Vitalis of Savigny
Vitalis of Savigny (ca. 1060 – 16 September 1122) was the canonized founder of Savigny Abbey and the Congregation of Savigny (1112).
Life
He was born in Normandy at Tierceville near Bayeux about 1060–5. His parents were Rainfred le Vieux and Rohais. We know nothing of his early years; after ordination he pursued advanced studies before becoming chaplain to Duke William the Conqueror's brother, Robert of Mortain (died 1090).[1]
The Vita of Vitalis, tells of Robert beating his wife and Vitalis, intervening, threatened to end the marriage if Robert did not repent. In yet another entry Vital leaves Robert's service abruptly and after being escorted back to him, Robert begged for Vital's pardon for his actions.[2]
Vitalis gained the respect and confidence of Robert, who bestowed upon him a canonry in the collegiate church of Saint Evroul at Mortain, which he had founded in 1082.[3]
Vitalis felt a desire for a more perfect state of life. He gave up his canonry in 1095, settled at Dompierre, 19 miles east of Mortain, and became one of the leaders of the hermit colony of the forest of Craon. Here for seventeen years he lived an ascetic life, and was called Vital le Vieux ("Vitalis the Old") taken from his father's name. At the same time he concerned himself, like his mentor Robert of Arbrissel, with the salvation of the surrounding population, giving practical help to the outcasts who gathered round him.[3]
He was also an itinerant preacher, remarkable for zeal, insensible to fatigue, and fearlessly outspoken; he is said to have attempted to reconcile Henry I of England with his brother, Robert Curthose. He seems to have visited England and a considerable part of western France, but Normandy was the chief scene of his labours. Between 1105 and 1120 he founded a monastery of nuns, Abbaye Blanche, at Mortain, with his sister Adeline—later canonized—as abbess.[4]
He died at Savigny, on 16 September 1122.
Notes
- ↑ "Vitalis of Savigny", Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, (André Vauchez, ed.), James Clarke & Co, 2002. ISBN 9780227679319
- ↑ Brian Golding, 'Robert of Mortain', Anglo-Norman Studies XIII; Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1990, Ed. Marjorie Chibnall (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1991), pp. 122-123
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Webster, Douglas Raymund. "St. Vitalis of Savigny." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 31 Jan. 2015
- ↑ Mayo, Hope. Speculum, vol. 62, no. 1, 1987, pp. 215–17. JSTOR
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