint le troisième abbé, en 1108, après saint Robert et
saint Albéric. Il venait d'entrer dans cette charge quand saint Bernard et ses
trente compagnons arrivèrent en 1112. L'abbaye qui peinait à se développer
reprit vie et la réforme cistercienne ne tarda pas à se répandre dans toute
l'Europe. Saint Etienne fonda douze monastères, qu’il unit par le lien de la
Charte de Charité, pour qu’il n’y ait aucune discorde, mais que les moines
agissent par une même charité, avec une même Règle et des coutumes semblables.
Il mourut en 1134.
Saint Etienne Harding
Abbé de Cîteaux (+ 1134)
Confesseur.
Il était né en Angleterre
et regagnait son pays après un voyage en Italie et en France. Passant par la
Bourgogne, il rencontra sur sa route l'abbaye de Molesme. Il y entra et s'y fit
moine. En 1098, il quitta Molesme, avec une vingtaine de moines, dont le futur
saint Robert
de Molesmes, pour essaimer et fonder à 100 kilomètres de là un monastère
plus austère. Ainsi naquit Citeaux dont il devint le Père abbé. Il venait
d'entrer dans cette charge quand saint Bernard et
ses trente compagnons arrivèrent (1112). L'abbaye reprit vie et la réforme
cistercienne ne tarda pas à se répandre dans toute l'Europe. Un de ses moines
écrit de lui: "C'était un bel homme, toujours abordable et toujours de
bonne humeur."
L'ordre de Cîteaux nous
communique: les 3 Fondateurs ne sont objet d'une solennité commune que depuis
peu, le 26 janvier: Saint Robert, saint Albéric et saint
Étienne, abbés de Cîteaux, solennité dans l'OCSO (l'Ordre Cistercien de la
Stricte Observance) - source: rituel
cistercien
Au 28 mars au martyrologe
romain: À Cîteaux en Bourgogne, l’an 1134, saint Étienne Harding, abbé. Venu de
Molesme en ce monastère avec d’autres moines, il en devint l’abbé, institua les
frères convers, accueillit le futur saint Bernard avec huit compagnons et fonda
douze monastères, qu’il unit par le lien de la Charte de Charité, pour qu’il
n’y ait aucune discorde, mais que les moines agissent par une même charité,
avec une même Règle et des coutumes semblables.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/994/Saint-Etienne-Harding.html
Satue
de Saint Étienne Harding, Abbaye de Citeaux, Côte-d'Or, Bourgogne, France.
Saint Étienne Harding
Troisième abbé de
Cîteaux. Né vers 1060 dans le Dorset, Angleterre, il entre dans la vie
monastique à Sherborne près de Winchester. Au retour d'un pèlerinage à Rome, il
entre à Molesmes vers 1085. Il participe à la fondation de Cîteaux, dont il
devint sous-prieur sous saint Robert, prieur sous saint Albéric et enfin
troisième abbé. Étienne reçut saint Bernard et ses trente compagnons à Cîteaux
et, deux ans plus tard, il envoya Bernard à Clairvaux comme abbé-fondateur.
Etienne a présidé à la
croissance spectaculaire de l'entreprise cistercienne pendant plus de 25 ans.
En 1119 la fédération comptait déjà 12 monastères. Etienne se chargea de la
rédaction des constitutions de son ordre, ainsi que de l'amendement de la
Charte de Charité, qu'il présenta au chapitre général de Cîteaux en 1119. Il
présenta également ces documents au Pape Callixte II en vue de la
reconnaissance de la nouvelle branche des moines bénédictins. C'est donc plus à
Saint Etienne qu'à Saint Robert que les cisterciens doivent leur statut
définitif et la spécificité des relations entre les différents monastères.
Saint Etienne fut
canonisé en 1623.
SOURCE : http://www.abbayes.fr/histoire/cisterciens/etienne.htm
Sarlat-la
-Canéda ( Dordogne ). Saint-Sacerdos de Sarlat cathedral - Stained glass window
dedicated to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux ( detail ): Stephan Harding. abbot of
Citeaux abbey, accepts Bernard in his monastery ( 1112 )
Sarlat-la -Canéda ( Dordogne ). Kathedrale Saint-Sacerdos de Sarlat - Buntglasfenster mit Szenen aus dem Leben ded heiligen Bernhard von Clairvaux: Stephan Harding, Abt von Citeaux, nimmt Bernhard in den Zisterzienserorden auf.
Saint Étienne de Harding
"Séparés par le corps dans les diverses parties
du monde, qu'ils soient indissolublement unis par l'âme...
Vivant dans la même Règle, avec les mêmes
coutumes."
La très sainte et des plus pieuses vie de Saint
Étienne, fondateur de l'Ordre de Cîteaux (Ordo Cistercensis), rédacteur de la
règle cistercienne et de la charte de charité, qui toute sa vie durant
travailla pour l'épanouissement de l'idéal monastique prôné par Saint
Benoît.
Premières années
Saint Étienne naquit vers 1060, dans le Dorset, région
méridionale de l'Albion, au sein de la grande, ancienne et noble famille de
Harding. On ne sait peu de choses sur ses parents, si ce n'est que son père fut
un administrateur admiré et aimé par ses censitaires, auprès desquels il était
fort généreux. On sait aussi qu'Étienne reçut une éducation religieuse et
pratique poussée, au point où ses connaissances impressionnèrent les autorités
religieuses locales.
Ceci dit, la part d'ombre sur sa vie se lève
complètement quand Étienne de Harding choisit la vie monastique. En effet, à
partir de ce moment là, grâce à l'assidu travail des moines qui côtoyèrent le
saint, de nombreux écrits et registres nous permettent de connaître avec
précision le déroulement de sa vie. On sait qu'il entra à l'abbaye bénédictine
de Sherborne à l'âge de 15 ans. Après un noviciat rapide et fructueux, il fut
élevé frère par l'abbé Roger de Lisieux, d'origine normande, qui le nomma
chantre, où ses connaissances déjà très complètes en Christologie lui furent
très utiles. Étienne resta cloitré à Sherborne pendant quatre ans, priant avec
ferveur et sans relâche. Ces quatre années, il les utilisa à bon escient, ayant
lu tous les ouvrages de la bibliothèque de l'abbaye, faisant de lui un érudit
hors pair. D'ailleurs, il fut, après le décès de l'abbé de Lisieux et le
remplacement de ce-dernier par un nouvel abbé, Richard de MacGroar, d'origine
écossaise, rapidement nommé par ce-dernier chapitrain, qui en plus de le
récompenser pour son érudition, voulait fait un contrepoids aux français très
présents au sein du chapitre. En effet, l'abbé de MacGroar souhaitait que le
monachisme s'internationalise, au lieu de rester une mode française. En quelque
sorte, on peut dire qu'il était un précurseur du concept d'intertionalisation,
et son influence fut grande sur Sainte Étienne, qui en fit un but, un objectif
et un devoir des cisterciens.
Cependant, Saint Étienne ne resta pas chapitrain bien
longtemps, puisque l'abbé le fit nommer lecteur au séminaire de Winchester,
fondé quelques années auparavant, comme de nombreux autres à travers l'Europe,
grâce à des lettres patentes de Grégoire VII, qui souhaitait une meilleure
formation des prêtres, ce qui était à ses yeux essentiel et primordial pour
lutter contre le nicolaïsme et la simonie. C'est au sein de ce séminaire
qu'Étienne put s'initier à l'aristotélisme, doctrine alors réservée à une
petite élite au sein des prélats et des plus éminents théologiens.
L'affirmation de la sociabilité de l'homme est un choc. Étienne découvre alors
la futilité de l'idéal monastique bénédictin, qu'il tente de réformer.
Il réussit à fonder un hospice sous l'autorité de
l'ordre, qu'il administre seul, puisqu'il est le seul à maîtriser des concepts
de médecine, acquis au séminaire, mais ses autres tentatives resteront sans
suite. Un nouvel abbé succède à MacGroar, Nicolo Aldobrandeschi, d'origine
italienne, qui ne veut rien savoir des idées d'Étienne et l'expulse de
Sherborne.
Cantorbéry, puis Rome
Saint Étienne déménage alors à Cantorbéry, siège de la
primatie des angles, et se place sous la protection du nouvel archevêque,
Baudoin d'Exeter, proche de la famille royale normande. Étienne, élevé
chanoine, devient alors clerc séculier, tandis que l'archevêque lui confie la
doyenné de la cathédrale. Étienne de Harding a alors 25 ans. Les théologiens de
la ville, et ses confrères du cloître de la cathédrale, sont beaucoup plus
réceptifs à ses propositions de réforme de l'Ordre Bénédictin, et se tiennent
au fait des actualités romaines. Saint Étienne se fait remarquer pour ses
prêches et est élevé seigneur par le roi Henri II.
Finalement, Monseigneur Baudoin propose à Étienne
d'effectuer un pélerinage à Rome. Enthousiaste, et voulant profiter de
l'occasion pour discuter de son idéal avec nombre de théologiens du continent,
Étienne se prépare quelque peu et met de côté quelques sous pour le voyage
avant de recevoir le bourdon après une courte messe célébrée dans le choeur de
la cathédrale.
Son voyage débuta par une traversée de la Manche qui
fut plutôt calme selon les dires même d'Étienne, et il prit ensuite la direction
de Paris, où il ne fit qu'un bref arrêt, déçu par les théologiens de la ville,
et emprunta ensuite la Via Agrippa, qui l'amena jusqu'à Rome en passant par les
principales villes italiennes. À Boulogne, l'université lui réserva un bon
acceuil, et ses thèses ne furent pas autant décriées qu'elles le furent à
Florence. Néanmoins, les conditions météorologiques furent avec lui.
