WILLIAM

OF ST.-THIERRY

AND FRIENDSHIP

Introductory : Eastern soure es oj William's thought. St. Bernard's splendor hlinds us to the greatness of those who stood within his radiance, though he hirnself would not wish it so. One of the most lovable and enigmatic of these attending angels is William of St.-Thierry, who loved St. Bernard and the Cistercian ideal so stubbornly that against Bernard's advice he left his abbacy for a hidden life of contemplation at Signy, yet found it so bitter a trial, that only avision of the Mother of God gave hirn the peace to persevere. While St, Bernard's doctrioe derives from St. Augustine and the Greek Fathers, his friend and disciple is even closer to the Eastern tradition (I). The sources of William's doctrine have been the object of recent study, and so too his effort to reconcile the spirit of eastern Christianity with the letter of western terminology (Z). Although he never names thern, his masters are the neoplatonic Clement of Alexandria, Origen and especially Gregory of Nyssa, whose theories he makes his own, sornetimes following the interpretation of J oannes Scotus Erigena. His silen ce in regard to these writers indicates that he was consciously going against certain strong tendencies of his own time, which passages in the Golden Epistle show to be the opposition of conservative monastic forces
(I) Cf. J. M. DECHANET. Aux Sources de la spif"itualite de Guillaume de St.Thierry, Bruges 1940, 1421: the differences between Bernard and William in regard to the image-likeness. to the nature of love and its degrees, to union with God by knowledge and love. Dechanet considers that Rousselot's distinction between physical and ecstatic love is not a true opposition of irreconcilables, but that the two concepts represent the theoretic and abstract as opposed to the historie and concrete. The ecstatie seeks to escape from the deformity of sin, not from self, and in so doing becomes physical and natural , (2) Dii:CHANET, p. 73; cf. also id ., Guillaume de Saint-Thierrv, Vhomme et son reuvre, Bruges 1942, appendix II. 200209. William's favorite method of using patristic sources is synthetic. a recapitulation that seeks to present not the opinion or doctrine of one authority. but that of the whole Church. He also uses the methods oi fiorilegiwm. and quotation. Cf. DECHANET, op. cis., 159-161.

Stare in den geeste Ende vele begripende in therte (Beatrijs van Nazareth].

A. FISKE

W. OF ST.-THIERRY AND FRIENDSHIP

to the innovations s of the Carthusian and Cistercian reforms, in fact to the whole return to the primitive ideals of ancient eastern monasticism. In this as in the related conflict between mediaeval augustinianism and the rediscovered elements of eastern thought, his work was a plea for understanding, hence of great importance at a moment that has been called a nerve center in the history of Christian thought, a moment in which the eastern and western traditions could have been reconciled, and were not. Few accepted the novelties - in a spirit of moderation; it would seem that in general the Cistercians were the most sympathetic. William also had direct access to neoplatonic thought, especially in Plotinus. He gives evidence of having read his chief works and grasped his most basic and difficult thought. (4) From this dependence on Christian and pagan neoplatonism, William's concept of friendship may be expected to differ from that of the western augustinianism in general.

e)

a. William' s Theology of Love What William of St.-Thierry thought of friendship is not easy to ascertain. Little of his correspondence has survived, save what can be surmised from the answers St. Bernard wrote to four letters. And of these only one is about friendship. He wrote no treatise on the subject, and of his works, only three are, properly speaking, personal. C') The subject that preoccupied hirn, however, is closely related to friendship: a mystical theology of love. The distinctive character of his doctrine lies in his concept of love-knowledge, the sense of love , which
(3) DECHANET, ux SOUl"ees, 28-79_ iElred is not named with Isaac of Stella and A others who followed William of St.-Thierry in their devotion to the Greek fathers, but Cisterclans were usually favorable to them, It was Eugene IU, a monk of Clairvaux, who as Pope comrnissioned Burgundio to make his translations of the Greek fathers; mss, of Erigena existed at Clairvaux. (4) Certaln of William's cent ra I ideas may come from Plotinus: Innate or natural love , love-knowledge. the lands of likeness and unlikeness, the ascent and fall of the soul, knowledge of self as knowledge of God, the shock of meeting God. the center of unity, Cf. DECHANET. Guillaume et Plotin , Revue du Moyen Age Latin 2, 1946. 241-258. Also Guillaume de St.-Thierry, Meditations et prieres, tr. and introd. by J. M. DECHANET.Brussels 1945, 2o, 28-29; 36, n. I, on William's use of vision analogically for contact with the object; p. 49, D_ 1 and 2, on sources of amor-intetlectus , p. 52, n. 1, on th e source of apophatlc theology; p. 98, on Willlam's study of Origen in Rufinus' translation of the Comrnentary on ih.e Epistle to the Romans. (5) Guillaume de Saint-Thierry. (Euore choisies, introd .. tr. and notes by J. M_ DECHANEI, Paris 1944. 47. His letters have been mentioned in relation to St. Bernard. G. de St.-Thierry. Med. et prieres, p. 19: the three personal treatises are : De cont emplawdo Deo, Meditatioa orationes Comment.arium in Cantica ~n~~um. '

is also found in other writers, but here is erected into a system. (E) William does not confuse intellection and love, nor does he deny that this love-intellection is a true knowledge. The grasp of Divine being that he refuses to the intelligence, he grants to love. Love is the sense of the soul, the eye that sees God, not with a conceptual, notional knowledge, but areal and savorous intellection. It is the kind of knowledge one has of a friend, apossession, union, that is direct and incommunicable; a knowledge of the heart that is too complex, too deep to be forrnulated in concepts or word, but that is none the less true. Its source is the connaturality, the assimilation that love creates. The essence of knowledge is similitude, conformation of the mind to its object. The cognitive process has three psychologically distinct phases: the capacity to know - an ontological resemblance with the object; vision - the meeting of knower and known; assimilation - the conformity of the knower to the object known. Therefore vision both follows and produces and is the same as the resemblance. The whole tendency of William's thought is thus to subordinate knowledge to the Image of God, to conceive that Image as love. (1) For the Image is the living imprint of the Trinity in man and implies a capacity to be assimilated to the divine, to return to its source, an affinity to God, the Form-giving form. This likeness is triple: the indestructible image that is of nature; the image of virtue, that reflects the perfection and eternity of God; and the highest point ofresemblance, unity of spirit, that makes man one with God. This is the supreme degree of love, when the soul can will only wh at God wills, the time of divine epiphanies that reveal, in passing, the face of God. This union is the work of the Holy Spirit, who is both giver and gift. For William the love of a spiritual man is in some way merged with the substantial charity of God. Human love is informed, assumed, absorbed by uncreated love. (~)
(6) William's thought develops from his early tentative werk, De contemplando Deo, De natura et dignitate amoris, to precision in his Meditationes, and to a full theology in the Speculum fidei, the commentary on the Canticle, and above aIl in the Golden Epistle. Cf. DECHANET.op . eit., 70-71; also Et. GILSON, La theologi mystique de saint Bernard, 226-228: La char ite comme connaissance , See also bibliography on.Wrll iam in DECHANET, Aux sources, (7) Med_ et Prieres , mtrod., p. 70 (Dechanet). Dechanet holds against Rous selot that there is fusion not confusion of intellection and love; against Gilson, that love-intellection is a true knowledge. He believes that because Gilson limits knowledge to the purely conceptual, h e fails to understand William. Op. cit, 68, n, I; GILSON.op . eit., 228. Cf. also DECHANET, p . eit., 38. 49.65-66; GILSON, o op . eit., 226. 230. L MALEVEZ, La Doctrine de l'Image et de la Connaissance mystique chez Guillaume de Saint-Thlerry, Recherehes de science religieuee 22, 1932,189-190. (8) DECHANET, introd. to sua, et Prieres, 40, 41, 53; GILSON,228-229, 230-231.

