Gerald of Salles (c.1055 or 1070 – 1120) was a French monastic reformer from Salles, Lot-et-Garonne near Bergerac, Dordogne in the south-west of France. His feast day is on April 20.
Monastic reformer Gerald of Salles was ruler of Salles near Bergerac in Dordogne, France.Odden, Per Einar. "Den salige Gerald av Salles ( -1120)", Den katolske kirke According to a tradition going back to his Vita, he became a canon regular of St. Avitus, from the diocese of Périgueux, and the monastery of Saint-Avit,Salvan, Adrien. Histoire générale de l'église de Toulouse (1857), p. 148.
A friend of Robert of Arbrissel, and follower of Vitalis of Savigny; like Bernard of Thiron, Gerard 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.Berman, Constance H., Medieval Agriculture, the Southern French Countryside, and the Early Cistercians: A Study of Forty-three Monasteries, American Philosophical Society, 2007, , p. 32 Following a spirituality very close to that of the Cistercians, Gerald of Salles monasteries progressively joined them.
Foundations Most of Gerald's foundations were south of the Loire;Thompson, Kathleen. The Monks of Tiron: A Monastic Community and Religious Reform in the Twelfth Century, Cambridge University Press, 2014, , p. 157 all were founded under the Rule of St. Benedict. Among his attributed foundations, of which there are traditionally said to be nine,Benson, Robert L.;constable, Giles, and Lanham, Carol Dana. Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century (1991), pp. 57-8. were:
Absie Abbey (1120) Sainte-Marie d'Ardorel Belleperche AbbeyBerman, p. 127. Abbaye Notre-Dame de l'Assomption du Bournet (1113):fr:Abbaye Notre-Dame de l'Assomption du Bournet Cadouin Abbey (c.1115):de:Abtei Cadouin L’abbaye Notre-Dame des Châtelliers (1119) Dalon Abbey (1114):fr:Abbaye de Dalon Fontdouce Abbey (1117) 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. Feuillant Abbey may have been started by a group of monks from Dalon.
Loc-Dieu Abbey belonged to a series of monasteries reformed by Gerald of Salles."Loc-Dieu Abbey", Cister.net
Like Grandselve, the monastery of Sainte-Marie d'Ardorel near Albi, and its daughter house, Valmagne Abbey, were established as independent Benedictine houses before being absorbed into the Cistercian system.
Veneration He was 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.
Notes
References
Sources Marie-Odile Lenglet, L'implantation cistercienne dans la Marche Limousine, de Géraud de Sales à saint Bernard, MSSNAC, vol. 46 (1997), p. 258-268 Marie-Odile Lenglet, La biographie du bienheureux Géraud de Sales, in Cîteaux. Commentani Cisterciences, 29, 1978, p. 7-40 Marie-Odile Lenglet, Un pauvre du Christ, Géraud de Sales dit Saint Giraud, Cîteaux Commentarii Cistercienses, t. XXIX, 1978, pp. 5–40 Marie-Odile Lenglet, 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. Biography of Giraud de Salles