Arrivé à Rome, il se plongea dans la lecture d'ouvrage
sur Aristote. Il y découvrit les livres du panégyrique et du siège d'Aornos,
qu'il dévora, mais qui furent pour lui très décevant, n'y trouvant pas
d'arguments pour étayer ses idées de réforme. Cependant, il se lie d'amitié
avec l'archevêque de Lyon et primat des Gaules, Hugues de Bourgogne. Après
quoi, Étienne se fait connaître grâce à ses messes, mais aussi, et surtout,
grâce aux débats théologiques qu'il mène et organise au sein de la faculté des
sciences théologiques de Rome. Il entre même dans l'entourage du pape, mais son
aristotélicisme un peu trop marqué lui vaut des critiques, et il préfère
finalement suivre l'archevêque Hugues, qui retournait dans son diocèse.
Molesme et Cîteaux
La remontée sur la Via Agrippa se fit sans problème,
la région n'étant pas alors infestée de Lion de Judas comme elle l'est
aujourd'hui. Arrivé à Lyon, Étienne fit la connaissance de Robert de Molesme,
qui visait le même saint et noble objectif que lui. En effet, Robert avait
souhaité lui aussi réformer le monachisme, et avait pour ce faire fondé une
abbaye, l'abbaye de Molesme. Cependant, cette-dernière était en grande
difficulté. Établie sur un flanc de montagne, une terre infertile et loin de
toute bourgade, un endroit dont personne ne voulait, l'abbaye sombrait dans
l'acédie. Au départ, l'établissement n'était composé que de cabanes de branches
autour d'une chapelle dédiée à Saint Hubert. Rapidement, la maison de nouveaux
moines, rétifs à tant d'austérité. Ces moines, désespérés par leur situation,
ne voulaient surtout pas suivre les enseignements de Robert, encore plus
draconiens, et continuaient malgré tout d'honorer l'interprétation bénédictine
de la règle de Saint Benoît. Étienne promit toutefois à Robert de venir le
seconder à Molesme, mais après quelques temps, la tâche s'avérait tellement
ardue que Robert et Étienne se décidèrent à trouver une solution.
Les deux moines avaient un rêve, celui de fonder une
abbaye sur une vraie terre, une terre fertile et acceuillante. Mais pour cela,
il fallait obtenir une concession de la part d'un seigneur ou d'un propriétaire
terrien, et peu s'étaient prononcés en faveur d'une réforme de ce qui était
alors l'ordre le plus puissant d'Europe. Néanmoins, Étienne était convaincu que
ses idées, de par leur originalité, mais aussi de par leur sérieux, séduirait
un important vassal de Sa Majesté. Ce noble, ce fut Renaud de Beaune. Après
qu'Étienne soit passé à sa cour, séduit par son discours, le vicomte de Beaune
lui offrit une terre fertile au milieu d'une grande forêt.
Avec quelques moines de Molesme, Étienne de Harding et
Robert fondèrent l'abbaye de Cîteaux. Dans les premiers temps, la nouvelle
communauté travailla à défricher la terre. Ils revendirent les stères de bois
et purent acheter des pierres pour l'enbelissement de leur abbatiale. Dès la
première année, les moines réussirent à tirer profit des champs. La récolte fut
très variée. En effet, prévoyants et instruits, Étienne et Robert avaient
organisés les cultures de manière à tirer profit des grandes terres du domain
abbatial, c'est-à-dire en y cultivant le plus possible. Grâce à la technique de
l'assolement triennal, les moines réussirent à récolter une quantité de
légumes, mais aussi une quantité de grains, que ce soit du blé, que les frères
boulangers transformèrent en pain, du houblon, que les frères brasseurs
transformèrent en bière et alcools divers, qu'on vendait, tout comme les
surplus des autres cultures, aux villageois, ce qui permit à l'abbaye d'amasser
des sommes considérables, ou encore de l'orge. La structure était là, il ne
manquait que l'organisation pour avoir la règle d'un ordre monastique des plus
solide.
Toutefois, les débuts de Cîteaux ne furent pas
toujours faciles. S'il y eut discorde dans la nouvelle abbaye, ce fut surtout à
savoir qui de Robert de Molesme ou d'Étienne de Harding serait élu abbé. Les
moines furent séparés en deux factions, et le chaos fut maître des lieux
jusqu'à ce que le sage Saint Étienne décide de reconnaître son frère comme
abbé, pour mettre un terme à la désolation causée pas la désunion de ceux que
l'on appelait déjà les cisterciens.
Ceci dit, les moines de Molesme vinrent à Cîteaux pour
se repentirent, et implorèrent Robert de redevenir leur abbé, en échange de
quoi il se soumettrait aux principes et coutumes de Cîteaux, ce qu'il accepta.
Étienne de Harding et Robert avait réussi à mener à bien leur réforme du
monachisme.
La Charte de Charité
Suite au départ de Robert, Étienne fut proclamé abbé
par acclamation. Il nomma ensuite le frère Albéric comme prieur de l'abbaye,
ainsi qu'un chapitre. Entre-temps, l'idéal monastique cistercien s'était
grandement répandu en France, et il devenait urgent d'établir les structures
d'un nouvel ordre. Étienne se pencha alors sur la rédaction ce qui devrait être
le texte fondateur pour tous les frères cisterciens.
La nouvelle règle énonçait les valeurs fondamentales
de l'Ordre Cistercien : la charité, qui consiste en l'aide du plus démuni et le
refus et le rejet de l'égoïsme, l'exemplarité, qui est le respect d'un code
d'honneur implicite ainsi que la foi.
L'abbé de Cîteaux, soucieux de l'intertionalisation de
l'ordre et du bon fonctionnement de ce-dernier, inclut aussi dans la charte des
mesures administratives. Il fixa d'abord les modalités d'établissement de
l'ordre. Ainsi, une abbaye cistercienne ne peut être ouverte que si trois
moines se trouvent dans la même région, et avec l'accord du chapitre d'une
abbaye-mère de l'ordre. La nouvelle abbaye devenant donc fille de
l'abbaye-mère. Ensuite, il établit le fonctionnement des élections pour les
abbés, ainsi que les charges, les fonctions et les statuts de chacun.
Saint Étienne, voulant donner à la règle cistercienne
un nom évocateur, la baptisa Carta Caritatis, ou Charte de Charité, pour
signifier la principale et plus importante valeur de l'ordre.
Saint Bernard et dernières années
L'abbaye de Cîteaux florissait et devenait de plus en
plus importantes, et sa réputation dépassa largement la Bourgogne. La réforme
cistercienne intéressait beaucoup de gens, et les théologiens les plus
respectés se penchaient régulièrement sur la situation de l'ordre
naissant.
Évidemment, Cîteaux accueillait chaque année un
incessant flot de novices, venus pour y vivre dans la vertu, dans l'espoir
d'obtenir le salut de leur âme et ainsi atteindre le soleil. C'est dans ce
contexte qu'un jeune nobliaux venu directement de sa région de Dijon natale,
qui deviendra plus tard Saint Bernard de La Bussière, intégra l'Ordre
Cistercien. Tel Saint Étienne, qui aimait, en tant qu'abbé, admirer sa
réussite, Saint Bernard passa avec brio le noviciat, et fut rapidement promu
aux charges les plus importantes et les plus prestigieuses de l'abbaye. En
effet, il en vint même à être nommé recteur de l'abbatiale, devenant en quelque
sorte le bras droit d'Albéric. Chargé de la célébration des offices, il
prêchait, chaque dimanche, les vertus et les bienfaits du cistercianisme, et
ses qualités lui valurent d'être grandement considéré, même partie le clergé
séculier et la société laïque. Après s'être entretenu avec le collège des
nobles bourguignons, Saint Bernard, qui avait entre-temps été élevé chapitrain
de Cîteaux, vint voir Saint Étienne pour obtenir l'autorisation de fonder une
abbaye-fille sur les terres de La Bussière sur Ouche.
Saint Étienne de Harding
Étienne, trop heureux d'assister à la fondation d'une
seconde abbaye soumise à la règle cistercienne, accepta avec enthousiasme.
Cette nouvelle abbaye ne fut que la première d'une longue série, et grâce aux
mesures prises par Saint Étienne en matière d'intertionalisation, mais aussi
grâce aux connaissances et au charisme de Saint Bernard, l'Ordre put
s'installer en Irlande, en Scandinavie, dans la péninsule Ibérique, etc.
Même s'il aurait voulu lui-même participer à
l'expansion de l'Ordre Cistercien, Saint Étienne ne le put en raison de son
grand âge. Malgré cet ultime regret, il restait fidèle à la règle qu'il avait
écrite, faisant toujours preuve de grande charité. Petit à petit, il déléguait
ses responsabilités à Albéric, qui devint le troisième abbé de Cîteaux, mais
aussi aux jeunes qui s'étaient joints à la grande famille cistercienne et
faisait preuve d'enthousiasme et de motivation.
Chaque jour, on pouvait le voir méditer tout en se
promenant dans les grands domaines de l'abbaye.
Le trépas
Saint Étienne de Harding, fondateur de l'Ordre
Cistercien et rédacteur de la Charte de Charité, s'éteignit paisiblement en sa
cellule de l'abbaye de Cîteaux, entouré de ses frères de la famille
cistercienne, un beau jour de mai alors que les arbres et les arbustes du
domaine étaient en fleur. On pleura beaucoup sa mort, et plusieurs dignitaires,
qu'ils soient religieux ou laïques, assistèrent à ses funérailles ainsi qu'à
son inhumnation.
On l'enterra sous l'abbatiale de Cîteaux, et on marqua
l'emplacement de sa tombe par un gisant qui fut réalisé par un sculpteur
bourguignon. On conserva son coeur, dont le reliquaire fut déposé à la
primatiale Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon, sa mitre, qui fut donnée à l'abbaye de
La Bussière sur Ouche, et sa crosse, que l'on offrit à la jeune abbaye de
Noirlac.