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b. Two Jriendships

A. FISKE

W. OF ST.-THIERRY AND FRIENDSHIP

For William the monastery was the school of charity where love was to be learned, and the divine image restored. Life with men whose bodies and souls reflected charity would purify the love already existing in the he art and consolidate it. The sociallife ) reflects the life of the blessed in heaven. He does not speak explicitly of friendship, yet it is to some extent implied in the monastic ideal. For love - of man as weIl as of God must be reciprocal, never unilateral. It is a reciprocity of affection and sympathy, arepose in those loved that is an exchange and participation, a community of life and even of being. It is never static, hut tends to grow fore ver. (9) , It must be confessed that when one reads the works of William as a whole, one gets the impression that, for hirn, human friendship was a very faint reflection of Divine Love. A Plotinian detachment seems to dominate his thought. Yet there are several passages that serve to correct this impression. And there is the evidence of his life, strangely at variance with much that he seems to say. For his friendship with Saint Bernard is one of the .great friendships of history, and Abelard, too, had once been his intimate friend. William studied at Laon under Anselm, where he learned to know lohn Scottus Erigena and Gregory of Nyssa. It was probably here that he made that ephemeral friendship with Abelard that was to change into open hostility. He may have been Abelard's disciple, and his este em seems to have grown into true affection because of Abelard's chastity and virtue. It is only by such a friendship, lived together on the school benches of Laon, at the moment when a complete system of theology was forming in the minds of these two men, that their community of thought can be explained. F or in spite of their opposition, there are certain points in their doctrine and methods that show singular affinity. William hirnself said of Abelard: I have loved hirn and God is my witness that ... I would wish to love hirn; but in this cause 00 one will ever be neighbor or friend to me. There seems to be no evidence of the cause of the break between the two. In 1113 William left Laon and with his brother entered the abbey of Saint Nicaise, Reims, for motives unknown. Perhaps, like Abelard, he had been disillusioned with Anselm. It was many years later, after William had left his abbacy of Saint-Thierry and, against Saint Bernard's advice, become a Cistercian at Signy (1135), that he wrote his treatise against Abelard's teaching and roused Saint Bernard to the conflict that led to the condemnation at Sens, 1140.
(9) DECHANET, p. cit., 217-220; GILSON,48-49. o

Characteristic of William in this unfortunate friendship, is the motive that won hirn to Abelard and, presumably, later separated them: love for virtue, for the beauty of purity. (10) This was also the basis of his friendship with Saint Bernard. His letters to Bernard are unfortunately not extant. From his friend's answer we know that he wrote once, around 1120, to complain that e loving more, he was loved less. Saint Bernard's answer, a little treatise on spiritual friendship, reveals a elose intimacy between the two. Around 1124, William asked Bernard's advice on his vocation to the Cistercian life. Later he asked his friend to justify his position in the Cluniac conflict, which Bernard did by his apology. (11) William was some years older than Bernard, whom he met in 1118 (or 1119) when visiting Clairvaux with another abbot. Bernard was ill, living in a little hut outside the monastery; to enter it, seemed to William like going to the altar of God. For, from the beginning, Bernard was to hirn the man of Cod, a man se nt from heaven, charged with restoring the primitive glory of sanctity to the Christi an world. Therefore William always sought to efface hirnself before his friend's brilliance , to lose hirnself in his glory. Among a11those dear to Bernard, William was the most tender and most devoted of friends, and, in return, the one on whom Bernard relied, whom he consulted, his alter ego. They called each other untranslatably, siius ille quod suus . William made many visits to Clairvaux. Once when Bernard heard he was i11, he sent for hirn to come to die, or get wen quickly at Clairvaux. He too was siek, and in their infirmary room from their beds they talked all day about spiritual medicine for the soul and Bernard explained the Canticle, much of which, William said later, he did not understand at the time. Bernard took tender and loving care of his friend, and would not let hirn fast, nor hasten his return horne. As William said, he was a man whose spirit was sweet above honey. ('2) The nature of their relations was determined by their temperaments. William had a great need to love and to feel that he was loved. He also saw that God alone is to be loved. He found in Bernard aperfect
(10) This, of course , refers only to the early life of Abelard. DECHANET, G. de St.-Thierry, 1015, 65-76. Dechanet p res en ts the friendship with Abelard as a possibility, not a certainty. Cf. William, (PL 180, 193-194): Dilexi ego eum et diligere vellem Deus testis est; sed in causa hac nemo umquam mihi proximus er it vel amicus , Anselm of Laon was a disciple of the great St. Anselm of Bec. (11) Ep, 85, 86 of St. Bernard. Bernard's Apology: PL 182, 3\15 ff. - CfDECHANET, p . cit ., 2432. o (12) Willtarn of St.-Thierry, Vita saneti Bernardi , I, 7 (PL 185,246 D); I, 12, 59 (259 a-c) ; 60 (259 c - 260 b); 9, 46 (253 d): cuius spiritus super mel dulcis , DECHANET, ntrod. to Med. ei Prieres, 22; G. de St.-Thierry, 34. i

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A. FISKE

w.

OF ST.-THIERRY AND FRIENDSHIP

11

friend, ideal beeause holy and a man of God. His whole happiness eame to be bound up in Bernard, - to live with the boly abbot, to hear his teaebing, to eontem plate his exam ple and to imitate it. Altbougb the elder, and tbe more learned, he learned prayer from Bernard, and was like a little ehild to hirn, bis spiritual son. The usual interpretation of Bernard's letter 85 is that William was aeting somewhat ehildishly: his extreme sensitivity, whieh speaks in every line oE his Meditations, made his affeetion verge on the sentimental, though years and the trial of fire were to purify and strengthen it. Perhaps one may question this, for Bernard, with a11 his sweetness was not - save with Peter the Venerable, and not always even with him the most thoughtful of friends, He was too busy and had so many friends. H, however, the usual interpretation given above be true, it may explain the emphasis William puts on loving God alone, in his later writings. There is pain in loving God, and darkness, but it is as sure as faith and hope, that He loves us and it was surety that William was asking from Bernard. In any ease he eame 10 put less value on extern al signs of a friendship that drew its very existenee from the highest spheres of the spirit, and from God Hirnself His very voeation to the Cistereian life is the history of this friendship. Perhaps tbe most remarkable aspect of their relations is that the bumble monk and disciple of the dominating Bernard always kept a perfect independence of thought; his system is his own, not Bernard's, as we have seen. (1:3) In tbe third Meditation is revealed what William seeks from the love of God. He desires to see the face of God, God as He is, really. It is love alone, the sense of the soul, that ean look on this desired Face. For love transforms the soul in the depths of its being, into what it loves. This is its highest function, to feel or know God, to feel- what Christ, the Son, feels toward His Father. Give me a heart burning with you, Jesus. he cries, and then begs to be forgiven: pardon me, the love of your love compels me to be bold. man, do not hope for the impossible, but never be satisfied, be a man of desires. All that he sees and learns of faith is an enigma, but how sweet is the presence of God, what a void when He withdraws,-only those know who have experienced it. The senses, imagination, reason, can give nothing; but an understanding, that is like fragrance, comes down from above, not to divide the Trinity or demonstrate its unity, but to touch the hearts of those who believe, who pray. In contemplation the spirit on fire with love- is caressed by something intermediary;-it is not what God is not, nor yet

absolutely what God is, yet it is not foreign to what He really is, It is the Spirit that suddenly enveJops a humble and quiet soul, changing hirn into another man, entirely and suddenly penetrating hirn with the sweetness of God, the joy of the Holy Spirit, the light of Truth that is eternallife. (14) Love for William is, then, essentially experienced; whatever images he uses express the same reaJity, the same need of direet eontact, vision. That was what he sought, too, from Bernard, from whom he desired never to be separated; I would have dtlfired nothing so much as that I might stay with hirn there always to serve hirn. (I") The twelfth meditation is of his desire to love God. His sins stand against hirn, but he will not try to judge them, their number and gravity. He turns to God, - effaee what separates us, turn not Your Face from me, may Your love defend me before Your Iustice. But it is of his own love that he is speaking. For he asks hirnself: do I really possess this love? I am absolutely certain that I love your love, - for I am affected when I he ar of it, remember it. But when I hear of you, I am not so affected. Therefore I fear to fail in love of you. He, then, praying for the e food and drink of understanding , even if bitter, seeks to know if he possesses the love of God. Again he repeats that he knows he loves God's love, but has no emotion about God hirnself. This is because he feels, sees, tastes the lo ve, but not God, who is hidden. This is the law of love: God's benefits and His love spur William to seek God Hirnself, yet he does not find hirn, and finds hirnself returning to his gifts. He has only affeetion, not the enlightened affection whieh is Wisdom. How ean he grasp God as He really is? It needs a will that is vehement, according to nature; enlightened, aecording to graee; and affeeted, aceording to the measure and form, not of man, but of God. Yet God is form without form, wholly transcendent, beyond the grasp of our mind. Only the heart ean lay hold of what corresponds to the reality. Y et , William eomplains, my will goes out to you vehemently; I eouldn't want you more, - rather than not want you, I'd prefer not to exist. But my will is rarely illumined, and then feebly; still more rarely is it affeeted. There is no joy for me while my love is so poor and miserable. Love is nothing but the natural capacity, the reeeptacle in the heart for God. When 1 see, I shall love hirn whom I see in perfeet joy; now a11 I have is feeling , and love in proportion to that feeling. He turns then to men: I am fasting, but 1 see your sons rejoicing
(I.) William of St.-Thierry, M eitatioce Orationes, Meditatio 3 (PL 180,21 1-214). (15) Vita Bern.ar di , I, 7, 33 (PL 185,246 d): . nil tarn optassem qunm ibi cum eo sem per manere ad serviendum ei ,

(13) DECHANET,

G. de St.-Thierry,

3538, 41; introd.

sua.

et Priires,

7.

