Gerald of Salles

Gerald of Sales [Gerald of Salles, Gerard of Salles, Geraud of Salles, Gerald de Salles, Gérard de Salles, Géraud de Salles, Giraud de Salles, Gerald of Sales, Giraud de Sales, Gérald de Salis, Giraldus de Salis, Giraud de Salis.] (died 1120) was a French monastic reformer, from south-west France. Salles is near Bergerac, Dordogne [ [http://www.operabaroque.fr/Saints_G.htm Saints_G ] ] .

He has a feast day on April 20 [ [http://www.catholic.pf/saints_du_mois_de_avril.htm Saints du mois de avril ] ] .

Monastic reformer

He was a canon regular [ [http://canonsregular.org/osc/osc/heritage_files/Crosier%20Heritage%20vol%2004.pdf PDF] ] , from the diocese of Périgueux, and the monastery of Saint-Avit [Adrien Salvan, "Histoire générale de l'église de Toulouse" (1857), p. 148.] , as reported in a tradition going back to his "Vita" [http://www.guyenne.fr/ArchivesPerigord/BNF/Tome77/BnF_Tome77_Chartes.htm, at 123, as Gerald de Salles.] .

A follower of Robert of Arbrissel, also described as a disciple of Vital de Mortain [ [http://www.clio.fr/BIBLIOTHEQUE/le_monachisme_chretien_en_occident.asp Ivan Gobry, Le monachisme chrétien en Occident - Clio - Voyage Culturel ] ] ; along with the work of Bernard of Tiron, this movement set up Benedictine houses, or groups of hermits, mostly in the west of France, and was important in the later spread of the Cistercians, from their beginnings in Burgundy [http://monasticmatrix.org/MatrixTextLibrary/mm-s1950-bermanc-menshouses.html] [http://www.itrc-buc.ro/Al.%20Cizek.htm, in French, mentions also Guillaume Firmat and Vital de Savigny] .

Foundations

Among his attributed foundations, of which there are traditionally said to be nine [ [http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/2063/Bienheureux-Giraud-de-Sales.html Bienheureux Giraud de Sales ] ] [Robert L. Benson, Giles Constable, Carol Dana Lanham,"Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century" (1991), pp. 57-8.] , were:

* Absie Abbey (1120) [ [http://www.cc-parthenay.fr/parthenay/creparth/caliber-sainque/fil_histoire/34_abbaye_absie.htm L'abbaye Notre-Dame de l'Absie ] ]
* Andorel AbbeyConstance H. Berman, "Medieval Agriculture, the Southern French Countryside, and the Early Cistercians" (1986), p. 32.]
* Belleperche Abbey [Berman, p. 127.]
* Bournet Abbey (1113) [ [http://lionelcoutinot.club.fr/moyenage/abbayea.html Le Fil de l'Histoire ] ] []
* Cadouin Abbey (c.1115) [ [http://jeanlucmontant.free.fr/perigord4.htm perigord4 ] ] (1120) [ [http://tiron.blogg.org/ L'Ordre de Tiron ] ] []
* Châtelliers Abbey (1119) [ [http://www.ph-michaud.com/Chatelliers.htm Ceramiques, Dessins Et Objets D’Art ] ]
* Dalon Abbey (1114) [http://www.archives.cg19.fr/recherche/serie/id/90, http://www.archives.cg19.fr/recherche/serie/id/783, http://mayvth.club.fr/histoire5.html] []
* Fontdouce Abbey (1117) [ [http://www.culture.gouv.fr/saisie-jep.culture.fr:8080/jep-interro/unsite.jsp%3Fsit_cle=28355.html Journées du patrimoine ] ]
* Grandselve Abbey (1114) [In the "Vita" of the saint, but disputed (Berman, p. 128 says 1117, and more likely Robert).]
* Valmagne Abbey

The Abbaye du Pin à Béruges is also attributed, in a chronicle [ [http://www.poitou-charentes.culture.gouv.fr/pages/section1/chapitre_3/corephae/majeurs/m9.htm m9 ] ] . Feulliant Abbey may have been started by a group of monks from Dalon [ [http://www.abbayes.net/histoire/cisterciens/feuillant1.htm L'Histoire Cistercienne - L'Abbaye de Feuillant ] ] .

aint

He was canonized (or beatified) in 1249, and was reburied in a marble tomb [Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, "Histoire et mémoires de l'institut royal de France" (1846), p. 488.] , south of the altar at Châtelliers Abbey.

References

*Marie-Odile Lenglet, "L'implantation cistercienne dans la Marche Limousine, de Géraud de Sales à saint Bernard", MSSNAC, vol. 46 (1997), p. 258-268
*____, "La biographie du bienheureux Géraud de Sales", in Cîteaux. Commentani Cisterciences, 29, 1978, p. 7-40
*____, "Un pauvre du Christ, Géraud de Sales dit Saint Giraud", Cîteaux Commentarii Cistercienses, t. XXIX, 1978, pp. 5-40
*____, "Géraud de Salles, ses fondations monastiques, leur évolution vers l’ordre cistercien à la fin de XIIème siècle", Bulletin de la Société Historique et Archéologique du Périgord, t. CXIV, 1987, pp. 33-50.
*fr icon [http://www.ph-michaud.com/AbbayedesChatelliersGirauddeSalles.htm Biography of Giraud de Salles]

Notes