Life (1290-1349)

Blessed Richard Rolle lived most of his adult life in solitude as a hermit writing about his mystical experiences, making him one of the first great medieval English mystics. He was born into a small farming family in 1300 at Thornton-le-Dale, Yorkshire. 

He studied at the University of Oxford but became dissatisfied with the subjects of philosophy and secular studies. He left Oxford at age 18 or 19 to become a religious hermit, causing his family to worry about his sanity.

He had financial support from a few patrons, including John Dalton, on whose estate Richard lived for about three years. It is unclear where Richard went after leaving the Dalton estate because most of what we know about him is from the pages of the books he wrote. 

One theory is that Richard spent the early 1320s at the Sorbonne becoming trained in theology. He probably began writing in the early 1330s and continued until his death, but there is no certain chronology of his various works.

He wrote beautiful and insightful accounts of contemplative life in Latin and English in books, such as Emendatio vitae (The Mending of Life) and Incendium amoris (The Fire of Love), the latter of which became one of his best-known works. He described his mystical experiences as being of three kinds: a physical warmth in his body, a sense of wonderful sweetness and a heavenly music that accompanied him as he chanted the Psalms. 

Editor Bernard Bangley writes in Butler’s Lives of the Saints that Richard gave clear instruction to those who would lead a Christian life. He also did not hesitate to criticize misdirected interests of clergy or shallow religious behavior, writing:

“Not everyone who leaves the things of this world behind comes to Christ. When Christ says ‘sell everything,’ he means change your point of view. If you are proud, now you must become humble. If you are angry, learn how to forgive. If you are greedy, be transformed into a generous person.”

Even though he spent years as a hermit, he enjoyed people and had a strong interest in seeing them grow spiritually. John Delaney writes in the Dictionary of Saints that Richard was one of the first religious writers to write in the vernacular as well as in Latin. His works are often classified into commentaries, treatises and epistles. Some examples of his commentaries are “Readings in the Office of the Dead,” taken from Job; and his “Commentary on the Apocalypse.” Other commentaries were on the Lord’s Prayer, the Magnificat and the Apostles’ Creed. 

Some of Richard’s importance is due to the devotional prose he composed in the vernacular for women readers. His English or Latin epistles and treatises reflect his fervent devotion and emphasize his rapturous mystical union with God. 

Throughout his writings, he exalts the life of contemplation and solitude. He was one of the most widely read of English writers, whose works survive in nearly 400 English and at least 70 Continental manuscripts. 

He spent the last years of his life settling at Hampole in a cell near the priory of a community of Cistercian nuns who were under his spiritual guidance. Around 1348, Richard met the Yorkshire anchoress Margaret Kirkby, who became his principal disciple and the recipient of much of his writings. She would be important in establishing his later reputation.

Blessed Richard died of the Black Death on Sept. 29, 1349.

— Mary Lou Gibson

Scripture (Rom 11:33-36)

O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory for ever. Amen.

Writings

(Year C). Amore Langue. ‘These two words are written in the Book of Love, which is called the Song of Love or The Song of Songs. Someone who is very much in love often feels the urge to sing of his love because of the joy which he—or she—feels when they think of the one they love, especially if their beloved is faithful and affectionate. And the English for these two words is “I am languishing with love.” Different people in the world have different gifts and graces from God, but the special gift of those who lead the solitary life is to love Jesus Christ. You'll say to me, “But everyone who keeps his commandments loves him.” And that’s true, of course, but not everyone who follows his commands follows his advice, and not everyone who acts by his advice is [equally] filled with the sweetness of his love and feels the fire of [love burning his] heart. Accordingly, the variety of love creates the variety of holiness and of recompense. In heaven, the angels which are most ardent in love are the closest to God.* Similarly, men and women who have most love for God, whether they live a life of austerity or not, are destined for the highest state of advancement in heaven; those who love him less, for the lower ranks. If you love him greatly, great joy and sweetness and ardor you will feel in loving him, which are your comfort and strength night and day. If your love for him is not ardent, then little is your delight. No one is able to feel for him in sweetness and joy unless they are pure and filled with his love, and you will attain to that with great effort in praying and meditating, experiencing such meditations as are entirely based on the love and praise of God. Inseparable is your love when all your heart and your thought and your strength are so wholly, so entirely and so perfectly fastened, fixed and confirmed in Jesus Christ that your thought never slips away from him, never being parted from him except for sleeping; and as soon as you wake up, your heart is on him, reciting Hail Mary, Glory be to you, O Lord or Our Father, or Have Mercy on me, O God™ if you have been tempted in your sleep, or thinking about loving and praising him as you did when awake. When you are not able to forget him at any time, whatever you do or say, then your love is inseparable. Very great is the grace which those who are in this degree of love have, and it seems to me that you, who have nothing else to do except to love God, may reach it if anyone can get there. (The Form of Living)