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13

at the table of your love. I love your love ardently in them; I embrace them themselves, with the deepest sweetness of my he art, for they love you. They too rejoice in my love, my joy in them - which is their own, given to me! They want to express their happiness, but cannot. They can feel what they experience in loving you, a sweet perception of divine or spiritual joy; but they cannot communicate it. It cannot be analysed by reason, conceived in thought, expressed in word, for it is a divine pledge (arrha) of the Spirit, a foretaste of heaven. These holy souls are conformed to the image of the Trinity, whose happiness they share, by the three distinct affections - the illuminated and affected will and habitual joy - in one beatitude. To enjoy is to possess, to know, to love. They are straight on the way to Heaven itself, never leaving the order of charity. Here they are, those who love you. When I realize I am not one of them, life is wearisome to me. They do n~t try to give a form to your love, nor conform it to themselves. Your love finds in them simple matter , and forms them and conforms them to itself, not only morally but even physically. The light that fills them shines out on their faces. By a kind of natural affinity, the charm and straightness that illumines their very expression and manner is a call to love. At the sight of them even untrained and rough natures feel touched by the love of God. Nature thus in these simple hearts has returned to its origin. The Holy Spirit teaches them; their bodies are clothed in more than human beauty, each according to his particular grace. The resurrection to glory is already possessing their flesh, and these gentle ones possess that earth, their heart and flesh exulting in You. When I consider these men, I feel myself wholly captivated by the love of your love, that works such marvels in them. And, by a phenomenon familiar to those who love, I myself experience that love in them. I love them because they love you; I love them with a great love, like their own love for you; I love them, yet I love only you in them, for in their love, their affection for me, it is you I cherish. I love their affection for me, only because it is all full of you, hence it is You that in them I love. I find you then in my love; grant I may always find you. Love exists only in loving. I desire you in my will vehemently always, but when will 1 be always affected by you? always perceive your presence? Is love one thing and its effect another? 1 see. To love is from nature, to love you is from grace, but to be affected is a manifestation and epiphany of that grace. In the flesh, this cannot be constant. So your love, 0 God, is always in the soul of your poor man, but.hidden, like fire under the ashes, until the Spirit is pleased to manifest it, when, and in the measure He wills. Come, then, holy Love, be enkindled, holy

Fire, - show yourself, manifest your presence, or hide yourself, until God completes that which He has begun in us. To find God's love in himself, then, William had to turn to his friends, to those in whom he could see that love shining through their very bodies. Because he loved them, and they loved him, they were made one in the experience of God's love. And it was God whose beauty he loved in each, yet in each that beauty was unique, each according to his own grace being a singular revelation of God. Although William speaks of his friends in the plural, one feels that it is perhaps of Bernard he is thinking. For in very similar terms he speaks of the manifestation of the invisible life of Jesus living within Bernard, that so captivated his heart: seeing in all his ways shine forth the purity of his interior holiness and invisible conscience. (16) c. William's Terminology

0/ Love

and His Hierarchy

01 Love

As the terms he uses have a very definite meaning in his system of thought, it is necessary to give some idea of them. Will is the natural foundation for love, the tendency or natural appetite for God. Love is will, moving in the right direction, an active love or desire. Dilection is love drawn by grace, that becomes charity when it possesses and enjoys its object. Charity is therefore unity of spirit with God; it is God Himself; it is the perfection of union in which it is impossible to will anything but God, a passive state, the work of the Holy Spirit. Love is affective when it is desire, coming from man himseH; it is affected s when informed by divine charity. This last alone 'is true love. To affect someone or something, is to make an impression by the communication of self, of one's own being or way of being and acting. It is used especially of God and the Holy Spirit, who affect but are never affected. To be affected expresses the deepest and most intimate affects of grace in the soul; participation, union, transformation. Love is affected when seized, invaded by divine love; intelligence is affected when illuminated by God. William further distinguishes being affected from having affection. The former is from grace, by a general power and abiding virtue possessing the mind in firmness and stability; the latter is changeable, the varying effects of varying circumstances and times. He contrasts affect and effect. God's love conforms both to itself, The affect is as the center of truth, and to it responds the circumference of exterior acts, the effect. If the affect is, as it should be, directed to God, the acts will
(16) Medltatio 12 (PL 180, 242-24R). Vita Bernardi, exteriora .. , experimenta, de puritate interioris conscienttse, per opera exterioris hominis ... micantia .

PrCEf. (PL 185, 226 c): sanctitatis et invisibilis

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15

be in order. There can, moreover, be a center without a circle, but not a circle without a center. Hence if acts are impossible, or not required, the affect is sufficient. In other pass ag es affect has less value: Love first has effort, and some affect; charity has the effect. Love is incomplete, charity is perfect, for God has loved us not in affect but in effect. Our love for God is God loving Hirnself in us; our part is the affect, His the effect. He is loved by many only by affect, who are very far from any effect of good works. Here the word is used without its usual meaning of a communication of being; it seems to mean an affection that is nothing more. (17) William speaks several times of kinds or degrees of love. The basic distinction is between love and charity as preliminary and final stages. Love passes over into charity; it is the human love that is far different from the divine; love is in faith and hope, charity possesses already what is believed and hoped; love is des ire that merits vision; charity is fruition that comes at the end of a chain of merit: love meriting vision, vision fruition, fruition the perfection of love. Love again is called the affection of one loving, tending, seeking ; charity aspiritual affection or joy of fruition. In this text dilection is called the natural appetite for wh at is lovable, which elsewhere is called will. All three love, dilection, charity, are the work of the Spirit. (18)
(17) William of St.-Thierry, Epistola ad Fratres Montis Dei, 10 (PL 184, 345a348 ab). DEcHANET.introd. to Med. et Prieres, 55, n. 2; 221, n. I ; 214, n. I ; 217, n.4. Willtarn of St.-Thierry, Med. Orat., 12, (PL 180,246 ab). De nat; et dig. amoris, 6,14 (PL 184, 389a): Aliud quippe est affectus, aliud affectio. Affectus est qui general! quadam potentia et perpetua quadam virtute firma et stabili mentem possidet, quam per grattarn obtinuit. Affectiones vero sunt quas varias varius rerum et temporum affert eventus , Med, I~ (PL 180. 247 b): . sed ipse amor tuus ... format eos, et conformat stbi et affectu et effectu ... , - Med. 11 (241 b) : Considerentur affectus et actus. Affectus figatur in centro verrtatts, et convenienter sibi respondebit exterioris actus orbiculata rotunditas. Totus quippe affectus debet ur Deo .... Et potest esse punctum sine circulo; circulus autem nullatenus bene duci potest sine puncto. Sufficit enim affectus, si res non exigit, vel possibilitas deest. ut exerceatur actus . - De nat . et dig. am. 5. 13 (PL 184, 388d): Amor ergo prius habuit conatum, et aliquem affectum; charitas effecturn . - ./Enigma fidei (PL 180. 440b): Prior enim Deus dilexit nos. non affectu, sed effectu charitatis, ... - De contempl, Deo, 8, 18 (PL 184, 377 bc): .. et affectu amoris, et effectu operis ... (18) De nat . ei dig. am. 4, 9 (PL 184, 386a): Cum amor in charitatem transierit, cum anima perfectam suam adepta fuerit puritatem; tunc vobis dieam vel indicam longe allud q uid et divinum. Nunc interim accipite istud human um : ... - Ibid, 6, 15 (390 b): Adhuc in laude charitatis, amor in fide est et spe ; charitas. in se ipsa. est, et per se ipsam ... charitas creditum et speratum jam habet, jam tenet, jam eomplectitur . - De contempl . deo , 3.7 (PL 184, 370c: Est amor desiderii, et est amor fruitionis. Amor desiderii meretur aliquando visionem. visio fruitionem, fruitio amoris perfectionem . - Expos. in Cant. (PL 180. 475 b}: in amoris nomine tener quidam amantis indicari videtur affectus,

