Saint Robert of La Chaise-Dieu

As soon as he was of an age suitable for studies, he was placed with the ecclesiastics of Sain t-Julie Brioude Place of pilgrimage for the Rogations. n of Brioude, where he learned piety along with knowledge. He first received the tonsure there and was subsequently named a canon of that church because of the fine qualities that were beginning to shine forth in him: for he was already seen to be very devoted to virtue, and his actions surpassed those of a child of his age. His entire youth was so innocent that one could not notice any notable offense. He often spent nights in prayer in the churches. His charity for the poor who were sick led him to wash their ulcers and their wounds with his own hands. Many were miraculously healed thereby. This tenderness for those who suffered increased with age; to lavish his charitable care upon them more easily, he built a hospital in Brioude, where he gathered them. Being a priest, he said Mass every day with great devotion. He worked with great zeal for the salvation of the faithful and the conversion of sinners, and yet he wished to be thought very imperfect and an entirely useless servant.

The fire of holy love kindling more and more in his heart, he resolved to withdraw to Cluny: this monastery was then in its first fervor, under the guidance of the holy abbot Hugh; but w saint abbé Hugues Master and mentor of Peter the Venerable. hen he thought to execute his design in the utmost secrecy, with only one associate, the rumor spread among the people; they were moved by it, and as if it were a question of the salvation of the country, they ran after him and brought him back to Brioude. He remained so confused and so seized by this, that he fell ill from grief. Being healed, and seeing his design stopped by an order of Providence, he wanted to try if he could not practice, in the world, the same exercises that he could have done in a monastery. But he saw too many difficulties: he therefore undertook the journey to Rome, in order to obtain, through the intercession of the holy Apostles, to live in some solitude away from the embarrassments of the century.

When he returned to his country, a sold ier named Étienne came t un soldat, nommé Étienne Roman governor of the province, fiancé of Valeria, converted after his crime. o consult him on what he should do to obtain the remission of his past faults and to perform penance for them. The holy priest advised him to renounce the world and its maxims entirely, to change his militia, and to enlist in that of Jesus Christ. The soldier replied that he would gladly do so, provided it were in his company; equally surprised and delighted by this answer, our Saint revealed his secret to this soldier, whom he regarded as an angel sent to him by God. They deliberated together on this design and on the means to execute it. Étienne, armed with faith and confidence, went to the city of Le Puy-en -Velay to fulfill his ville du Puy, en Velay Birthplace of the saint in France. vows at the church of Notre-Dame, so that she might obtain for them the blessing of her Son for the success of their enterprise. Upon returning, he discovered in the mountains a solitude where the remains of an abandoned church stood, which he judged very suitable for their retreat: it was five leagues from Brioude, towards the east, near the source of the Sénoire. As soon as Robert heard the description of this wilderness, it pleased him. At the same time, Étienne won over to God another soldier named Dalmase, whom Robert joyfully associated with their holy life.

After first testing his two companions for a few months, Robert withdrew with them into this solitude. There was no commerce with the world there, nor almost anything necessary for the maintenance of life. Moreover, the rusticity and barbarity of the neighboring inhabitants were extreme; and, instead of assisting our solitaries and providing them with necessary things, they burdened them with insults and threats. Nevertheless, not losing courage, they immediately set to work and built themselves, first near the church, a small cell with branches; then, they distributed their exercises among themselves, such that Étienne and Dalmase were to work with their hands to sustain the community; Robert applied himself to study and instructed the others; all rejoined for prayer in the church of which we have spoken. Their life was perfectly well-regulated; they gave a large part of their provisions to the poor who presented themselves, without reserving anything for the next day. God made it known that this was pleasing to Him: for one day when Robert had given a poor man all the bread that had remained from the day before, as Dalmase was complaining about it, one of the two lords who had ceded this wilderness to the three hermits (they were two brothers, canons of Le Puy), one of these lords, we say, sent them three horses loaded with provisions.

However, the reputation of these holy solitaries soon spread throughout the country; several people from the clergy and the laity joined them to dedicate their whole lives to the service of God; the inhabitants themselves shed their fierce temperament, touched by their holy exhortations, their exemplary lives, and the miraculous actions that the hand of God performed through Saint Robert. This holy man healed the sick and cast spirits out of the bodies of the possessed; out of modesty, he attributed these wonders to the merits of the holy martyrs Agricola and Vital, to whom the church was dedicated.

Finally, the number of hermits became so considerable that it was deemed useful to build a monastery, so that they might be better housed and live more in community. There was then a holy emulation among pious people to contribute to this work: some gave what was necessary for the construction, others consecrated considerable goods to the maintenance of the future religious. Thus was founded the Abbey of La Ch aise-Dieu (Casa Dei) in 1050; the B abbaye de la Chaise-Dieu (Casa Dei) Famous abbey in Auvergne founded by Robert. ishop of Clermont, Rencon, went himself, although already in the decline of his age, to find Pope Saint L eo IX, and obtaine pape saint Léon IX Pope who visited the saint's sepulchre in 1049. d the confirmation (with privileges) of the new monastery, while Robert had the donations we have spoken of ratifie d by the King of France, roi de France, Henri Ier Sovereign cited as having appointed Gervin to the abbacy (historically contested for England in 1045). Henry I. When they both returned, the bishop performed the dedication of the monastery, gave the religious habit to Robert, and established him, against his will, as abbot, just as he had decided with the Pope.

Robert had his religiou s observe the Rule of règle de saint Benoît Monastic rule adopted during the reform of Lambert. Saint Benedict, and they soon reached the number of three hundred. He did not confine his zeal within the limits of his monastery: he restored more than fifty churches in the region that had been ruined by wars.

After having worked for the sanctification of his brothers and his own, he died the death of the just, on April 24, around the year 1067.

Before going to bed, from where he was to fly to heaven as if from a footstool, he wished to celebrate mass one last time, having himself supported at the altar. At the moment he died, one of his religious saw the Mother of God come to console him, and another perceived his soul rising into the air in the form of a globe of fire.

What we have said about Saint Robert as a founder of abbeys and restorer of a great number of churches allows us to conjecture the various ways in which he has been represented. The circumstances of his blessed death and the few legendary facts that follow have also inspired artists.

Saint Robert preaching in Avignon, two though tless y Avignon City of which Saint Rufus was the first bishop and founder of the church. ouths seized his gloves and tossed them back and forth like a ball: now, it happened that during one of the throws, the said gloves caught on a sunbeam so high that the players could not retrieve them. — While at Allanche, in the mountains of Auvergne, he was preparing to celebrate Mass when the cook came to tell him that he had found nothing for dinner. Serve my Mass, the Saint replied, and God will provide for our needs. He had not yet reached the Preface when an eagle passing over the church dropped an enormous fish which served for the meal of the Saint and his retinue. Another time he told the cook to throw away some eels he was preparing to serve at the table; it was learned a few days later that the one who had sold them had been put to death for having poisoned the merchandise, etc.

See the Bollandists and the Annales of Baronius.