Attributs
Saint Étienne de Harding est souvent dépeint en
vêtements d'abbé, avec mitre et crosse, mais aussi souvent tenant dans ses
mains une maquette de l'abbaye de Cîteaux, rappelant ainsi que c'est lui qui en
fut le fondateur. Son apparence générale est plutôt sobre, et rappelle donc son
voeu de pauvreté.
Reliques
L'histoire des reliques de Saint Étienne de Harding
est particulière. Premièrement, son gisant, de même que l'abbaye de Cîteaux,
furent détruits par les Armagnacs lors de la guerre civile qui les opposa aux
Bourguignons. Ne restait que du corps du Saint son coeur, qui put être admiré à
Lyon jusqu'à ce que Monseigneur de Bouviers l'amène à Sens pour être adoré par
les fidèles qui visiteraient la cathédrale Saint-Étienne. Sa mitre fut, quant à
elle, ramenée à Noirlac après l'abandon de l'abbaye de La Bussière, où elle a
rejoint la crosse du Saint. Ces deux dernières reliques se trouvent toujours à
Noirlac.
SOURCE : http://cathedrale-aix-arles.actifforum.com/t1941-saint-etienne-de-harding
Saint Etienne Harding
Etienne, surnommé Harding, troisième abbé de
Cîteaux, né en Angleterre, d'une famille noble, fit ses premières études et
prit l'habit religieux au monastère de Schirburn. Il en sortit pour passer en
Ecosse, et de là en France. Après avoir achevé sa réthorique et sa philosophie
dans les écoles de Paris, il partit pour Rome, avec un jeune ecclésiastique de ses
amis. A son retour, il s'arrêta à l'abbaye de Molesme, où il ne put retenir son compagnon de voyage. Cependant, cette abbaye tomba bientôt dans un extrême relâchement, effet
d'une dangereuse abondance. Saint Robert, qui en était abbé, en remit la direction au
prieur Alberic, et s'exila dans la solitude de Vinay. Alberic ne tarda pas à suivre Robert, et le fidèle
Etienne à les joindre tous deux. Il leur offrit ses secours pour une
réforme ; mais le peu de succès qu'obtint leur nouvelle tentative les ayant
découragés, ils allèrent, avec 18 autres religieux de Molesme, jeter, en 1098, les fondements de l'abbaye de Cîteaux, dans une forêt du diocèse de Challon. Ils vinrent heureusement à bout de
leur entreprise, avec la permission du légat de Rome et l'assistance du duc de Bourgogne. Les services rendus par Etienne à
l'établissement nouveau ne furent pas sans récompense. Après la mort d'Alberic,
second abbé de Cîteaux, il fut choisi à l'unanimité pour lui succéder. Sous la
conduite d'Etienne, ses religieux pratiquèrent à la lettre ce précepte de l'Evangile : Cherchez premièrement le royaume des
cieux, et le reste vous sera donné comme par surcroît. Aussi, dans la disette
où ils se trouvaient souvent, quelques aumônes qui venaient à propos leur
semblaient venir par miracle. Etienne, en tout ennemi du luxe, le bannit même du service divin. Il
remplaça l'or et l'argent par le cuivre et le fer, et ne fit grâce qu'aux
calices de vermeil. Il eut à craindre un moment que cette sévérité de moeurs ne
nuisît à l'accroissement de sa communauté : plusieurs frères étaient morts en moins de deux ans, et personne ne
se présentait pour les remplacer.
Etienne était plongé dans une affliction
profonde, quand tout à coup arriva saint Bernard, qui venait, à la tête de trente gentils-hommes
français, solliciter leur commune admission dans un ordre dont il a fait la
gloire. Son exemple ne fut point stérile. Cîteaux eut en peu de
temps une surabondance de population, dont Etienne forma des colonies, qui
fondèrent, sous ses auspices, les monastères de la Ferté, de Pontigny, de Clairvaux et de Morimond. On a appelé ces
quatre abbayes les quatre filles de Cîteaux. Etienne,
considérant ces rapides progrès de l'ordre, ne voulut plus être le seul juge des intérêts de tous, et convoqua, en 1116, le premier
chapitre général de Cîteaux. Satisfait de cet essai, il en convoqua un second,
en 1119, pour soumettre à son examen des statuts intitulés Charta
charitatis, ayant pour but de réunir en un même corps les différentes abbayes dont Cîteaux était, en quelque sorte, la
métropole.
Lorsque Étienne sentit l'affaiblissement de ses forces, il se démit, en plein chapitre, de sa dignité d'abbé,
demandant la permission de s'occuper de lui, puisqu'il ne pouvait plus
s'occuper des autres. Il fut remplacé par un hypocrite, que sa mauvaise
conduite fit déposer au bout d'un mois ; mais il eut, de son vivant,
un second successeur plus digne de lui, et mourut, avec cette consolation, le
28 mars 1134. (Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne - Tome
24 - Page 546)
ÉTIENNE
HARDING saint (1060-1134)
Issu de la noble famille
de Harding, Étienne naquit à Meriot dans le comté de Dorset (Angleterre). Il
entra à l'abbaye voisine de Sherborne, la quitta quelques années plus tard pour
aller en Écosse, puis se rendit à Paris pour étudier. De là, il fit le
pèlerinage de Rome. Au retour, il se fixa à Molesmes, où l'abbé Robert
cherchait désespérément une formule nouvelle de vie monastique. En 1098,
Étienne Harding fut du groupe des fondateurs de Cîteaux, où il resta malgré les
difficultés des premières années, difficultés accrues par la pauvreté et
l'absence de recrutement. En 1109, l'abbé Albéric mourut et Étienne Harding lui
succéda. Il mit au point un texte de la Bible, qu'il présenta magnifiquement , ne
voulant pas que la simplicité soit confondue avec l'indigence (Dijon, Mss, de
12 à 15). L'arrivée de saint Bernard et de nombreux novices donna un essor
inattendu à l'abbaye de Cîteaux, qui essaima en 1113 à La Ferté, en 1114 à
Pontigny, en 1115 à Clairvaux et à Morimond, puis dans toute l'Europe. Sous
l'abbatiat d'Étienne Harding, le nombre des abbayes cisterciennes dépassa
soixante-dix. Pour maintenir leur union, il promulgua la Charte de charité et
les premières coutumes de l'ordre, qui furent approuvées par le pape en 1119.
En 1125, des moniales de Juilly, abbaye qui fut fondée par des moines de
Molesmes et qui resta sous son obédience, instaurèrent à Notre-Dame-du-Tart la
première abbaye de cisterciennes. Étienne Harding démissionna en 1133 et mourut
le 28 mars 1134. Sa fête fut fixée au 17 avril par le chapitre général de 1623.
Actuellement, saint Étienne Harding est, avec ses prédécesseurs Robert et
Albéric, honoré par les cisterciens et
par les bénédictins le 26 janvier en une fête commune aux pères de
Cîteaux.
SOURCE : http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/etienne-harding/
Maria Vergine dona lo scapolare dell'Ordine
Cistercense a
Santo
Stefano Harding
(part.), affresco; Szentgotthárd (Ungheria), Chiesa di Santo Stefano Harding in Apátistvánfalva
Also
known as
Stephen of Citeaux
Esteban…
Etienne…
Stefano…
Stevan…
formerly 17 April
formerly 16 July
formerly 26 January
Profile
Born to the English nobility.
After a somewhat mis-spent youth, he was drawn to religious life and entered
the Benedictine Sherborne
Abbey. Following the Norman conquest of England in 1066,
Stephen left the monastic life,
moved to Scotland and
then to Paris, France to study. Pilgrim to Rome, Italy,
seeking forgiveness for having abandoned monasticism. Monk at Molesme
Abbey. With Saint Robert
of Molesme, he helped begin the Cistercian reform
by helping found Citeaux
Abbey in 1098.
Chosen abbot of
the house in 1109,
he came in with a reformer’s zeal and administrative skill. Accepted Saint Bernard
of Clairvaux into the Order with
all the reform and expansion that he and his brothers brought with them. Helped
found a dozen other Cistercian houses.
amd gave the statutes that started the Cistician nuns.
His reform work aimed at simplicity in all things including liturgical rites,
church decor, monastic dress,
and life in the Order.
Born
c.1060 in
Meriot, Sherborne, England
28 March 1134 at
Citeaux, France of
natural causes
1623 by Pope Urban
VIII
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MLA
Citation
“Saint Stephen
Harding“. CatholicSaints.Info. 6 August 2022. Web. 27 March 2023.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-stephen-harding/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-stephen-harding/
Klosterkirche
Wald (Landkreis Sigmaringen),
Stephen Harding, OSB Cist. Abbot
(RM)
Born probably in Sherborne, Dorsetshire, England; died at Cîteaux, France,
March 28, 1134; canonized in 1623; his feast is celebrated on July 16 among the
Cistercians.
Saint Stephen, one of the founders of the Cistercians, was an Englishman of
unknown parentage. While he was yet a child, they offered him as an oblate to
Sherborne Abbey in Dorsetshire, where he was educated. When he reached
maturity, he detested the monastic lifestyle and set out to see the world. He
travelled to Scotland, and then on to Paris to study further.
As a Benedictine monk he travelled on pilgrimage to Rome, reciting the Psalms
daily as he went, but it was no perfunctory repetition, for he drew from them a
strength which refreshed his spirit, and their influence deeply affected the
rest of his life.
Some say that he had wandered through Europe seeking a community where the
Benedictine Rule was strictly kept and had almost given up hope, when he met
Saint Robert of Molesmes, a native of Champagne. On Stephen's return from Rome,
he and a friend came across a community of monks living a very austere and
solitary life in the forest of Langres in Burgundy. Their life of prayer, hard
work, and strict adherence to the austere rule of Saint Benedict attracted
Stephen, and he settled there. Among the monks were Saint Robert, the abbot,
and Saint Alberic.