William describes the ascent of love as the four ages of life, boyhood is will, youth is love, manhood is charity, old age is wisdom. The will is the tendency to God, or at least to the good which reftects in man's nature the image of God, the Holy Spirit. God thus gives the beginning or capacity for love. His grace, prevenient and coperating, draws the will, which is of itself undetermined to good and evil, to will vehemently what God wills, and thus it is transformed into love. Love is ascent through the love of human beings to the love of God. Love, then, illuminated, is transformed into charity, and charity becomes wisdom. William distinguishes desire from love by apossession that is wholly spiritual; desire is for what is absent; love, is for what is present, but present in the mind, of the lover. (19) Will is of nature , and its nature is to tend upward like fire. Another ladder , in the Golden Letter, describes will as tending upward, associated therefore with truth and becoming love. When it advances further, and is nourished by grace, it is dilection. When it apprehends, holds, enjoys, it is charity, unity of spirit, God Hirnself. William's anguish at not being able to realize his love, leads him to further distinctions. Is love one thing , he asks, andits experience, another? As it seems to me, love is of nature; to love God is of grace; to experience this is a manifestation, an epiphany of grace. The ascending scale of this natural love is first the love of the ftesh, of one's relatives; then sociallove, love of friends, then love of all men, love of enemies, and lastly love of God. These loves are all informed
tendentis vel ambientis; in nomine vero charitatis spiritualis quadern affectio, vel gaudium fruentis; in dilectione autem rei delectantis appetitus naturalis; qute tarnen omnia ... unus atque idem Spiritus operatur , (19) De nat: et dig. am., 2. 34 (PL 184, 382a383b): Acturi igitur de amore, ... primum quasi a primordiis ipsius narrationis seriem inchoantes, quasi per succedentes sib! ::etates profectuum ejus processum or di amur, usgue ad senectam uberem, qure non est p1ena senilis dolor is, sed plena misericordite uberis. Sicut enim secundum ::etaturn incrementum vel decrementum pu er mutatur in juvenern , juvenis in virurn , vir in senem; secundum gnalitatum mutationes, etiam eetatum nomina mutantes: sie secundum virtutum profectum voluntas crescit in amorern, amor in charitatern, charitas in sapientiam .... (creation in the image is described; the will is like the Spirit) ... - Ecce qulbus orta natalibus voluntas, ... Qu::e eum, prseveniente et cooperante gratia. Spiritui ipsi sancto, qui Patris et Filii amor est et voluutas, bono sui assensu incipit inh::erere; et vehementer incipit velle quod Deus vult, ... et vehementer volendo amor efficitur. Nihil enim aliud est amor quam vehemens in bono voluntas. Per se enim voluntas simplex est affectus, ... ut sit capax tarn boni quam mal!: bono reolendus. cum adjuvatur a gratia; malo , cum sib! dismissus deficit in semetipso .... - Primo itague profectu suo voluntas, .. libera constituta, si secundum dignitatem naturalium suorum erigitur in arnorern , secundum naturalem virtutum suarum ordinem de amore, ut dictum est, in charitatern, de charitate proficit in sapientiam , - Expos . in Cant. I (FL 180, 499c): Vehemens autern voluntas. vel quasi ad absentem, desiderium est; vel affecta circa przesentem amor est, cum amanti id quod amat in intellectu prsesto est ,

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by charity that unites them to God. Unless the Holy Spirit lives in them, they do not live, they are not really love. But if He does, they are then assumed into divine love. (20) William compares these five kinds of love to the five senses for they are ways of knowing. Love of kin is like the sense of touch, for it is wholly of the body, and also indispensable. As the body cannot exist without tactile sensation, so neither can the soul without this affection. It is perhaps of a kind of monastic friendship that he speaks next: a social love, fraternal love, love of the holy and Catholic Church. This love is like the senses of taste, for the unity of common life is good and sweet: - Behold how good and pleasant for brethren to dweIl in unity. For as the taste maintains life in the body, so does this human bond maintain life in the soul. And as the taste, though a bodily sense, affects the soul, so social love, which seems in large part animal since it too affects the soul yet also is in large part spiritual, for fraternallove pours out its fragrance in the affections, as it is written in the psalm: Iike ointment on the head ~ (Ps. 132, 23). Natural love which without any self-interest loves all men because of their likeness and common destiny, so that no human being is foreign to us, is like the sense of smell. This sense is more of the soul than of the body; so too this love is more of the spirit than of the soul. Spiritual Iove s is love of enemies, and ' compared to the sense of hearing. For no natural power of soul, no necessity, but only obedience calls forth this sentiment. Therefore it is spiritual, and gives the spirit likeness to the Son of God and the dignity of the sons of God. Divine love is the fifth sense, sight, the chief of all the senses, as this love is prince of all affections. All others are named by it - touch and see , taste and see. Like sight it is pure, powerful, divine; in an instant passing through all the narrowness of creatures to the similitude
(20) EPist. ad frai, M. D., ii, 2,10 (PL IB4, 344d-345a): Voluntas, naturalis quidam animi appetitus est, alius in Deum, et circa interiora sua; alius circa corpus, et circa exteriora et corporalia. Hrec cum sursum tendit, sicut ignis ad locum suum, hoc est, cum sociatur veritatt, et movetur ad altiora, amor est. Cum vero prorno vetur , et lactat ur a gratia, dtlectio est. Cum apprehendit , cum tenet, cum fruitur. charitas est, unitas spiritus est, Deus est: Deus enim charitas est , - M editatio 12 (PL lRO, 24Bb) : N unquid aliud est amor; aliud ipsius affectus amoris? Ut video amor naturte est; amare te gratire est; affectus gratire mantfestatio est: ... -De nat; et dig. am. 6.15 (PL 184, 390c-391a): Similiter quinque sunt sensus spirituales, quibus charitas vivificat animam: id est, amor carnis. parenturn, amor socialis , amor naturalis, amor spiritualis, amor Dei. Per quinque sensus spirituales, mediante charitate, anima Deo consociatur , (as by the five senses of the body. mediante vita, corpus animse conjungitur ]. - Cf. Epist: ad Frat. M. D. I, 14, 42 (PL IB4. 335c): (as the body lives only by the spirit) . sie affectus horninis , qui amor dicitur, non vivit, hoc est non amat Deum , nisi de Spir itu Sancto . These texts mean that these natural loves are informed by divine love. De nat . et dig, am. 7,17 (PL 184,391 b}: ... gustui comparatur amor socialis, amor fraternus, amor sanctre et catholicse Ecclesise, ..

of divine power. As sight acts through two eyes, so divine love, the natural light of the soul, created that man may see God, has two eyeslove and reason. They help each other, reason teaching love, love enlightening reason, each yielding to the other. And thus they do great things; they separate the soul from worldly love, and a love, dilection, that is strong as death, grows and becomes charity that longs to be with Christ. Charity, too, is double, for it inheres in God, made like to hirn by love and unity of will, and again it must return to men and human things, bearing to men a face luminous with the love of God. Fraternal love or friendship seems, then, to playa very subordinate role, The next chapter of this treatise, however, is on monastic life as the school of Iove. It is a good and joyfulliving-together of apostolic origin, taught by the Lord and His Spirit. It is unity, there is one heart and one soul among all; all live by one rule, under one law, having all in common, sleeping, rising, praying, chanting, reading together. Their poverty that frees them from secular cares enables them to live a perpetual Sabbath. This is not an earthly but a heavenly paradise. They are not lonely, wishing for no companion and never disturbing the society of the brethren by anything peculiar. Sweet conversation or more sweet silen ce both help their love to grow. So the monks help , each other by work and example. The melody of their lives and virtues and good affections harmonized by the laws not of music but of love, makes God present, and in all their gracious ways towards one another, in countenance and body and manners they embrace each other with great affection, seeing the presence of the divine goodness in each other, even as the Seraphim set each other on fire with love of God. This is the special school of love, where charity grows old in the maturity of wisdom. Thus the will first moves the soul towards God, love advances toward hirn, charity contemplates Hirn, wisdom enjoys Hirn. (21) d. God as the Origin and End

0/ Love

Love comes from nature and from God the author of nature. Since the Fall, love must be taught by man to man, that is, be purified, grow and .be consolidated. But love is not natural in the sense that pagans as weIl as Christians, can have a natural love , Infidels and Christians cannot have the same virtues, for they have a different faith, hope, and therefore love. You do not believe because you do not love, you do not love because you do not believe. Even with believers, their affections must be conformed to faith, or they become all f1esh . In another passage William seems not to deny all possibility of love to those outside the Faith, for he says that though there are few whom
(21)

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et

ue. am.

