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 A). Seeing that you yearn to be God’s lover, I appeal to you to love this name Jesus, and meditate on it in your heart so that you never forget it wherever you are. And, assuredly, I promise you that you will find great joy and strength in it; and because of the love with which you love Jesus so tenderly and as such an intimate friend, you will be filled with grace on this earth and be Christ’s beloved maiden and wife in heaven. This is because nothing pleases God so much as true devotion to [his] name of Jesus. If you love it properly and enduringly and never stop, in spite of anything that people may say or do, you will be carried away in ecstasy into a higher life than you know how to wish for. His goodness is so great that when with heartfelt conviction we request of him one of something he will give [us three], so very pleased is he when we decide to direct our whole heart to love him. In this degree of love you shall overcome [three] enemies: the world, the devil and your body, but all the same you will have constant warfare all your life until you die, and [all the time] it is essential for you to be concerned about keeping on your feet, so that you do not sink in [wrongful] pleasures, nor in wrongful thoughts, nor in wrongful words, nor in wrongful acts; therefore your longing ought to be intense that you may really love Christ. Your body you are to conquer by maintaining your virginity for God’s love alone. Alternatively, if you are not a virgin, by living in strict self-control in thought and action, and by prudent abstemiousness [and sensible attention to duty]. The world you are to conquer by yearning to have the love of Christ and by meditating on [his] sweet name, “Jesus,” and on desire for heaven. For from the moment you relish the taste of Jesus, the whole world will seem to you nothing but insanity and harm to men’s souls. You will not crave then to be rich, to have lots of elegant coats,° lots of dresses’ and lovers’ gifts, but you will value the whole lot as worthless and despise it all, and accept no more than is essential for you to have. Two sets of clothing or one will seem sufficient for you [who at present have five or six]; give some to Christ, who walks bare [and poor] and reckon all of it as nothing as far as you are concerned, since you can’t be certain you'll still be alive when they are only half worn-out. The devil is conquered when you stand firmly against all his temptations in honest love and humility. (Ego Dormio)