Robert of Knaresborough, a Cistercian monk who became a healer and hermit, deserves more recognition. Potential tourist attraction.
The Hermit's Cave in Yorkshire
The Rev Bob Shaw, Vicar of St Peter with St Cuthbert in Hunslet Moor, believes St Robert of Knaresborough (1160-1218), who lived for 32 years in a cave by the River Nidd in Knaresborough, deserves more recognition today.
The hermit, who started life as a Cistercian monk, carried out a healing ministry leading to acclaim throughout Europe drawing thousands of pilgrims to the town, but has been largely overlooked.
Mr Shaw said: “St Robert’s life surely has much to teach the present generation. “I believe that St Robert should be restored to his rightful place as the Patron Saint of Yorkshire and that the cave and the remains of his chapel should once more become a place of pilgrimage for Christian folk in the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds and beyond.”
St Robert may have been a Cistercian, but his devotion to a hermit lifestyle was later also matched in England by the Carthusian monasteries ("Charterhouses") in which monks meditated on scripture and kept a vow of silence. All of these were of course destroyed under Henry VIII.
In our times, The Society of Friends or Quakers are known for their Carthusian-style silence and meditation.
'There are times when good works are to be left unsaid out of esteem for silence.' (Rule of St Benedict, 6: 'Restraint of Speech')
Film: Into Great Silence. (available on DVD).
The hermit, who started life as a Cistercian monk, carried out a healing ministry leading to acclaim throughout Europe drawing thousands of pilgrims to the town, but has been largely overlooked.
Mr Shaw said: “St Robert’s life surely has much to teach the present generation. “I believe that St Robert should be restored to his rightful place as the Patron Saint of Yorkshire and that the cave and the remains of his chapel should once more become a place of pilgrimage for Christian folk in the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds and beyond.”
St Robert may have been a Cistercian, but his devotion to a hermit lifestyle was later also matched in England by the Carthusian monasteries ("Charterhouses") in which monks meditated on scripture and kept a vow of silence. All of these were of course destroyed under Henry VIII.
In our times, The Society of Friends or Quakers are known for their Carthusian-style silence and meditation.
'There are times when good works are to be left unsaid out of esteem for silence.' (Rule of St Benedict, 6: 'Restraint of Speech')
Film: Into Great Silence. (available on DVD).