7-10 (PL 184,391 a-398a).

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charity receives, yet they sometimes seem to have good will, even to love . (22) God takes this natural love as matter to inform: Y ou love us in making us your lovers; and we, we love you, in receiving from you your Spirit who is your Love, taking over and possessing all the recesses of our affections and converting them perfectly into the purity of your truth, the truth of your purity in full agreement (consensum) with your love. He compares this natural love to the captive maiden in Deuteronomy, -thy captive handmaiden, after all superfluities have been shorn off by thee, shall at length pass by everlasting charity and an in dissoluble conjoining, into the embrace of the victor. God's love is to our love, our natural affection, as the soul is to the body, as form is to matter, as the life breathed into Adam's body by God: , for the love of God, or God, the Holy Spirit, who is love, pouring hirnself into the love of man, transforms it (afficere) into hirnself . (23) The ultimate cause of love is, then, God. It is only because of God that we love, as God hirnself can love hirnself and angels and men only because of Hirnself. God is the place of the birth of love, and by hirn alone love is given, and grows, and abides, and is - due s to anyone only because of hirn. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves, but we love self only because of God, therefore the neighbor too must be thus
(22) De nat; et dig, am., i, 1 (PL 184, 379 c): Ars est artium amorls, cujus magisterium ipsa sibt retinuit natura, et Deus auctor naturre , -lbid., I, 2 (381 a): Amor ergo ... ab auctore naturre naturaliter est animre humanre inditus: sed postquam legem Dei arnisit, ab homine est docendus, ... ut purgetur, ... ut proficiat, .. ut solidetur ... - SpeeuZum fidei, (PL 180, 366 d - 367 a): Hinc namque fit ut pares cum ets mores non habeant infideles. .. QUi enim a fidelibus alia credit, alia sperat, alia diligit, necesse est ut etiam aliter vivat . - Ibid., (371 a): Non credis, quia non diligis; non diligis quia non credis . - Ibi., (380 c): Hoc est, si fidei conformantur affectiones animse, homo ille spiritu vivit, spiritu et ambulat, et quasi totus spiritus est; si vero spirituales illre virtutes resolvuntur in affectiones carnales, totum caro fit, ... - Exposiiio altera in Cantiea canticorum, (PL 180, 509 d) : sed nisi in Deo raros suscipit earum charitas, nullum veritas. Ideo ... etiam qui foris sunt, virtutes aliquas aliquando videntur habere usque ad actum, ad voluntatem, etiam usque ad amorem, ... He quotes Horace , ep. I, 16,52. (23) De contempl; Deo, 7, 15 (PL 184,375 cd): Amas itaque nos, in quantum nos efficis tui amatores; et nos, amamus te, in quantum a te Spiritum tu um accipimus, q ui est amor tuus, obtinentem et possidentem omnes affectionum nostrarum recessus, et perfecte eos convertentem in puritatem veritatis tuee, et veritatem puritatis ture, in plenum amoris tui consensum: ... - Canticte, preface (PL 180, 474 d - 475 a), Deut. 21, 11-13: . donec captiva ancilla tua ... amputatis a te omnibus ejus superfluis. perpetua charitate et insolubili conjunctione transeat in amplexum victorls . - Spec, fidei (PL 180, 391 b): Amori vero nostro, affeetui nostro illi naturalt. sie est amor Dei, sicut corpori nostro anima sua est . Meditatio 12, (PL 180,247 b): . sed ipsi amor tuus simplicem in eis inveniens materiam, format eos, et conformat sibi et affectu et effectu, ... - Epist: ad F. M. D., I, 14,42 (PL 184, 335 bc): Amor enim Dei, vel amor Deus Spiritus Sanctus, amori hominis se infundens, afficit eum slbl ,

loved. Such mutual love is true love though there are few who possess it, loving themselves and others that God may be all in all. Many times William repeats that love must be given to God alone, and that that love is the only true love. For if anyone seeks outside God, there he seeks nothing, for nothing is sweeter, nothing bett er than God. What we love for Hirn, we do not really love in itseIf, for it is He, for whose sake we love it, who is our real love. This is very like Plato's first loved . The illuminated love that is charity, is love from God, in God, for God. All other love s is called love from likeness to this divine love: thus from the divine love other things are said to be loved if they are rightly loved; for it is clearer than day that nothing ought to be loved save for God's sake; nor is that thing really loved which is loved for the sake of another, but rather that is loved for whose sake the thing is loved. e If the beautiful is loved, Thou art the beauty of all that is beautiful; if the good, Thou art the good of every good; if the useful, every man uses Thee even if he hates, everyone who loves enjoys Thee. So, too, He is in the love of friends: and if I love them in this manner so that in them and in the natural affection for them I love only you, since I love the very love (affection) only because it is full of you ... what then do I love, save you ? (24) This love that God thus loves in us, is both ours and His, ours by affect, His by effect. This would seem to mean that we are changed by it, affected; we receive it, and are transformed. He does this in us
(24) De contempl, Deo iv, 9 (PL 184, 372 b): nec te nisi proprer] te, nec angelum, nec hominem amare potes nisi propter te ; - De nat, et dig. am. 2, 3 (PL 184, 382 b): Primum igitur ejus nativitatis locus Deus est. Ibi natus, ibi antus (sie, 1. e. auctus?J, ibi provectus ... A Deo enim solo amor datur, et in ipso permanet, quia nulli ni si ipsi et propter ipsum debetur . - Expos, in Epist, ad Rom. vii, 13, v. 8-9 (PL 180, 677 b-d). - Ibid., v. 10 (678 b) : QUi autem se propter habendum Deum diligunt, ipsi se diligunt. Ergo ut se diligant, Deum diligant. Non est hrec dilectio omnium; pauci sunt qui ideo se diligant, ut sit Deus omnia in omnibus , - De eontempl. Deo Iv, 10 (PL 184, 372c): Amoris enim vel nomen, vel affectus, nulli competit vel debetur, ni si tibi soli, 0 vere amor et amande Domine , -lbid., v, 11 (373 ab): 0 amor, veni in nos ; posside nos .. Ultra te vero vel supra te qui qurerit aliquid tanquam melius ... vel dulcius te: ... Amor enim ut dictum est, ... ad te solum est, Domine, ... Ibid., vi, 12 (373 c): Cum vero propter te aliquid amo, non illud amo, sed te, propter quem arno quod amo , Cf. also 378 ab. De nat . et dig. am . 5, 12 (PL 184, 387 d): Amor quippe illuminatus charitas est; amor a Deo, in Deo, ad Deum charitas est, Charltas autem Deus est: ... - De nat . et dig. am. 7, 20 (392 b): sicque ab amore divino cretera dicuntur amari, quse bene amantur; cum lu ce c1arius constant ni] debere amari, nisi propter Deum; nec amari rem qure propter aliud quid amatur, sed id potius propter quod amatur , - Caniicle, I (PL 180, 490 d): Si enim pulchrum diligitur, tu pulchritudo es omnis pulchri ; si bonum, tu es bonum omnis bont, si utile , te utitur omnis homo etiam qui odit; fruitur vero omnis qui diligit . - Meditatio 12, (PL 180,248 a): Et st eos hoc modo amo, ut in eis, et in affectu eorum naturali nU amem nisi te, cum ipsum affectum ob hoc tantum amem, quia plenus est te: sed ... quid amo, nisi te?