Everything went well until the bishop of Troyes took it upon himself to
moderate the austerities of these enfants terribles and to give them property
so they would not be "devoured" by their zeal. The community's
devotion to poverty was bypassed and little by little the Benedictines of
Molesmes became canons.
Disappointed to find that its discipline had become slack and that wealth and
worldliness had bred indifference, Robert no longer desired to be the abbot and
left. But the monks of Molesmes increasingly deviated from the rule and the
other two, each becoming abbot for a time, in turn departed for the diocese of
Langres following Robert's example.
The bishop of Troyes ordered all three to return to Molesmes, but they could
not rekindle the flame of enthusiasm, so the three left again. In order to escape
the jurisdiction of the bishop of Troyes, they sought refuge in another
jurisdiction. Stephen accompanied Robert and Alberic to Lyons to ask the
Archbishop Hugh, the papal legate to France, for permission to leave Molesmes
to create a stricter order.
The legate made known his opinion in 1098: "We have thought that the best
thing would be for you to retire to another convent which the Divine Goodness
will grant you. We have therefore permitted you who have appeared before us,
Abbot Robert, Brothers Alberic and Stephen and all those who are determined to
follow you, to execute this good plan and we exhort you to persevere
therein." What is comforting to note is that in the Church, if a work is
good, the Holy Spirit gets involved in it and sooner or later, someone always
presents himself to support and activate it.
Thus, the permission was granted, and Saint Robert and 20 others, built a
monastery at Cîteaux, diocese of Châlon-sur- Saône, in the heart of the forest.
The site was chosen, not for its majestic beauty, but because Rainald, the lord
of Beaune, gladly donated the site to them. The monastery opened in 1098 with
Robert as abbot, Alberic as prior, and Stephen as subprior. Saint Robert
returned to Molesmes about a year later at the order of Urban II. The other two
shifted positions respectively to abbot and prior.
During Alberic's reign, the new order received definitive approval from Pope
Pascal II and was placed under the protection of the Holy See. The Benedictines
of Cîteaux received a white habit and made their solemn professions on March
21, 1098, Passion Sunday.
Stephen assisted at the death of Alberic on January 26, 1109. Alberic was the
first of the trio to prepare a meeting place for them with God. Stephen missed
Alberic, his friend, his "companion in arms," his "general in
the battles of the Lord," in the time that they were placed "in the
front line of the battle." Stephen's character and temperament are well
expressed in this military language.
In the following year, on March 21, 1110, there was a second departure for
eternity. Robert died. Stephen was the sole survivor of the three. This
vouched-safe, original Cistercian, however, was not to conform in all points
with the Benedictine prototype because he was to become the champion of the most
absolute poverty with an almost Franciscan insistence.
With the death of Alberic, Stephen found himself elected abbot of Cîteaux
against his will. He was now to induce the others to follow him on the path to
poverty that was his preferred route. Stephen decreed that magnates could no
longer hold their courts at Cîteaux, and thus cut off feudal sources of income,
from which the abbey had derived most of its revenue. Until that time the duke
of Burgundy and his court could break the sacred silence of Cîteaux whenever he
desired.
At Cîteaux they framed the rule of a new order, that of the Cistercians, the
Charter of Charity with its insistence on poverty, solitude, and simplicity,
and here for years they lived out their poor and barren life. They passed their
days in hard manual labor in the fields and vineyards. They raised their own
food. They avoided every form of religious corruption and ostentation,
forebearing the use of rich vestments, stained glass, and altar vessels of gold
and silver, wearing the simplest dress, and allowing only a crucifix of painted
wood. Their church was unadorned, their worship plain and severe, but along
with such bare austerity they combined grace and beauty.
During those 15 years nothing remarkable happened. On the contrary, the little
company made no headway, attracted no new followers, and it seemed a hopeless
enterprise. Stephen's changes discouraged visitors, which had been a source of
new recruits. Combined with a disease that killed several monks, this caused
the number of monks to dwindle significantly, and Stephen began to doubt his
actions. But they had great faith and patience, pursuing their work with
untiring devotion, and in the end their perseverance was rewarded.
One time Stephen sent a friar to the market of Vézelay with three pennies and
the instruction to bring back to Cîteaux "all the necessaries of
life." The friar actually came back to Cîteaux with three wagons, drawn by
three horses, laden with clothes and food because at just the right moment he
had found in the market place a man who wanted to bequeath a part of his
fortune to the monks. Stephen's trust in God's providence was warranted again.
Yet, because the order did not flourish, Stephen asked a dying monk to
"come back after your death, when God wills and if He will allow it, to
tell us if our way of life is pleasing to Him, and if our work is to
perish." The response came a few days later when Stephen was working in
the fields: "I say unto you, in truth, dispel all your doubts, consider it
certain that your life is holy and agreeable to God."
Then there came a dramatic day in 1112 when a company of 30 men made their way
through the forest to Cîteaux to join them and changed the destiny of the
order. The company was of excellent quality, for they belonged to some of the
noblest families of Burgundy, and were led by Bernard, afterwards famous as
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. They presented themselves as novices and their
arrival brought new hope and strength to the community; there followed an era of
remarkable expansion, which, in time, infused fresh life into Western
Christendom.
From that point, Cistercian communities thrived and spread rapidly, and there
were no less than 90 of them--including Pontigny, Morimond, and Clairvaux--when
Stephen Harding died. Although Bernard was only 24, Stephen appointed him abbot
of Clairvaux. Stephen ruled that the abbots of the monasteries must meet at
Clairvaux each year, and that the abbot of the motherhouse must make a
visitation of each abbey every year; these rules served to safeguard the
original spirit and observance.
In addition to being a Biblical scholar, and perhaps an artist, Stephen was an
excellent administrator. In 1119, when there were already ten monasteries,
Stephen drew up and presented to the general chapter at Cîteaux a constitution
for the Cistercians--the Charter of Charity (Carta caritatis). This charter
defined the spirit of the order and provided for the unity of the association
of Cistercian abbeys. It is a document of prime importance in Western monastic
history because it would influence other orders. The high ideals, the careful
organization, the austerity and simplicity of the Cistercian life are an index
to the character of Stephen Harding.
He also made emendations to the Vulgate Bible that were designed for the use of
Cîteaux. He continued directing the monasteries until 1133, when he was quite
old and losing his sight. His last words, uttered on March 28, 1134, were:
"I am going to God as I had never done any good. If I have done some good,
it was through the help of the grace of God. But perhaps I have received this
grace unworthily, without turning it sufficiently to account."
In England, beginning with a thatched barn situated in a wild and narrow glen,
there rose their most famous and glorious Cistercian abbey of Fountains. Thus
the story of the Cistercians, which is linked for ever with the names of
Stephen Harding and Bernard of Clairvaux, is of the reform of the Benedictine
Order (for that also resulted) and of a great spiritual awakening. Harding's
fellow countryman, William of Malmesbury, wrote of him that he was
"approachable, good-looking, always cheerful in the Lord--everyone liked
him" (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Bentley, Dalgairns, Delaney,
Encyclopedia, Gill, White).
In art, Saint Stephen
Harding is depicted as a Cistercian abbot with the Virgin Mary and the Infant
appearing to him (Roeder, White). He may also be pictured with Robert of Molesme (Roeder).
SOURCE: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0417.shtml
St. Stephen Harding
Confessor, the third Abbot of Cîteaux, was born at Sherborne in Dorsetshire, England, about the middle of the eleventh century; died 28 March, 1134. He received his early education in the monastery of Sherborne and afterwards studied in Paris and Rome. On returning from the latter city he stopped at the monastery of Molesme and, being much impressed by the holiness of St. Robert, the abbot, joined that community. Here he practised great austerities, became one of St. Robert's chief supporters and was one of the band of twenty-one monks who, by authority of Hugh, Archbishop of Lyons, retired to Cïteaux to institute a reform in the new foundation there. When St. Robert was recalled to Molesme (1099), Stephen became prior of Cïteaux under Alberic, the new abbot. On Alberic's death (1110) Stephen, who was absent from the monastery at the time, was elected abbot. The number of monks was now very reduced, as no new members had come to fill the places of those who had died. Stephen, however, insisted on retaining the strict observance originally instituted and, having offended the Duke of Burgundy, Cïteaux's great patron, by forbidding him or his family to enter the cloister, was even forced to beg alms from door to door. It seemed as if the foundation were doomed to die out when (1112) St. Bernard with thirty companions joined the community. This proved the beginning of extraordinary prosperity. The next year Stephen founded his first colony at La Ferté, and before is death he had established thirteen monasteries in all. His powers as an organizer were exceptional, he instituted the system of general chapters and regular visitations and, to ensure uniformity in all his foundations, drew up the famous "Charter of Charity" or collection of statutes for the government of all monasteries united to Cïteaux, which was approved by Pope Callistus II in 1119 (see CISTERCIANS). In 1133 Stephen, being now old, infirm, and almost blind, resigned the post of abbot, designating as his successor Robert de Monte, who was accordingly elected by the monks. The saint's choice, however, proved unfortunate and the new abbot only held office for two years.
Stephen was buried in
the tomb of
Alberic, his predecessor, in the cloister of Cîteaux.
In the Roman calendar his feast is
17 April, but the Cistercians themselves
keep it on 15 July, with an octave, regarding him as the true founder
of the order. Besides the "Carta Caritatis" he is commonly credited
with the authorship of the "Exordium Cisterciencis cenobii", which
however may not be his. Two of his sermons are
preserved and also two letters (Nos. 45 and 49) in the "Epp. S.
Bernardi".
Huddleston, Gilbert.
