Review\n"Thomas Davis makes an invaluable contribution in his fresh translation of the Meditations and his insightful commentary on William’s account of the contemplative ascent into God, situating the abbot of Saint-Thierry’s spiritual itinerary in his broader theological vision. That ascent is motivated by ardent love and longing to see God’s face, yet paradoxically necessitates a descent into the truth of a person’s deepest self where one comes face to face with one’s utter brokenness and the need to die to self. There one also discovers the truth of one’s unimaginable beloved-ness in the eternal Word. Ascending then through the Incarnation, one’s will is united with God’s love—the Holy Spirit—in the unitas spiritus where one’s life is transformed and one’s spirit is enfolded the ineffable embrace of the Divine Persons of the Trinity." 
Glenn E. Myers, PhD, Professor of Church History and Theological Studies, Crown College\n"Father Thomas Davis takes his readers on an extraordinary journey through the depths and heights of William of Saint–Thierry’s spirituality. The revised translation and commentary illuminate the complexity of early Cistercian thought through the lens of William’s poetic imagery. Offering a guided tour through the metaphorical landscape of William’s meditations, Father Davis provides intellectually rich insight, as well as a personal appreciation of Cistercian spiritual practice. This book is a source both for future Cistercian scholarship and for anyone who is drawn to the experiential, authentic nature of monastic prayer.“ 
Dr. des. theol. Delphine Conzelmann, University of Basel, Switzerland\n“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” So wrote St. Augustine at the beginning of his Confessions, one of the most remarkable prayer-texts in the Christian tradition. Some 700 years later, a closely related insight drove William of St. Thierry to pen the meditative prayers of this book. Blessed with an intimate knowledge of the Bible and the medieval interpretive tradition, a poetic sense of imagery, a refined Christian metaphysics, and an ardent personal faith, William delivered a remarkable text to guide thoughts to God. This new volume gives us a precious new portal into one of Christian history’s outstanding minds." 
Fr. Joseph Van House, O Cist, Our Lady of Dallas Abbey, University of Dallas\nThe Meditations, written over a period from 1125 to 1137, are a personal account of William of Saint-Thierry’s ascent into Trinitarian intimacy. Writing to the monks of Mont Dieu sometime around 1144, he proposed the Meditations as helpful in forming minds in prayer. These Meditations, with their accompanying commentary, are now presented as helpful in forming an intimate relationship with the triune God.

The Meditations with a Monastic Commentary (Cistercian Fathers Series)

Religion & Spirituality

William of Saint-Thierry

Christian Books & Bibles

Liturgical Press

The First Life of Bernard of Clairvaux, traditionally known as the Vita Prima, originated to prepare the case for canonization of Bernard, first abbot of Clairvaux. The work was begun by William of Saint-Thierry, continued by Arnold of Bonneval, and completed by Geoffrey of Auxerre. When the initial case put forth for Bernard was rejected by Innocent II, Geoffrey undertook a revision of the original vita (Recension A) and submitted another version (Recension B) to Pope Alexander III, who declared Bernard a saint in 1174. This work emphasizes the deep love in which Bernard was held during his life by his monks and the people of France and Italy as well as his role as a powerful public figure. This book contains the first English translation of Recension B, drawn from what is apparently the only manuscript of the work found today in a Cistercian monastery, Mount Saint Bernard Abbey. The introduction begins with the story of how this manuscript came to Mount Saint Bernard, so fixing this translation of the Vita prima within Cistercian life from the twelfth century to today.

The First Life of Bernard of Clairvaux (Volume 76) (Cistercian Fathers Series)

Arnold of Bonneval

Geoffrey of Auxerre

William of Saint Thierry left all things in his search for God. He left his home in Liage (modern Belgium) to study in France. He left the schools to enter benedictine monastic life at Rheims. And late in his life he left the Benedictines to enter the more austere, recently founded cistercian abbey of Signy in the Ardennes forest. What he did not leave was his keen intellect and his vehement love of Truth.

The Enigma of Faith (Cistercian Fathers Series) (Volume 9)

Cistercian Publications

Perhaps no book was more central to medieval spirituality and mysticism," writes Bernard McGinn, "or more problematic to contemporary readers, than the Song of Songs. . . Lingering Victorian attitudes towards the opposition between sex and religion find the Song's frank erotic language embarrassing and even distasteful." But in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the Song of Songs was a favorite book of Cistercian monks. Bernard of Clairvaux, Gilbert of Hoyland, and John of Ford, as well as William of Saint Thierry, read it as a dialogue between Christ the Bridegroom and the human soul, the Bride.William of Saint Thierry began composing his commentary soon after entering the Cistercian abbey of Signy in 1135. Having left behind a busy life as a Benedictine abbot and author of theological treatises, he turned to writing meditations on Scripture as the means of listening to the voice of the Beloved. It is therefore ironic that he broke off his commentary on the Song, never to return to it, to alert the Church in France to the teaching of Peter Abelard and then to compose two treatises correcting what he deeply believed were Abelard's theological errors."

Exposition on the Song of Songs (Volume 6) (Cistercian Fathers Series)

The Epistle to the Romans was a favorite text of medieval commentators, especially in an age concerned with the theology of grace. William of Saint Thierry's Exposition is a thoroughly monastic text. In it the twelfth-century monk is concerned, not with dialectic or scholastic disputation, but with something far more personal: humility of heart and the recovery of the image of God in fallen humankind. Only when a person is open to God's grace can growth occur. William is convinced of this. He hopes to convince us of it. He sings the praises of God's grace. He combs Scripture for insights on the workings of grace. Several times in the course of the commentary, he shifts from narrative to address God directly. In doing so, he adds a personal, intimate touch to a literary genre which was soon to become settled in the impersonal methodology of the Schools.

The Exposition on the Epistle to the Romans (Cistercian Fathers Series) (Volume 27)

Cistercian Publicatoins

William of Saint Thierry wrote down his reflections on the nature and greatness of love during the second decade of the twelfth century, while he was abbot of the benedictine monastery of St Thierry, near Rheims. His insight, drawn from Scripture and the Church Fathers, shaped his own spiritual journey and his earthly pilgrimage from the schools to the abbey and finally to cistercial life at Signy in the Ardennes. Love, he writes, is a force which draws human beings towards the God who is love. In love we were created 'to the image and likeness of God'...

The Nature and Dignity of Love (Cistercian Fathers Series) (Volume 30)

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