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making us one in Hirn by His own unity, that is, by the Holy Spirit. All the degrees of love are the work of the Spirit, love, dilection, charity. He is the love (charitas) of Father and Son, the unity by which they are one. He is given to man and sets hirn on fire with love of God and of other men. He becomes so much ours that William says; God's love for us is His goodness, our love for Hirn is the Holy Spirit whom He gives us. He is symbolized in the kiss of the Father and Son, that is also given to man to make a conjoining of spirits. (25) William speaks of love itself being the cause of love, for one loves a man the more the closer he is to God by love. Bernard had said to hirn that this made it impossible to know who loved the more , for who knows that he is before God? In another sense, as Alcuin and Anselm had said, love merits return of love: what is due for charity, save charity ? The more love is returned, the more is owed, for he who loves makes the one he loves a debtor to hirn. All that God gives that is good and loving, is to us like hands and feet by which we go back to the gi ver, the supreme love, the supreme good. This is very different from the justice of men who say, love me because I love you , there are few who can say I love you so that you may love me , but this is what God does. (26) In speaking, however, of the various forms of love that are natural , William attributes to them the usual causes. So cial love comes from living together, likeness of profession, equality of interests and zeal, and
(15) Oe contempl: Deo, 8, 17 (PL 184, 376 d): . amamus te, vel tu amas te in nobis ; nos affeetu, tu effeetu: unum nos in te effieiens per unitatem tuam, id est ipsum Spiritum Sanetum tuum, quem dedisti nobis , ... - Expos, in Cant. (PL ISO, 475 b): Agit enim de amore Dei, vel quo Deus amatur, vel quo ipse Deus amor dieitur, qui utrum amor dieatur, an eharitas, an dileetio non refert '" qme tarnen omnia ... unus atque idem Spiritus operatur , - A!:nigma fidei (PL 180, 440 a): Sanctus enim Spiritus eharitas est Patris et Filii; qua se diligunt, et unitas qua unum sunt. Hic eum datus fuerit homini, accendit eum in dileetionem Dei ae proximi. Et ipsa dileetio est qua Deus eharitas est; nee habet homo unde diligat Deum nisi ex Deo. -Expos. in Epist. ad Rom. iii, 5, vers. 7-10 (PL 180, 593 cd): . sed amor ejus ad nos est bonitas; amor noster ad ipsum Spiritus Sanctus, quem dat nobis, per quem charitas Dei diffunditur in eordibus nostris , -Expos. in Cant. i, (PL 180, 483b): spirituum conjunctio . (26) Expos . in Cant. ii (PL 180, 518b): ... et in proximis plus ille diligatur, ut propinquior, qui Deo ... vitse merito et pietatis affeetu eonjunetior invenitur , - De nat . et dig. am. 11, 32 (PL 184, 400 b). - Expos . in Ep . ad Rom. vii, 13, vers. 6 (PLI80, 676 cd) : .. in lege eharitatis legis pe ritus Dei decernit nihil deberi, prseter solum debit um charitatis, quod quanto plus redditur tanto plus debetur, et reddendo plus habetur. -lbid.,: Nam qui diligit, debitorem eum facit quem diligit. - De contempl; Deo, ii, 5 (PL 184, 369 b): . Hsec est animre mese assidua exercitatio, hinc assidue seopo spiritum meum; et eum bonis et amabil ibus tuis. quasi pedibus et manibus, et totis innitens viribus sursum tendo ad te; in te, summe amor, summum bonum: ... -lbid., vi, 12 (373 d): Hrec est justitia filiorum hominum : Ama me, quia amo te. Rarus autem est qui dieere possit: Amo te, ut ames me. Hoc tu fecisti , .. _

develops by mutual benefits. What he calls natural love s also comes from likeness and the common destiny that links all humanity. William of St.-Thierry calls love God, fo11owing the Scriptures and tradition. Whatever can be said of God, can be said of love (charitas). Spiritus sanctus Deus charitas in his expression, - Cod-Iove , like God-man , He who takes possession (afficit) of the spirit of man is the One who is the love, the unity, the sweetness, the good, the kiss and the embrace of the Father and Son so that the soul finds itself in the midst of that embrace and kiss. The spirit and love of man are then made one, with the Spirit and love that is God. Yet he does not actually identify giver and gift, but, like Bernard, distinguishes substance from quality; whatever can be said of God, can be said also of charity, although one is giver, the other gift,-charity is called God by a kind of hyperbole, since more than a11other virtues charity coheres to God and is assimilated to hirn. (2i) Love, the gift, is called God, then, because it is the means of union, of cohering and assimilation to Hirn. The longing for the presence of the one loved is for William expressed as the desire to see his face. My heart has spoken to you is the same as my face has sought you, Thy face, 0 Lord, I will still seek. Two of his meditations are on that theme, full of longing for vision. Y our face is knowledge of you , but tbere are many manifestations of that face. The face of each soul, its own disposition, he seems to say, determines the face of God that it beholds: For the human soul hasas many faces as it bas affections. But you, 0 truth, receive all, and lending yourself to all, are not changed yourself. But there is a hidden Face, that no man can behold, the vision, the knowledge to which one attains better by ignorance, and which one fu11y grasps by knowing how utterly it transcends a11 knowledge. This is tbe vision of God's face
(27) De nat . et dig, am. 7,17 (PL 184,391 e): Sie et amor socialts, quia ex eorporali eohabitatione in unum, ex similitudine professionum , ex parilitate studiorum, aliisque hujus modi ca.usis , confceder atur , mutuisque officiis enutritur, ... -lbid., 7, 18 (391 c): ... amor naturalts, qui naturaliter ex ipsius naturee slrnilitudine et eonsortio absque omni spe reeompensationis omnem hominem diligit: ... - De nat: ei dig, am . 5, 12 (PL 184,387 d). - Epist: ad fratres M. D., II, 3, 16 (PL 184, 349 a): ... eum in amplexu et oseulo Patris et Filii mediam quodarnmodo se invenit beata eonscientia ... - Epist: ad fraires M. D., II, 3, 16 (PL 184, 349 a): per eum qui est amor Patris et Filii, et unitas, et suavitas, et bonum , et oseulum, et amplexum, ... - lbid.., I, 14, 42 (335 be): Amor enim Dei, vel amor Deus Spiritus Sanctus, amori hominis se infundens, afficit eum sibi. Et amans semetipsum de homine Deus, secum unum efficit, et spiriturn ejus, et amorem ejus , - De nai . et dig, am. 5, 12 (PL 184,387 d-388 a): Quidguid de Deo potest dici, potest diei et de charitate; sie tarnen ut, consider ata seeundum naturas doni et dantis, in dante nomen sit substantise, in dato quahtatis ; sed per emphasim donum etiam charitatis Deus dieatur, in eo quod super omnes virtutes vir tus eharitatis Deo cohsereat et assimiletur ,