"St. Stephen Harding." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York:
Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 28 Mar. 2015
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14290d.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael C. Tinkler.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14290d.htm
Harding Szent István-oltár a zirci apátsági
templomban
Saint
Stephen Harding side altar in Abbey Church of Zirc, Hungary
Heiliger
Stephan Harding Seitenaltar in der Abteikirche von Zirc, Ungarn
April 17
St. Stephen, Abbot of
Citeaux, Confessor
From the Exordiom of
Citeaux; the Annals of that Order by Manriquez; the short ancient Life of St.
Stephen, published by Henriquez in his Fasciculus, printed at Brussels in 1624,
and by Henschenius, 17 Apr. t. 2, p. 497; also from the Little Exordium of
Citeaux, and the Exordium Magnum Cisterc. both in the first tome of Teissier’s
Bibliotheca Patrum Cisterc. See De Visch’s Bibliotheca Cisterciensis, or
History of the Writers of this Order, in 4to. printed in 1656. Le Nain,
Hist. de l’Ordre de Citeaux, t. 1. Stephens, Monast. Anglic. t. 2. Britannia
Sancta, and Hist. Litéraire de la. France, t. 11, p. 213.
A.D. 1134.
ST. STEPHEN HARDING was
an Englishman of an honourable family, and heir to a plentiful estate. He had
his education in the monastery of Sherbourne, in Dorsetshire, and there laid a
very solid foundation of literature and sincere piety. A cheerfulness in his
countenance always showed the inward joy of his soul, and a calm which no
passions seemed ever to disturb. Out of a desire of learning more perfectly the
means of Christian perfection, he, with one devout companion, travelled into
Scotland, and afterwards to Paris, and to Rome. They every day recited together
the whole psalter, and passed the rest of their time on the road in strict
silence, occupied in holy meditation and private prayer. Stephen, in his
return, heard at Lyons of the great austerity and sanctity of the poor
Benedictin monastery of Molesme, lately founded by St. Robert, in 1075, in the
diocess of Langres. Charmed with the perpetual recollection and humility of
this house, he made choice of it to accomplish there the sacrifice of himself
to God. Such was the extreme poverty of this place, that the monks, for want of
bread, were often obliged to live on the wild herbs of the wilderness. The
compassion and veneration of the neighbourhood at length supplied their wants
to profusion: but, with plenty and riches, a spirit of relaxation and self-love
crept in, and drew many aside from their duty. St. Robert, Alberic his prior,
and Stephen, seeing the evil too obstinate to admit a cure, left the house: but
upon the complaint of the monks, were called back again; Robert, by an order of
the pope, the other two by the diocesan. Stephen was then made superior. The
monks had promised a reformation of their sloth and irregularities; but their
hearts not being changed, they soon relapsed. They would keep more clothes than
the rule allowed; did not work so long as it prescribed, and did not prostrate
to strangers, nor wash their feet when they came to their house. St. Stephen
made frequent remonstrances to them on the subject of their remissness. He was
sensible that as the public tranquillity and safety of the state depend on the
ready observance and strict execution of the laws, so much more do the
perfection and sanctification of a religious state consist in the most
scrupulous fidelity in complying with all its rules. These are the pillars of
the structure: he who shakes and undermines them throws down the whole edifice,
and roots up the very foundations. Moreover, in the service of God, nothing is
small: true love is faithful, and never contemns or wilfully fails in the least
circumstance or duty in which the will of God is pointed out. Gerson observes,
how difficult a matter it is to restore the spirit of discipline when it is
once decayed, and that, of the two, it is more easy to found a new Order. From
whence arises his just remark, how grievous the scandal and crime must be of
those who, by their example and tepidity, first open a gap to the least
habitual irregularity in a religious Order or house.
Seeing no hopes of a sufficient reformation, St. Robert appointed another abbot
at Molesme, and with B. Alberic, St. Stephen, and other fervent monks, they
being twenty-one in number, with the permission of Hugh, archbishop of Lyons,
and legate of the holy see, retired to Citeaux, a marshy wilderness, five
leagues from Dijon. The viscount of Beaune gave them the ground, and Eudes,
afterwards duke of Burgundy, built them a little church, which was dedicated
under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin, as all the churches of this Order
from that time have been. The monks with their own hands cut down trees, and
built themselves a monastery of wood, and in it made a new profession of the
rule of St. Bennet, which they bound themselves to observe in its utmost
severity. This solemn act they performed on St. Bennet’s-day, 1098: which is
regarded as the date of the foundation of the Cistercian Order. After a year
and some months St. Robert was recalled to Molesme, and B. Alberic chosen the
second abbot of Citeaux. These holy men, with their rigorous silence,
recollection, and humility, appeared to strangers, by their very countenances,
as angels on earth, particularly to two legates of Pope Paschal II., who,
paying them a visit, could not be satiated with fixing their eyes on their
faces; which, though emaciated with extreme austerities, breathed an amiable
peace and inward joy, with an heavenly air resulting from their assiduous
humble conversation with God, by which they seemed transformed into citizens of
heaven. Alberic obtained from Paschal II. the confirmation of his Order, in
1100, and compiled several statutes to enforce the strict observance of the
rule of St. Bennet, according to the letter. Hugh, duke of Burgundy, after a
reign of three years, becoming a monk at Cluni, resigned his principality to
his brother Eudes, who was the founder of Citeaux, and who, charmed with the
virtue of these monks, came to live in their neighbourhood, and lies buried in
their church with several of his successors. He was great grandson to Robert,
the first duke of Burgundy, son to Robert, king of France, and brother to King
Henry I. The second son of Duke Eudes, named Henry, made his religious
profession under B. Alberic, and died holily at Citeaux. B. Alberic finished
his course on sackcloth and ashes, on the 26th of January, 1109, and St.
Stephen was chosen the third abbot. 1 The
Order seemed then in great danger of failing: it was the astonishment of the
universe, but had appeared so austere, that hitherto scarce any had the courage
to embrace that institute. St. Stephen, who had been the greatest assistant to
his two predecessors in the foundation, carried its rule to the highest
perfection, and propagated the Order exceedingly, so as to be regarded as the
principal among its founders, as Le Nain observes.
It was his first care to secure, by the best fences, the essential spirit of
solitude and poverty. For this purpose, the frequent visits of strangers were
prevented, and only the Duke of Burgundy permitted to enter. He also was
entreated not to keep his court in the monastery on holydays, as he had been
accustomed to do. Gold and silver crosses were banished out of the church, and
a cross of painted wood, and iron candlesticks were made use of: no gold
chalices were allowed, but only silver gilt; the vestments, stoles, and
maniples, &c., were made of common cloth and fringes, without gold or
silver. The intention of this rule was, that every object might serve to
entertain the spirit of poverty in this austere Order. The founder, with this
holy view, would have poverty to reign even in the church, where yet he
required the utmost neatness and decency, by which this plainness and
simplicity appeared with a majesty well becoming religion and the house of God.
If riches are to be displayed, this is to be done in the first place to the
honour of Him who bestowed them, as God himself was pleased to show in the
temple built by King Solomon. Upon this consideration, the monks of Cluni used
rich ornaments in the service of the church. But a very contrary spirit moved
some of that family afterward to censure this rule of the Cistercians, which
St. Bernard justified by his apology. Let not him that eateth, despise him that
eateth not. 2 And
many saints have thought a neat simplicity and plainness, even in their
churches, more suitable to that spirit of extraordinary austerity and poverty
which they professed. The Cistercian monks allotted several hours in the day to
manual labour, copying books, or sacred studies. St. Stephen, who was a most
learned man, wrote in 1109, being assisted by his fellow-monks, a very correct
copy of the Latin Bible, which he made for the use of the monks, having
collated it with innumerable manuscripts, and consulted many learned Jews on
the Hebrew text. 3 But
God was pleased to visit him with trials, that his virtue might be approved
when put to the test. The Duke of Burgundy and his court were much offended at
being shut out of the monastery, and withdrew their charities and protection:
by which means the monks, who were not able totally to subsist by their labour,
in their barren woods and swampy ground, were reduced to extreme want: in which
pressing necessity St. Stephen went out to beg a little bread from door to
door: yet refused to receive any from a simoniacal priest. For though this
Order allows not begging abroad, as contrary to its essential retirement, such
a case of extreme necessity must be excepted, as Le Nain observes. The saint
and his holy monks rejoiced in this their poverty, and in the hardships and
sufferings which they felt under it; but were comforted by frequent sensible
marks of the divine protection. This trial was succeeded by another. In the two
years 1111 and 1112, sickness swept away the greater part of this small
community. St. Stephen feared he should leave no successors to inherit, not
worldly riches, but his poverty and penance; and many presumed to infer that
their institute was too severe, and not agreeable to heaven. St. Stephen, with
many tears, recommended to God his little flock, and after repeated assurances
of his protection, had the consolation to receive at once into his community
St. Bernard, with thirty gentlemen: whose example was followed by many others.
St. Stephen then founded other monasteries, which he peopled with his monks; as
La Ferté, in the diocess of Challons, in 1113; Pontigni, near Auxerre, in 1114;
Clairvaux, in 1115, for several friends of St. Bernard, who was appointed the
first abbot; and Morimond, in the diocess of Langres. St. Stephen held the first
general chapter in 1116. Cardinal Guy, archbishop of Vienne, legate of the holy
see, in 1117, made a visit to Citeaux, carried St. Stephen to his diocess, and
founded there, in a valley, the abbey of Bonnevaux. He was afterwards pope,
under the name of Calixtus II., and dying in 1124, ordered his heart to be
carried to Citeaux, and put into the hands of St. Stephen. It lies behind the
high altar, in the old church. St. Stephen lived to found himself thirteen
abbeys, and to see above a hundred founded by monks of his Order under his
direction. In order to maintain strict discipline and perfect charity, he
established frequent visitations to be made of every monastery, and instituted
general chapters. The annalist of this Order thinks he was the first author of
general chapters; nor do we find any mention of them before his time. The
assemblies of abbots, sometimes made in the reigns of Charlemagne and Lewis le
Debonnaire, &c., were kinds of extraordinary synods; not regular chapters.
