Folia Theologica et Canonica 10. 32/24 (2021)
Sacra theologia
54 SZABOLCS ANZELM SZUROMI, O.PRAEM. who reigned for a short period. Although his person is best known for the Council of Rome of 1059 in the Lateran and the general renewal of the papal election40, the content of his Letter 8 has a similar importance in the context of the reform of the life of the canons regular. According to his words: “Necessary are those priests who follow the religious ideal in the cathedral”.41 Quoting a note by his predecessor, Pope Gregory VII (1072-1085), who wrote the following to the canons of Lucca in 1078: “The pastoral activity of the cathedral is more effective if the priests live in community and in a regulated way” [or, more precisely, in a way regulated by rules].42 Nevertheless, the strong influence of St. Norbert of Xanten himself (t 1134), as well as his personal activity and spirituality, cannot be ignored.43 His life is known from many contemporary sources, despite the fact that no original writings by him have survived (e.g., Herman de Toumai, De miraculis Laudunensis de gestis venerabilis Bartholomaie episcopi et S. Norberti libri tres44', and Siegbert de Gembloux, Chronica45). St. Norbert’s commitment to the religious life, to following the Gospel and the Rule of St. Augustine, just as he was to the liturgical prayer as the central part of everyday life, performed in church and in community, sanctifying every period of the day. We can therefore well see the clear form of the ‘vita mixta’ from the very beginning, which, on the one hand, adopted most of the Cistercian customs as regards the rules of monastic life, but at the same time exercised the Augustinian ideals regarding community and the preaching of the Gospel.46 Closely linked to all of this his exceptional devotion to the Blessed Eucharist, his regular remembrance of the deceased and those who had suffered in the purgatory47, his daily spiritual reading (primarily the Martirology) and his sanctification of the day by work, 40 Szuromi Sz. A., Az egyházi intézményrendszer története, 102. 41 PL CXLIII. 1316. 42 Smith, A., Chanoines réguliers, 467. 43 Ardura, B., Premonstratensi, nove secoli di storia e spiritualitä, 15. Petit, F., Norbert et/’origine des Prémontrés, Paris 1981. 122. Holskötter, L., Die radikale Christusnachfolge des hl. Norbert von Xanten als geistige Grundlage für die Reformbewegung der Prämonstratenser - zu den religiösen Hintergründen des Klostereintritts der seligen Hildegunde von Meer, in Hildegunde von Ahr und Meer. Leben und Werk (Geschichtsverein Meerbusch), MeerbuSch 1984. 81-88. 44 PL CLVI. 995. 45 PL CLX. 57-546. 46 Cf. Zakar, F. P., La legislazione cistercense e le sue fonti dalle origini fim al 1265, in I cistercensi e il Lazio (Atti delle giomate di studio dell’Istituto di Storia dell’Arte dell’Universitá di Roma. 17-21 Maggio 1977), Roma 1978. 127-134; cf. Perez-Embid, L, Chanoines réguliers et cisterciens d’Espagne au XIP siécle: un cas d’idéalpartagé, in Ecrire son histoire les communautés réguliéres face á leurpassé (Actes du 5e Colloquie Intemacional du C.E.R.C.O.R. Saint- Étienne, 6-8 Novembre 2002) [Travaux et Recherches XVIII], Saint-Étienne 2005. 125-136. 47 Ardura, B., Premonstratensi, nove secoli di storia e spiritualitä, 38-39; cf. Petit, F., Spirituality of the Premonstratensians, 38-39.
