Saint Gilbert of Sempringham

In 1123, he was appointed to the cu re of Sempr Sempringham Birthplace of the saint and seat of his first parish. ingham and that of Tirington. These two parishes, of which his father was lord, had been united, and could consequently be served by the same priest. The Saint reserved for himself from the income of these two benefices only what was absolutely necessary for him to live; all the rest was distributed to the poor. He gave himself entirely to the instruction of his parishioners, and it was with extraordinary success. They lived indeed in their homes like religious in their cloisters, and it was enough to see them to know who their pastor was.

Seven virgins having consecrated themselves to God in a house near the parish church of Sempringham, Gilbert took particular care of them and gave them a rule which they observed exactly in their retreat; he also gave one to a community of men who asked to live under his guidance. He had drawn the first of these rules from that of Saint Benedict, and the se cond from th saint Benoît Author of the monastic rule adopted by Father Muard. at of the canons regular; but he added to both some new constitutions. Such was the origin of the Order of Gilbertines, which Pope Eugene III approved.

Our Saint himself entered this Order and took on its governance, from which he nevertheless resigned some time before his death. He nourished himself only on roots and vegetables; and even then, he ate so little that one could not conceive how he could survive. He always had at his table a dish that he called the dish of the Lord Jesus. He would place in it the best of what was served to him, then have it given to the poor. His love for mortifications was insatiable. He habitually wore a hair shirt, slept very little and only while seated, spending a great part of the night in prayer. It was in this holy exercise that his soul found those spiritual wings by means of which it rose to the throne of the divine Majesty.

God wished to test His servant by allowing men to persecute him. Saint Thomas of Canterbury having been Saint Thomas de Cantorbéry English martyr at whose tomb Lawrence was struck. exiled, Gilbert and the other superiors of his Order were accused of having sent him aid. The accusation was false; but the holy abbot preferred to be put in prison, and to run the risk of seeing his Order suppressed, rather than to justify himself, for fear of appearing to condemn an action that would have been just and good in itself.

Finally, after having completed a career as long as it was holy, he died on February 4, 1190. He was one hundred and six years old. The miracles that occurred at his tomb having been verified by Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, and by the commission ers whom Inn Innocent III Pope who commissioned Pierre de Castelnau against the Albigensians. ocent III appointed in 1201, he was canonized the following year by that Pope. The statutes of the Gilbertines and the exhortations to his brothers are attributed to this holy abbot.

At his death, Gilbert had seen his family reach the number of seven hundred members, distributed among thirteen houses of men and nine of wome n. The L'Ordre A double religious order founded by Saint Gilbert. Order counted twenty-one monasteries at the time of its suppression under Henr Henri VIII King of England during whose reign miracles at the tomb ceased. y VIII: there is still one house in Baltim Baltimore Location in the United States that received a relic fragment in 1863. ore, in West Cork, Ireland.

A church is placed in the hand of Saint Gilbert as a symbol of his foundation.

Godeseard.