St. Stephen held the first general chapter of his Order in 1116; the second in
1119. In this latter he published several statutes called the Charte of
Charity, confirmed the same year by Calixtus II. 4
He caused afterwards a collection of sacred ceremonies and customs to be drawn
up, under the name of the Usages of Citeaux, and a short history of the
beginning of the Order to be written, called the Exordium of Citeaux. The holy
founder made a journey into Flanders in 1125; in which he visited the abbey of
St. Vast, at Arras, where he was received by the Abbot Henry and his community,
as if he had been an angel from heaven; and the most sacred league of spiritual
friendship was made between them, of which several monuments are preserved in
the library of Citeaux, described by Mabillon. In 1128, he and St. Bernard
assisted at the council of Troyes, being summoned to it by the Bishop of
Albano, legate of the apostolic see. In 1132, St. Stephen waited on Pope
Innocent II., who was come into France. The Bishop of Paris, the Archbishop of
Sens, and other prelates, besought the mediation of St. Stephen with the King
of France and with the Pope, in affairs of the greatest importance. The
Cistercian monks came over also into England in the time of St. Stephen. The
extreme austerity and sanctity of the professors of this Order, which did not
admit any relaxation in its discipline for two hundred years after its
institution, were a subject of astonishment and edification to the whole world,
as is described at large by Oderic Vitalis; St. Peter, abbot of Cluni; William
of St. Thierry; William of Malmesbury; Peter, abbot of Celles; Stephen, bishop
of Tournay; Cardinal James of Vitry; Pope Innocent III., &c., who mention,
with amazement, their rigorous silence, their abstinence from flesh-meat, and,
for the most part, from fish, eggs, milk, and cheese; their lying on straw,
long watchings from midnight till morning, and austere fasts; their bread as
hard as the earth itself; their hard labour in cultivating desert lands to
produce the pulse and herbs on which they subsisted; their piety, devotion, and
tears, in singing the divine office; the cheerfulness of their countenances
breathing an holy joy in pale and mortified faces; the poverty of their houses;
the lowliness of their buildings, &c.
The saint having assembled the chapter of his Order in 1133, when all the other
business was dispatched, alleging his great age, infirmities, and incapacity,
begged most earnestly to be discharged from his office of general, that he
might in holy solitude have leisure to prepare himself to appear at the
judgment seat of Christ. All were afflicted, but durst not oppose his desire.
The chapter chose one Guy; but the saint discovering him unworthy of such a
charge, in a few days he was deposed, and Raynard, a holy disciple of St.
Bernard, created general. St. Stephen did not long survive the election of
Raynard. Twenty neighbouring abbots of his Order assembled at Citeaux, to
attend at his death. Whilst he was in his agony, he heard many whispering that,
after so virtuous and penitential a life, he could have nothing to fear in dying:
at this he said to them, trembling: “I assure you that I go to God in fear and
trembling. If my baseness should be found to have ever done any good, even in
this I fear, lest I should not have preserved that grace with the humility and
care I ought.” He passed to immortal glory on the 28th of March, 1134, and was
interred in the tomb of B. Alberic, in which also many of his successors lie
buried, in the cloister, near the door of the church. 5 His
Order keeps his festival on the 15th of July, as of the first class, with an
octave, and with greater solemnity than those of St. Robert, or St. Bernard,
having always looked upon him as the principal of its founders. The Roman
Martyrology honours him on the 17th of April, supposed to be the day on which
he was canonized, of which mention is made by Benedict XIV. 6
Note 1. B. Alberic is honoured with an office on the 26th of January, by
the Cistercian Order in Italy, by a grant of the Congregation of Sacred Rites.
See Bened. XIV. de Canon. l. 1, c. 13. Tu. 17, p. 100. [back]
Note 2. Rom. xiv.
3, 6. [back]
Note 3. This most valuable MS. copy of the Bible is preserved at Citeaux,
in four volumes in folio. Mauriquez in his Annals, and Henriquez in his
Fasciculus, give us a short pathetic discourse on the death of B. Alberic,
ascribed by many to St. Stephen, and not unworthy his pen. [back]
Note 4. St. Robert, in the foundation of Citeaux, proposed to himself, and
prescribed to his companions, nothing else but the reformation of the Order of
St. Bennet, and the observance of his rule to the letter, as Benedict XIV.
takes notice, (de Canoniz. l. 1, c. 13, n. 17. p. 101,) nor did the legate
grant him leave for his removal and new establishment with any other view or on
any other condition. (Exordium Magn. l. 1, c. 12, Hist. Lit. Fr. t. 11, p.
225.) St. Stephen in the Charte, or Charter of Charity, prescribes the rule of
St. Bennet to be observed to the letter, in all his monasteries, as it was kept
at Citeaux, (c. 1.) It is ordained that the abbot of Citeaux shall visit all
the monasteries of the Order, as the superior of the abbots themselves, and
shall take proper measures with the abbot of each house for the reformation of
all abuses, (c. 4.) Upon this rule the grand Conseil at Paris decreed, in the
year 1761, that the abbot of Citeaux could not establish in the four first
abbeys of the Order, and their filiations or dependencies, the reformation
which he attempted, without the free consent of the four abbots of those
houses. St. Stephen orders other abbots to perform every year the visitation of
all the houses subject to them, (c. 8.) and appoints the four first abbots of
the Order, viz. of La Ferte, Pontigni, Clairvaux, and Morimond, to visit every
year, in person, the abbey of Citeaux, (c. 8,) and to take care of its
administration upon the death of an abbot, and assemble the abbots of the
filiations of Citeaux, and some others, to choose a new abbot, (c. 19.) If any
abbot busies himself too much in temporal affairs, or falls into any other
irregularity, he is to be accused, to confess his fault, and be punished in the
next general chapter, (c. 19.) If any abbot commits or allows any transgression
against the rule, he is to be reprimanded by the abbot of Citeaux, and if
obstinate, to be deposed by him, (c. 23,) and in like manner the abbot of
Citeaux by the four first abbots, (c. 27, 28, 29, 30.)
The Usages of Citeaux, Liber Usuum, were compiled about the same
time, and according to Bale, Pits, Possevin, and Seguin, by St. Stephen; though
Brito, Pritero, and Henriquez are of opinion they were completed by St.
Bernard. In it all the regular observances of Citeaux are committed to writing
in five parts, which comprise one hundred and eighty chapters. B. Alberic had
before published certain regulations for this Order in 1101, assisted
principally by St. Stephen, who was at that time prior under the abbot Alberic.
The Usages were approved by the holy see, at or about the same time with the
Charte of Charity, and were probably published in the same general chapter. At
least they are mentioned among the acts of the general chapters compiled by
Rainard, the fourth abbot of Citeaux, in 1134. These have always made the code
of this Order: the best edition is that in the Nomasticon Cisterciense,
published at Paris in 1664, by F. Julian Paris.
The Exordium Parvum, or Short History of the Origin of Citeaux, was
composed by St. Stephen’s order, by some of his first companions. This most
edifying golden book, as it is justly called by the annalist of the Order, is
inserted by F. Teissier, in the Bibliotheca Patrum Cisterciensium, which he
published in three volumes in folio, in 1660. We have in the same place the
Exordium Magnum Cisterciense, or larger history of the beginning of this Order,
compiled near one hundred years later, in the thirteenth century. [back]
Note 5. A description of this saint’s tomb, and of those of several dukes
of Burgundy, and other great and holy men interred in this church, is given in
Descript. Historique des principaux Monumens de l’Abbaye de Cisteaux, in
the Mémoires de l’Acad. des Inscript. t. 9, p. 193. [back]
Note 6. De Canoniz. l. 1, c. 13, n. 17, t. 1, p. 100. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume IV: April. The Lives
of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/4/172.html
ST. STEPHEN HARDING
St. Stephen Harding is
regarded as the founder of the Cistercian monasteries. He was born in Dorset,
England, and educated at Sherborne Abbey.
After studying in Paris
and Rome, he visited the monastery of Molesme. Impressed by its
holy abbot, Robert of Molesme, and the prior, Alberic (both of
which were later canonized), Stephen joined the community.
After a few years, the
three men, along with 20 other monks, established a more austere monastery
in Citeaux. Eventually Robert was called back to his position of abbot
at Molesme(1099), and Alberic, who became the new abbot of
Citeaux, died in 1110. Following Alberic's death, Stephen was elected
as abbot.
Stephen drew up the
famous "Charter of Charity," which became the basis for Cistercian
monasticism. However, very few men were joining the community and the monastery
was suffering from hunger and sickness. It seemed for awhile as if thier
new order was destined to die out. However, in1112 the man who was to be known
as St. Bernard of Clairvaux, joined the community along with 30
other companions, including almost his entire family. The very next year
Stephen founded his first colony at La Ferté.
Before his death in
1134, Stephen had established 13 monasteries. By the end of the 12th
century there were 500 in Europe.
SOURCE : http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=439
Church
of St. Stephen Harding (Apátistvánfalva)
Saint Stephen Harding
Confessor, the third
Abbot of Cîteaux, was born at Sherborne in Dorset, about the middle of
the eleventh century; died 28 March, 1134. He received his early education in
the monastery of Sherborne and afterwards studied in Paris and Rome. On
returning from the latter city he stopped at the monastery of Molesme and,
being much impressed by the holiness of St. Robert, the abbot, joined that
community. Here he practised
great austerities, became one of St. Robert’s chief supporters and was one of
the band of twenty-one monks who, by authority of Hugh, Archbishop of Lyons,
retired to Cïteaux to institute a reform in the new foundation there.
