medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
The Paris-educated Robert of Newminster is said to have been born at Craven in today's North Yorkshire. In the early 1130s he joined the group of Cistercians who were soon to establish Fountains Abbey. In 1137 he was chosen to head the latter's daughter house, Newminster, founded the following year in Northumberland near Mitford (a bit west of Morpeth). Reginald of Durham tells us that Robert was on good terms with St. Godric of Finchale. Like Godric, Robert has yet to be papally canonized. Said in his Vitae (the fragmentary BHL 7270d, the later BHL 7270e and 7270f, and the still later metrical BHL 7270g) to have been otherworldly and austere, he nonetheless managed to found three Cistercian houses from Newminster. He died on this day in 1159. Miracles were reported at his tomb.
Robert's cult has been kept alive by the Cistercian Order and by the Roman Catholic diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, whose parishes at Morpeth and at Fenham in Newcastle are named for him (there are also parishes named for him in the U.S. in Ada [MI] and Shorewood [WI]). Unlike Godric, he has an entry in the Roman Martyrology. Today is his day of commemoration there.
After the Dissolution Newminster Abbey was used by its owners as a source of building stone; it is now a ruin. Here's a view of some re-erected cloister arcades:
http://dccimages.durham.gov.uk/k2p/ncc/m/N11070b.jpg
The English-language page from which that view was taken:
http://tinyurl.com/pajw9t
Another page on Newminster, with an expandable view of the remains of the chapter house door:
http://cistercians.shef.ac.uk/abbeys/newminster.php
The door as seen from the other side:
http://www.strobertsmorpeth.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/DSCF0711.jpg
Best,
John Dillon
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