A letter from Peter of Blois (late 12th century?)
Sender
Peter of BloisReceiver
Christiana of BloisTranslated letter:
To his dearest sister Christiana, her Peter of Blois, archdeacon of Bath, greeting in him without whom there is no salvation. My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my saviour [Luc. 1:46], that walking in the spirit of salvation, you guard your vessel in holiness and the fragrance of sweetness. So, your name is like fragrance poured out [Cant.1:2]. It is said publicly and before God and men that you have merited very great praise, because from the time that you professed the life of a nun, you have not ceased from the observance of chastity and holiness. Therefore, according to your name, so also your praise to the ends of the earth [Psal. 47:11]. Although you were destined to the nuptials of mortals, the son of the most high deigned to betroth you, as he himself says through the prophet: I will betroth you, he says, in mercy and in compassion, and I will espouse you to me in faith [Ose. 2:20-21]. To be sure, virgins are betrothed to Christ so that they may offer him their chastity. I have betrothed you, says the Apostle, to one husband, to present a chaste virgin to Christ. For God most willingly allies to himself in spousal love those whom the world has not defiled. He is a lover and zealot of virginity, who chose to be born from the Virgin. He particularly wished to be born from a virgin so that other virgins would follow his virgin mother in the example of chastity and humility and become participants and companions in the shared life of eternal glory. Virgins, he says, will be brought after her: her neighbors will be brought to you. They will be brought in gladness and rejoicing; they will be brought into the temple of the king [Psal. 44:15-16]. Therefore, take care, dearest sister, that you not receive the grace of God in vain [II Cor 6:1]. Certainly you have received the grace of Christ in vain, and you bear an empty lamp, if you do not have the oil of charity, that is, if you do not love Christ with your whole heart. For then she is beautiful, and chastity pleases Christ if its companion is charity, according to this: O how beautiful is chaste generation with charity [Sap. 4:1]. Therefore, have charity, sister, and humility, which is most welcome to him who dwells in heaven and looks down on the low things in heaven and on earth [Psal. 112:5-6]. On whom, he says, will my spirit rest, but the humble, and thegentle, and the one who fears my words [Isai. 66]? The Lord regarded the virgin Mary not because she was beautiful, not because she was noble, not because she was wise, but because she was humble. He regarded, he says, the humility of his handmaid [Luc. 1:48]. Therefore, may you be humble, who have humbled yourself before Christ and have chosen to be abject in the house of God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners [Psal. 83:11]. Humility is of no benefit unless it persists to the very end. For though all virtues rush to the prize, persistence alone is crowned. All glory of the king’s daughter is within, says the prophet, in golden fringes [Psal. 44:14]. Fringes are the outer edges of clothing. Therefore, the glory of a nun is in the fringes: for the glory of good living is of no benefit in the beginning unless the end is glorious as well. The hope of fruit comforts the farmer in his labor, and the hope of glory makes the brave fighter disdain the annoyances of blows. For you also let the expectation of celebration withdraw the troubles of the cloister and the compliance of welcome servitude. Then on the seventh day when the dove is sent out, it will not return again to the ark [Gen. 8], and according to the word of Job, the offspring of deer going to pasture will not return again to their mothers: so you and those like you, journeying to the glory of God’s children, will be in a place of pasture, and you will not return to the troubles of this life. Dearest sister, I decided to briefly exhort and urge these matters to you, not because you are in need of my warning but so that you hasten more eagerly to the palm leaf and the prize, because according to the pagan, there is no harm in driving the spur into the horse let loose [Ovid II De Pont. El. 6].1Original letter:
Charissimae sorori suae Christianae, suus P. Blesensis Bathoniensis archidiaconus, salutem in eo sine quo non est salus.Magnificat anima mea Dominum; et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo, quia ambulans in spiritu salutari custodias vas tuum in sanctificatione et odore suavitatis. Unde, et sicut unguentum effusum est nomen tuum. Publice dicitur, atque apud Deum et homines laudem plurimam meruisti, quia ab eo tempore, quo vitam sanctimonialem professa es, ab observantia castitatis et sanctimoniae non cessasti. Unde et secundum nomen tuum, sic et laus tua in fines terrae. Cum esses nuptiis mortalium destinata, te Filius Altissimi desponsare dignatus est, sicut ipse per prophetam loquitur : Desponsabo te, inquit, in misericordia et miserationibus, et sponsabo te mihi in fide. Desponsantur siquidem virgines Christo, ut suam ei offerant castitatem. Despondi, inquit Apostolus, vos uni viro virginem castam exhibere Christo. Eas enim sponsalitio amore sibi libentissime foederat Deus, quas saeculum non foedavit. Amator et zelator est, virginitatis, qui nasci de Virgine praelegit. ldeo autem specialiter de virgine nasci voluit, ut matrem suam virginem pudicitiae et humilitatis exemplo aliae sequerentur virgines, atque cohabitationis aeterna: gloriae fierent participes et consortes. Adducentur, inquit, virgines post eam: proximae ejus afferentur tibi. Afferentur in laetitia et exsultatione, adducentur in templum regis. Vide ergo, soror, charissima, ne in vacuum gratiam Dei acceperis. Gratiam siquidem Christi accepisti in vacuum, et lampadem defers vacuam, si non habes oleum charitatis, id est, si Christum ex toto corde non diligis. Tunc enim pulchra est, et Christo placet castitas, si ejus comes est charitas, juxta illud : 0 quam pulchra est casta generatio cum charitate. Charitatem ergo habeas, soror, et humilitatem, quae illi acceptissima est, qui in coelis habilat, et humilis respicit in coelo el in terra. Super quem, inquit, requiescet spiritus meus, nisi super humilem, et mansuetum, et trementem verba mea? Mariam virginem respexit Dominus, non quia pulchra, non quia nobilis, non quia sapiens, sed quia humilis erat. Respexit, inquit, humilitatem ancillae suae. Sis ergo humilis, quae pro Christo te humiliasti, et eligisti abjecta esse in domo Dei, magis quam habitare in tabernaculis peccatorum. Non prodest humilitas, nisi finaliter perseveret. Cum enim omnes virtutes currant ad bravium, sola perseverantis coronatur. Omnis gloria ejus filiae regis ab intus, inquit Propheta, in fimbriis aureis. Fimbriae sunt vestimenti extremitates. Est ergo gloria sanctimonialis in fimbriis: nihil enim prodest gloria bonae conversationis in principio, nisi sit gloriosus et finis. Spes fructuum relevat agricolam a labore fortemque pugilem contemnere facit molestias ictuum spes coronae. Tibi quoque furetur gravamina claustri el gratae servitutis obsequium exspectatio jubilaei. Tunc columba septimo die emissa ad arcam, iterum non redibit et, juxta verbum Job, filii cervarum euntes ad pastum nequaquam ad matres iterum revertentur : quia tu et consimiles tui euntes in gloriam filiorum Dei eritis in loco pascuae, nec redibitis ad molestias hujus vitae. Haec te, dilectissima soror, breviter exhortari et exorare decrevi, non ut admonitione mea indigeas, sed ut ad palmam et bravium animosius curras, quia juxta gentilem, Non nocet admissa subdere calcar equo.