When St. Robert was
recalled to Molesme (1099), Stephen became prior of Cïteaux under Alberic, the
new abbot. On Alberic’s death (1110) Stephen, who was absent from the monastery
at the time, was elected abbot. The number of monks was now very reduced, as no
new members had come to fill the places of those who had died. Stephen,
however, insisted on retaining the strict observance originally instituted and,
having offended the Duke of Burgundy, Cïteaux’s great patron, by forbidding him
or his family to enter the cloister, was even forced to beg alms from door to
door. It seemed as if the foundation were doomed to die out when (1112) St.
Bernard with thirty companions joined the community. This proved the
beginning of extraordinary prosperity.
The next year Stephen
founded his first colony at La Ferté, and before is death he had established
thirteen monasteries in all. His powers as an organizer were exceptional, he
instituted the system of general chapters and regular visitations and, to
ensure uniformity in all his foundations, drew up the famous “Charter of
Charity” or collection of statutes for the government of all monasteries united
to Cïteaux, which was approved by Pope Callistus II in 1119. In 1133 Stephen,
being now old, infirm, and almost blind, resigned the post of abbot,
designating as his successor Robert de Monte, who was accordingly elected by
the monks. The saint’s
choice, however, proved unfortunate and the new abbot only held office for two
years.
Stephen was buried in the
tomb of Alberic, his predecessor, in the cloister of Cîteaux. In the Roman
calendar his feast is 17 April, but the Cistercians themselves keep it on 15
July, with an octave, regarding him as the true founder of the order. Besides
the “Carta Caritatis” he is commonly credited with the authorship of the
“Exordium Cisterciencis cenobii”, which however may not be his. Two of his sermons are preserved and also two letters
(Nos. 45 and 49) in the “Epp. S. Bernardi”.
Insisting on simplicity
in all aspects of monastic life, Stephen was largely responsible for the
severity of Cistercian architecture. Drawing on Jewish authorities, he prepared his own
edition of the Bible (1112; the manuscript is preserved at Dijon).
SOURCE : http://www.ss-thomas-stephen.org.uk/?page_id=118
St. Stephen Harding: Monk, Abbott, Founder of the Cistercian Order
The
three founders of the monastery at Citeaux: from left to right, Stephen
Harding, Saint Robert of Molesme, and Saint Alberic.
The saint of the day for April 17 is St. Stephen Harding (1060-1134), an
English-born monk and abbot, who was one of the founders of the Cistercian
Order in what is now France.
Stephen Harding, son of an English noble, was born at Sherborne in Dorsetshire,
England in 1060. He consecrated himself to the monastic life in the Abbey of
Sherbonne in Dorsetshire, where he received his early education. He later
studied in Paris and Rome, where he pursued a brilliant course in humanities,
philosophy and theology.
After studying in Paris and Rome, he visited the monastery of Molesmes.
Impressed by its leaders, Robert of Molesmes and Alberic (who were later
canonized), Stephen joined the community.
After a few years, the three men, along with another 20 monks, established a
more austere monastery in Citeaux. Eventually, Robert was recalled to Molesme
(1099), Alberic died (1110), and Stephen was elected abbot.
Stephen Harding is credited with writing the famous Carta Caritatis (Charter of
Charity - often referred to as the Charter of Love). It was a six page
constitution which laid out the relationship between the Cistercian houses and
their abbots, set out the obligations and duties inherent in these, and ensured
the accountability of all the abbots and houses to the underlying themes of
charity and living according to the rule of Benedict.
Since the monastery received very few novices, he began to have doubts that the
new institution was pleasing to God. He prayed for enlightenment and received a
response that encouraged him and his small community. From Bourgogne a noble
youth arrived with 30 companions, asking to be admitted to the abbey. This
noble was the future St. Bernard. In 1115 St. Stephen built the abbey of
Clairvaux, and installed St. Bernard as its Abbot. From it 800 abbeys were
born.
In 1133, Stephen resigned as the head of the order, due to age and disability,
and died the following year. He was canonized in 1623 by Pope Urban VIII.
SOURCE : https://catholicfire.blogspot.com/2015/04/st-stephen-harding-monk-abbott-founder.html
Romanesque
miniature with the three founders of the Citeaux order: Robert of Molesme,
Alberic of Citeaux and Stephen Harding, XIIIe sec.
St Stephen Harding
April 28, 2009 by Mark
Armitage
In the latter half of the eleventh century, when
Stephen was still a child, his parents presented him to Sherborne Abbey in
Dorset as an oblate. He received a monastic education, but, frustrated at the
restrictions inherent in monastic life, decided to leave the abbey and see the
world, traveling first to Scotland and then to Paris as a wandering scholar
(this, of course, was an age of wandering scholars).
Stephen’s dissatisfaction
with monasticism at Sherborne did nothing to weaken his Christian devotion,
and, nourished on the Psalms (which were for him the root and source of all his
spiritual life), he began – perhaps unusually for a wandering scholar – to
experience a desire not for a less restrictive kind of monasticism, but for a
Benedictine monastery where the Rule was observed with full strictness and
austerity.
He appeared to have discovered just such a monastery
when he happened upon a community living in the forest of Langres in Burgundy
under the abbot St Robert of Molesmes, where long hours of prayer and hard
manual labour underpinned a rigorous interpretation of St Benedict’s Rule.
The Bishop of Troyes, however, was hostile towards
this reformed kind of Benedictinism, and took it upon himself to burden the
community with property in the hope that this would have the effect of
mitigating the zeal and austerity of the monks.
His plan was so successful that, appalled at the
descent into mediocrity and indiscipline, St Robert decided to leave, being
followed by St Stephen and St Alberic (both of whom succeeded him briefly as
abbot).
The Bishop of Troyes ordered them to return, but,
increasingly disillusioned with lax spirit which the bishop had engendered
within the monastery, the fled the region and took refuge in Lyons under the
Archbishop Hugh, who happened to be the papal legate.
Thanks to Hugh’s support, Robert, Stephen and Alberic
were permitted to start a new, stricter religious order modeled on the original
spirit of the monastery from which they had come, and the new monastery of
Cîteaux opened in 1098 with Robert as abbot, Alberic as prior and Stephen as
subprior, though Robert was later ordered by Pope Urban II to return to
Molesmes for the purpose of extending the reform movement.
Alberic succeeded Robert
as Abbot of Cîteaux, and, after his death in 1109, was in turn succeeded by
Stephen. Stephen was
determined to move the new Cistercian order in the direction of a commitment to
radical poverty, and cut Cîteaux off from the usual sources of feudal income on
which monasteries normally depended.
Due to a chronic lack of
vocations, the new venture made little headway, and it was only Stephen’s
unshakeable trust in divine providence that kept Cîteaux going. However, almost
miraculously, in 1112 a group of thirty men, led by the future St Bernard of
Clairvaux, appeared out of the forests which surrounded Cîteaux and entered the
monastery as novices.
The Cistercian movement now exploded into life,
expanding to around ninety monasteries by the time of Stephen’s death in 1134.
In 1119 Stephen framed the new Cistercian
constitution, the “Charter of Charity”, which emphasized those principles of
the reformed monasticism – radical poverty, solitary silence, hard manual
labour, economic self-sufficiency, and a spirit of austere (even severe)
liturgical simplicity – which set the Cistercian charism apart from that of
less observant Benedictine houses.
Stephen’s dying words
were: “I am going to God as I had never done any good. If I have done some
good, it was through the help of the grace of God. But perhaps I have received this grace unworthily,
without turning it sufficiently to account”.
In fact, he had turned
the grace of God to very good account. Having co-founded a reform-movement within
Benedictinism, he went on to shape and preside over a monastic renaissance
which did much to transform the spiritual, intellectual and economic landscape
of mediaeval Europe.
Most images of Stephen
including some of those reproduced here, depict him as an abbot presenting his
church to the Virgin Mary. In this images he is invariable the figure at the
left of the painting or icon.
SOURCE : https://saintsandblesseds.wordpress.com/2009/04/28/st-stephen-harding/
Les
trois fondateurs de Citeaux: Saints Robert, Albéric, et Étienne Harding.
Cette
peinture commémore et décrit la fondation en 1111, montrant les trois saints vénérant la Vierge Marie.
I tre fondatori
dell'Abbazia di Cîteaux (Santo
Stefano Harding, San Roberto di Molesme e Sant'Alberico di Cîteaux)
Santo Stefano
Harding Abate
Meriot, Sherborne,
Inghilterra, 1060 ca. – Citeaux, Francia, 28 marzo 1134
La storia di Stefano
Harding rimanda alle origini dell'ordine monastico dei cistercensi, tra la fine
dell'XI e l'inizio del XII secolo. Questo monaco inglese originario di
Shelburne è infatti accanto a san Roberto di Molesme e ad Alberico quando nel
1098 fondano il nuovo monastero a Citeaux in Borgogna. Il principio ispiratore
di questa nuova comunità era la volontà di ristabilie l'obbedienza alla Regola
benedettina nella sua integrità. Di Citeaux Stefano Harding diverrà anche
abate. E sarà lui ad accogliere qui san Bernardo, la figura che col suo carisma
contribuirà alla grande fioritura del nuovo ordine monastico. Già sotto la
guida di Stefano Harding furono dodici le fondazioni nate da Citeaux. Morto nel
1134, è stato canonizzato nel 1623.
Etimologia: Stefano
= corona, incoronato, dal greco
Emblema: Bastone
pastorale
Martirologio
Romano: A Cîteaux in Burgundia, nell’odierna Francia, santo Stefano
Harding, abate: giunto da Molesme insieme ad altri monaci, resse questo celebre
cenobio, istituendovi i fratelli laici e accogliendo in esso il famoso Bernardo
con trenta suoi compagni; fondò dodici monasteri, che vincolò tra loro con la
Carta della Carità, affinché non esistesse tra i monaci discordia alcuna e
tutti vivessero sotto il medesimo dettame della carità, sotto la stessa regola
e secondo consuetudini simili.