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that he longs for: e And 0 Face, Face, 0 happy Face, that transforms into yourself one who merits to look on you ... I long only to see you alone ... For who loves what he does not see? How can that be lovable that is not visible? All creatures reveal how lovable He is, but that is not vision, perfect sweetness and joy. The Seraphim burn most with love because they are most penetrated with the clarity of vision in the presence of God. ~ (28) Love and understanding are mutually dependent: Love of God is itself knowledge (inlellectus) of hirn; for, unless he is loved, he is not known nor is he loved unless he is known, and he is known as much as he is loved, and loved as much as he is known. The purified mind begins at once to burn with love, and love illuminates. The love of desire burns, but in darkness, giving no light; but love of fruition is wholly in light, for the very fruition is light to the lover. It is illuminated love, luminous love; it is the eye of the soul by which it sees God. The soul is all eye because the whole soul sees and sees the whole on which it looks ... The whole soul then thinks because it is a11thought; the whole soul wills because it is a11will. (29)
(!B) Meditationes 7 and 8 (PL 180, 227-232). - Epist. ad jrat. M. D., I, 3, 8 (PL 184,313 a): Faciem enim Dei, hoc est cognitionem ejus, ... Also Med. 7 (PL 180,228 c). - Med. 8 (PL ISO, 229 c): Quot enim anima humana habet afieetiones, tot ad te habet facies. Tu autem, 0 Veritas, omnes excipis, et omnibus te mutuans, in te Ipsa non mutaris , - Med. 7 (228 cd): Est quidem alia facies, et alius vultus notitise ture , de qua dictum est ad Moysen: Facies mea non videbitur tibi: non enim oidebit me homo et oicet tExod, 33, 20) : vlsio vel scientia drvlnee majestatis tuee, quee in hac vita melius nesciendo scitur , et scire aliquem, quomodo eam nesciat, hesc in hac vita summa ejus scientia est . The similarity here to Gregory of Nyssa is marked. - De contem.pl . Deo. I, 4 (PL 184, 368 d - 369 a): Et 0 fades, fades, quam beata fades, qure affici tlbi meretur videndo te j , unice et singulariter desidero videre te, ... - lbid., 369 a: Quis amat quod non videt? quomodo potest esse amabile quod non est aliquatenus visibile? -lbid., 369 ab. - De contempl . Deo, III, 3, 7 (PL 184, 370 d): Constat etiam beata illa Seraphim, quee a vicinitate prresentise tuse, a clarltate visionis tute ardentes et interpretantur et sunt, plus amare te, quam aliquern qul minor est regno ccelorum H. (29) Expos . aliera in Cant. I (PL 180, 499 c): Amor quippe Dei Ipse intellectus ejus est: qui non nisi amatus intelligitur, nec nisi intellectus amatur, et utique tantum intelligltur quantum arnatur , tantumque amatur, quantum intelligitur , Cf. 491 d: . quoniam in hac re amor ipse intellectus est , - Ibid.,: . purus Intellectus, seu cogitatio rationabilis, statim calescit in amorem '" : - De contem.p], Deo iii, 8 (PL 184. 371 c): Amor enim est, ut dictum est, qui amatur ... illuminans eos ... ut in lumine videant lumen, et in amore concipiant amorem , - Expos . in Cant. I (PL 180, 492 d): Nam alius est amor desiderantis, aJius fruentis. Amor quippe desiderii etiarn in tenebris ardet. secl non lucet j amor vero fruentis totus in luce est, quia fruitio ipsa lux amantis est , - De nat . et dig. am. 7,20 (PL 184,392 d): amor illuminatus . - Expos . in Cant., Prcef . (PL 180, 474 c): h ic est vivens et luminosus amor , liber et liberans '" - De nat; et dig. am. 6, 15. (PL ~84, 390 b): Tpsa [charitas] enim est oculus, quo videtur Deus. Habet enim anrma sensus suos, habet visum suum vel oculum, qui videt Deum .
(C (C

This illuminated love draws the soul to the likeness of God bya series of transformations; illuminated by grace, the soul is purified, made to have a greater capacity for eternal things, and thus like to God. There are three levels of likeness; the first cannot be lost and is man's very nature; the second is of will, and consists in virtue, and therefore is a closer likeness; the third is above these, a likeness that is more a unity of spirit, when a man is so one with God that he is not able to will anything but wh at God wills. God has created us to this likeness in order that we may contemplate and enjoy Hirn, for He cannot be thus contemplated save by one who is .made like Hirn. 0 image of God, recognize thy dignity; let the likeness of thy Creator shine forth in thee. Thus, know thyself , means e know that thou art My image, and thus thou canst know Me whose image thou art, and within yourself shalt thou find Me. In thy mind, if thou willst be with Me, there I will rest with thee and thence shall I feed thee. eO) e. Friendship as love between human beings: a revelation of God. William applies this doctrine to human relations also. He counsels even solitaries to choose a man whose image (exemplar), may be always in their he art, so that the more they recall it, the more they are conformed to the likeness of the sincerety of his holy life. The inevitable influence of a friend is to make one be like hirn. Hence, William upholds the necessity of a common and mutual love in sociallife; i. e., a life in which men are companions. It is, in fact, the fulfilment of the whole law of God. Even by the holiest it must never be neglected nor may the sweetness of fraternal love be despised. To the Carthusians he speaks of the solace of their mutual love, the society of the spirit. This union is not of earth, but of heaven, and is a paradise, areturn to man's origin that is more than areturn, for it surpasses it as
-De natura corporis et anime !i (PL 180, 719c-720b): Tota [anima] oculus est, quia tota videt, et totum quod inspicit videt .. Tota igitur eogitat, quia tota eogitatio est, totaque vult, quia tota voluntas est , (30) De nat . et dig. am. 7, 20 (PL 184, 392 d): sie et illuminatus amor Dei... ad quamdam divmse potentiss similitudinem eam [anima] provehit ... - Expos, in Cant. (PL 180, 480 b): .. tanto similiorem ... quanta reternorum eapaciorem j tantoque capaciorem eeternorum. quanto a transitoriis mundi hujus mundiorem ex grata illuminante . - Epist: ad frates M. D., 1I, 3, 16 (PL IS4, 348 e-349 a)Expos. in Cant., Prcef, (PL 180, 473 e): ... quem nemo usque ad fruendum eontemplatur, nisi in quantum similis tibi effieitur j - Ibid., I (494 e): 0 imago Dei, reeognosee dignitatem tuam j refulgeat in te auctoris effigies.Expos. altera in Cant., i (PL 180,494 a): Cognosee te, quia imago mea es, et sie poteris nosse me , euius imago es, et penes te invenies me, In mente tua, si fueris mecum, ibi eubabo tecum, et inde paseam te ,

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heaven does the earth. It is the Sabbath of rest that will be eternal in the eternal sabbath where God will fill the society of holy men and angels with full and perfect happiness. (H) He speaks in more ordinary terms of this society, when he describes the friendship of Bernard and William of Champeaux. From the first day they met, they were made one heart and one soul, sharing each other's lives and dwellings - the episcopal palace and the monastery. William venerated Bernard as an angel of God. William of St.-Thierry hirnself feit the same reverence for his friend's holiness. To go into his presence was to go up to the altar of God. And so was he affected and possessed by Bernard's sweetness, that he desired to live with hirn, always, in his poverty, for having lived with hirn a few days, William found hirnself in a new heaven and new earth. This is the same effect that he attributes to contemplation, which renews the interior face each day; on all things a new face begins to appear as the soul experiences frequent and unexpected theophanies. C2) ThisIs indeed the effect of
(81) Epist. adjrat. M. D., 1,9,27 (PL 184, 325 ab): Elige tibi tu ipse consilio meo hominem, cujus vitse exemplar sie cordi tuo insederit, reverentia inhreserit , ut quoties ejus recordatus fueris, ad reverentiam cogitati assurgas, et temetipsum ordines et componas ... - Cf. Vita Bernardi; I, 3, 6: ... obsidebant autem benignum juvenis animum sodalium dissimiles mores. et amicitise procellosse, similern sibi efficere gestientes , - Expos . in Epist: ad Rom. vii, 13, vers. 6 (PL 180, 677 b) : Deinde vero ad socialis vitte communem et mutuam venit dilectionem, quam intantum laudat et approbat, ut in sola dilectione proximi totam legern dicat impleri, ... - Epist. ad frat: M. D., II, 1, 1 (PL 184, ::l39a): (Speaking of the mature and perfect souls) non arbitrantes esse negligendam conscientiam voluntarire subjectionis, usum socialis vitse, et dulcedinem frat ernse charitatis , -lbid., I, 1, 2 (310 ab): si qua ergo consolatio in Christo, si quod solatium charitatis, si qua societas spiritus, si qua viscera miser icor dize, implete gaudium non meum tantummodo sed ornnium diligentium nomen Domini: '" _ - Cf. also De nat, et dig. am . 9, 24 (PL 184, 395 b): . ad ... societatem spiritus ... ad bonum Illud et jucundum cohabitationis fraterrite in unum; ... II as describing monastic life. - De nai; et dig. am. 9, 25 (PL 184, 396 a): Nunquid non ista est non terrestris, sed ccelestis paradisus? - Expos, in Cant. i (PL 180, 491 b c): .. ubi Sabbatismus datur populo Dei, ut cubet et requiescat ab operibus suis , sicut a suis Deus; ubi in eeterna beatitudine pascit de seipso tarn angelorum quam sanctorum hominum societatem, semper plenam ob perfectionem beatitudinis; ... - Cf. De nat . et dig. am. 9, 24, (PL 184, 396 a): . ipsis vero perpetuum prredicantes sabbatum ... (32) Vita S. Bernardi, I, 7. 31 (PL 185,246 a): Ex illa die et ex illa hora factl sunt cor unum et anima una in Domino ... - Vita S. Bernardi; I. 7,33 (PL 185. 246 d): ac si Ingrederer ad altare Dei. Tantaque affectus sum suavltate circa hominem illum, tantoque desiderio In paupertate illa et simplicitate cohabitandi ei ... nil tarn optassern quam ibi cum eo semper manere ad ser viendum ei. -lbid., I, 7, 34 (PL 185, 247 c): Mansi autem indignus ego cum eo paucis diebus ... mirans, quasi ccelos me videre novos, et terram novam, ... - De nat; et dig. am. 4, 10 (PL 184, 386 b): Ex hoc enim jam rerum facies nova ei incipit apparere; charismata meliora, ... novi hominis Intertor facies de die in diem renovari, et usque ad speculanda Dei bona revelari: jarn frequentes et improvisre theophanise, ...