La sua fama è stata in parte oscurata, dall’opera del grande riformatore cisterciense s. Bernardo di Chiaravalle (1090-1153); ma non bisogna dimenticare che fu s. Roberto di Molesme (1029-1111) con s. Stefano Harding (1060-1134) a fondare il celebre monastero di Citeaux, da cui prese il nome l’Ordine Cisterciense (da Cistercium, nome latino di Citeaux).
Fu lo stesso Stefano, terzo abate di Citeaux, ad accogliere nella comunità monastica s. Bernardo, che poi andrà a fondare nel 1135, l’abbazia di Chiaravalle, nei pressi di Milano.
Stefano sarebbe nato verso il 1060, dalla nobile famiglia degli Harding, a Meriot nei dintorni di Sherborne nella contea del Dorset (Inghilterra Meridionale).
Ebbe una gioventù alquanto avventurosa, ancora giovane entrò nell’abbazia benedettina di Sherborne, dove fece la professione religiosa, ma durante gli sconvolgimenti che fecero seguito alla conquista normanna, abbandonò la vita religiosa e partì per la Scozia; poi si spostò a Parigi per dedicarsi agli studi.
In seguito fece un pellegrinaggio a Roma, con lo scopo di ottenere il perdono della sua rinuncia; con lui era un giovane chierico e insieme recitavano strada facendo l’intero Salterio.
Sulla strada del ritorno, si fermarono nell’abbazia cluniacense di Molesme in Borgogna, da poco fondata (1075) dal monaco francese Roberto che ne era l’abate; la vita povera ed austera della comunità, attrasse Stefano Harding che volle rimanervi come monaco.
L’abbazia di Molesme prosperò, fondò filiali e divenne ricca e potente; ma a poco a poco lo spirito che ne aveva animato la riforma e la fondazione, prese a decadere fino a scomparire.
L’abate fondatore Roberto, con un piccolo gruppo di monaci fedeli, fra cui Stefano Harding, rimaneva fermo alla spiritualità dei primi tempi benedettini, mentre la maggioranza dei monaci era favorevole alle regole di Cluny, in quel tempo diffuse nella gran parte delle abbazie.
Alla fine, visto i contrasti che dividevano la comunità di Molesme, l’abate Roberto, ottenuta l’autorizzazione dell’arcivescovo di Lione, Ugo, nel 1098 lasciò l’abbazia con i monaci fedeli e si trasferì a Citeaux, a circa 20 km a sud di Digione, per fondare un nuovo monastero, su un terreno donato dal visconte Rinaldo di Bearne, con l’aiuto del duca Eudes di Borgogna, che divenne uno dei più generosi benefattori della nuova abbazia.
La partenza dell’abate fondatore da Molesme, sconvolse la comunità che ne fu screditata in tutta la regione; i monaci allora si rivolsero al papa per ottenerne il ritorno; il papa invitò Roberto a ritornare e lui non poté rifiutarsi; al suo posto a Citeaux, subentrò come abate il monaco Alberico.
Seguirono anni difficili, pur destando l’ammirazione per la loro vita austera, i monaci non aumentavano di numero, tanto da far temere per il futuro del nuovo Ordine religioso; dopo 10 anni di governo, l’abate Alberico morì nel 1109 e fu eletto suo successore il monaco cofondatore Stefano Harding.
Se Roberto di Molesme ne fu l’anima fondatrice, Alberico il continuatore degli anni più sofferti, Stefano Harding fu il grande riformatore e organizzatore del nuovo Ordine Cistercense; ne tracciò le linee guida della vita monastica, compose gli statuti dell’Ordine (Charta Caritatis, approvata nel 1119); col suo coraggio seppe superare le difficoltà in cui versava la comunità, anche per la morte di molti religiosi.
Si dedicò alla riforma dei libri liturgici e volle fissare un testo autentico della Bibbia, impresa considerevole che egli riuscì a portare a termine, nello stesso tempo Stefano intraprese la revisione del Graduale, dell’Antifonario e dell’Innario.
Fu lui per primo, ad avviare e consolidare, secondo l’idea di Roberto di Molesme, l’esperienza riformatrice di Citeaux, con la sua vita povera ed austera, in una rigorosa fedeltà alla Regola benedettina, di cui si adottava l’invito a sostenersi con il lavoro delle proprie mani.
Con lui, l’Ordine Cisterciense per tutto il XII secolo e parte del XIII, osservò una semplicità di vita che si rifletteva in tutti i campi, i monaci vestivano una veste bianca (per devozione alla Madonna) semplicità nei riti liturgici, nell’arredamento delle chiese; nei chiostri e negli edifici non vi erano pitture né sculture, né pavimenti o vetrate colorate, cioè nulla che potesse distrarre l’attenzione dei monaci; la chiesa non aveva campanile e nessuno era ammesso agli uffici divini, riservati solo ai monaci.
Gli edifici del monastero erano disposti in modo che tutto fosse subordinato alla vita dei monaci e nel punto più alto vi era sempre la chiesa; l’acqua era abbondante, proveniente da cisterne, serviva oltre che per gli usi domestici, anche per far funzionare le officine, la birreria, il mulino, i laboratori, ecc. non mancavano le fognature.
Durante il suo governo (1109-1134), Stefano Harding, accolse nel monastero nel 1112, s. Bernardo signore di Fontaine-les-Dijon, il quale si presentò con una trentina di compagni, parenti ed amici, per prendere l’abito cistercense.
Questa provvidenziale iniezione di linfa vitale, salvò il futuro del monastero, che nonostante tutti gli sforzi dei fondatori-abati, sembrava ormai destinato al fallimento per mancanza di discepoli.
Ben presto altri monaci si aggiunsero, tanto che a partire dal 1113, Stefano mandò un gruppo di religiosi a fondare l’abbazia di La Ferté, nella diocesi di Chalon-sur-Saône, seguirono nel 1114 e nel 1115 le fondazioni di Pontigny, Clairvaux con s. Bernardo come abate e Morimond, questi quattro monasteri o abbazie, furono dette “le quattro figlie di Citeaux”.
Con s. Stefano e s. Bernardo (che pur non essendone il capo, dominò l’Ordine con la sua forte personalità), i monasteri cistercensi raggiunsero una grande diffusione e prosperità in tutta Europa.
Ritornando all’abate Stefano, egli istituì un ordine gerarchico per unire i vari monasteri in un legame di carità e di unità, coordinato dall’abbazia madre, ecco perché redasse gli Statuti dell’Ordine, chiamandoli “Carta della Carità”, dove si stabilirono le regole di convivenza dei vari monasteri.
Ogni abbazia doveva restare unita giuridicamente all’abbazia-madre; l’abate fondatore doveva visitare ogni anno le sue abbazie-figlie, per vegliare sul rispetto delle regole; inoltre ogni anno nel mese di settembre, tutti gli abati dovevano riunirsi a Citeaux in un Capitolo Generale, per mantenere la disciplina e l’unità in tutte le abbazie.
Questa saggia costituzione fu approvata il 23 dicembre 1119 da papa Callisto II, confermando così la fondazione dell’Ordine Cisterciense. La Santa Sede propose questa costituzione come modello, a tutti gli Ordini religiosi, nel IV Concilio Lateranense del 1215.
E fu ancora l’abate Stefano Harding, che nel 1115 dette gli statuti e gli usi cistercensi ad un gruppo di monache di Jully-les-Nonnains, presso Digione, che da poco avevano fondato l’abbazia di Notre-Dame di Tart, sottomessa a Citeaux; era il primo monastero di monache cistercensi, che si moltiplicheranno in seguito.
Inoltre Stefano scrisse la prima storia del nuovo Ordine, partendo dagli inizi, intitolata “Exordium Cisterciensis Coenobii”, dove il programma della riforma era esposto nei suoi particolari, specie riguardo l’osservanza della regola di s. Benedetto da Norcia nella sua purezza originale; ad uso dei monaci, attese poi ad una revisione della ‘Vulgata’.
L’abate Stefano fu in rapporti stretti con i papi del tempo e da loro ricevé incarichi di sanare controversie sorte fra varie abbazie, ma anche benefici economici per tutto l’Ordine.
Dopo 24 anni di governo, l’abate Stefano, stanco ed ammalato, si dimise nel 1133 e morì il 28 marzo 1134; alla sua morte l’Ordine Cisterciense contava già più di settanta monasteri diffusi in tutta Europa.
Fu sepolto nella chiesa abbaziale di Citeaux, dove era deceduto, accanto al suo predecessore Alberico; ambedue le salme furono poi spostate in una tomba all’angolo del chiostro, tra la chiesa e il capitolo, quando fu costruita una chiesa più grande.
A partire dal 1491, il nome del terzo abate dell’Ordine Cisterciense, fu inserito nel “Compendio dei Santi dell’Ordine Cisterciense”; il cardinale Cesare Baronio, ne inserì il nome nel suo “Martirologio Romano” al 17 aprile, ma solo nel 1623 la sua festa religiosa, fu confermata dal Capitolo Generale al 17 aprile.
Poi la celebrazione di s. Stefano Harding ebbe altri spostamenti nel tempo, dal 17 aprile al 16 luglio, poi al 26 gennaio, festa dei santi Fondatori dell’Ordine: s. Roberto, beato Alberico e s. Stefano.
Infine la recente edizione del “Martirologio Romano”, riporta la sua celebrazione al 28 marzo, cioè nella ricorrenza del giorno della sua morte.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/?s=harding
Voir aussi : https://www.catholicireland.net/saintoftheday/st-stephen-harding-d-1134/