true contemplation, and it is very remarkable that he should attribute it to his friend's presence. One is inclined to think that it was from his own experience that he advised the Carthusians to imagine a friend, a man of God, always with them, whose holy severity will rebuke, whose loving benignity will console, whose sincere holiness of life will be their model, as an image of God. Did he thus bring Bernard with hirn to Signy? 3) ,A friend to hirn was not only one who would - correct s ; he loved the sweet conversations he had with hirn, he expected his friend to bear with his foolishness. He described how Bernard hirnself had to learn to converse with men - for at first his monks could not understand hirn nor he them, until he learned by experience to compassionate weakness and temptation. This description of William's is very delicate for he does not openly criticize or blame Bernard for his youthful intransigence, but shows how, the humility of his brethren disconcerted his selfass uran ce, and he began to realize that his zeal lacked goodness . He was even saddened to realize that they were better than he. Perhaps when Bernard wrote to Peter that humility was one thing he had never learned, it was not wholly exaggeration. Yet his spirit was ever sweeter than honey to William; and, if in his dream Bernard was ever emending all that needed emendation , it was in the affection of mutual love. For a friend should be corrected if he errs; if he gives correction, he should be heard and obeyed C4). As William is wholly given to God, so is he wholly given to his friend in God, in whom they desire each other, - I am wholly yours . The love of God in his friend takes possession of hirn wholly, even as love

(33) Epist. ad frat . M. D. 1. 9, 27 (PL 184,325 ab): Elige tibi ... hominem, cujus vitse exemplar sie cord i tuo insederit, ... ut quoties ejus recordatus fuerls, ad reverentiam cogitati assurgas, et temetipsum ordines et componas: qui cogitatus ac si prsesens sit, in affectum mutuse charit atis emendet in te omnia emendanda .. Hic prsesens tibi adsit ... Increpationes ejus describet tibi cogitata sancta ejus severitas; consolationes, pietas et benignitas; exemplum, sanctse vitse sinceritas. N am omnes cogitationes tuas cum ab eo videri cogitabis: ac si videat, ac si arguat, emendare cogeris . (34) Vita Bernardi, I, 13, 64 (PL 185, 262 b): (speaking of Guido, Bernard's older brother, a man of great gravity and truth) . Hic, cum simul aliquando essemus, et de hujusmodi loqueremur, et qurerer em ego ab eo; sicut jucundse ad amieos collocutionis esse sole bat ... . It is of interest that these questions were about the reputed miracles and prophecies of Bernard. His brother answered William: Fabulte ... sunt qure auditls , He tells an exper ience of his own, which, however, is not particularly striking. - Epist, ad Frat, M. D., Prcef., (Rev. bened ., 1924 May): .. he that is a friend will bear in this also with my foolishness ... , - Vita S. Bern ardi, I, 6, 2830 (PL 185, 243 a - 245 b), -lbid., 1. 9, 46 (PL 185, 253 d). - Epist: ad Frat, M. D., I, 9, 27 (PL 184, 325 a). Disputatio altera adversus AblElardum, II (PL 180, 298 b): Amicus autem si errat, docendus; si docet, audiendus est ,

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makes hirn one spirit with God, so too are friends one heart, one soul in the Lord . (3") Friendship must be mutual, it cannot be unilateral. It is a mutual love, for it is the image of the mutual knowledge of the Father and Son that is their very unity, the Holy Spirit. (S6) A friend is above all a revelation of God, a communication of God. William described his ideal of such a man: in his countenance, serenity; in his heart, sweetness; in his deeds, grace. He is lovingly affectionate, sweet in sympathy for what is good, a joy to meet, a grace to live with, tender at parting. These exterior signs reveal the purity of his interior sanctity, the are flashes of the invisible life within, the life of J esus. Such a man goes to meet another with face glowing with the oil of God's love, that glorifies and graces his outer bearing. The inner light is radiant on his face so that a certain lovely simplicity of countenance and demeanor is like achallenge to love that pierces even uncouth and savage hearts with God's love at the very sight of them. (J') The love of God in a friend is for William his own glory. He grieves not to love as they do, but loves their love even more than his own. Although he does not experience the love they know, yet in a way he does, for to see is to love, to love is to possess. This is the certitude of experience known to those who love; who, contemplating one another, set each other afire like Seraphim seeing the presence of God. eS)
(35) Epist. ad frat, M. D., Praf: (PL 184, 307 a): ... quia totus vester sum in eo, in cujus viscerrbus invicem cupimus nos , - Med. 12 (PL 180, 248 a): Istos cum video, in amorem amoris tui , qui hoc in eis operatur, totus afficior .. , Vita S. Bernards, I, 7, 31 (PL 185, 246 a): .. cor unum et anima una in Domino ... (36) Ibi., I, 14, 71 (266 b): Si cut enim amicitia nonnisi duorum est, nec nisi inter duos amicos haberi potest: sic nec inirnicitia nisi duorum forsitan inimicorum.-Expos. in epiet . ad Rom., vii , 13, vers. 89 (PL 180, 677b): -Epist. ad jrat. M. D., I, 3, 8 (PL 184. 312 d-313 a): ... in dilectione mutua ipsam sancti Spiritus suavitatem et plenam omnino in conversatione vestra formam pietatis, in recordatione Montis-Dei totus cxsulto, ... , Cf. Ibi., I, 9,27 (325 a) and Spec, fidei (PL 180, 393 a) : Ea vero cognitio qure mutua est Patris et Filii, ipsa est unitas amborum, qui est Spiritus Sanctus; ... This is a characteristic identification of cognito, unitas and the Spirit of Love. (37) De nat, et dig. am., 3, 8 (PL 184, 385 b): in vultu serenitatem, in corde ad omnes habere du1cedinem, in opere gratiam , - Ibid., 8, 23 (395 a): Plus ad omnes affectus, du1cis in bono consensus: occursus in hilaritate, cohabitatio in gratia, discessus in ostensione charltatls , - Vita S. Bernardi, Prcef, (PL 185, 226 b c), - De nai, et dig, am., 8, 23 (PL 184, 394 c): Cum vero ad homines et humana redire compellitur, ... et exhilaratam faciern in oleo charitatis Dei. tarn faetis quam dictts, et etiam glorificatione quadam et gratia exterioris hominis refert ad homines: ... - Med. 12 (PL 180, 247bc): ut .. lux interior in vultu eorum exterior! reluceat, intantum ut de vultus et habitus eorum venusta quadam simplicitate. quredam provocatio charitatis ture procedens, rudes etiam nonnumquam ae barbaros animos solo visu ad amorem tuum compungat , (38) De contem.pl; Deo, 10, 22 (PL 184, 380 a): Quisquis [angelorum vel

In William of Saint-Thierry, friendship is, therefore, still integral to the spiritual life and the ascent to God, though this life and ascent are of a different pattern. It seems that, as in Plotinus, the human tends to lose some of the value it has in the thought of Alcuin and Bernard. Yet because William is a Christian as weIl as a neoplatonist, friendship has more reality and necessity for hirn than for Plotinus. For the human friend is a theophany of God; he is part of the Incarnation of the Word. (39)

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bonorum spirituum] in te manet, et potest sentire preces vel affectiones humanas, scio quod in te me exaudit. in quo et ego eorum glorire congratulor , - Med. 12 (PL HlO, 274 a). _ Expos. in Cant., ii (517 a): .. an!musque vere Deum amans, amorem ejus ... amat ... - Ibid.: Cujus formam [amor] cum attendit in proximo, srepe plus placet quam in semetipso ... - Epis, ad [rat, M. D., I1, I, 2 (PL 184, 339 c). - t nat, ei dig. am., 9, 25 (PL 184, 396 c d). (39) Even St. Anselrn's neoplatonism affects his concept of friendship less radically than does that of William perhaps because it came to hirn through several Chr!stian spectra.