Talk:Gerald of Aurillac

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[edit] Some biolographical facts that ought to be added

1) Far from sickly throughout his life, Gerald was trained as a warrior, athletic enough to vault over the back of a horse in full armor — but was also educated in Latin and classical literature.

2) Gerald lived as much like a monk as he could without actually becoming one: in addition to eschewing marriage, he wore a hidden tonsure, fasted to concentrate his mind while judging disputes within the "county" he governed, drank and ate sparingly even when hosting the feasts required by his status, ate meals with the poor, dressed soberly, and founded monasteries with his family's resources. His temperateness and discretion were inspired not by contempt for God's good gifts, but by a desire for better self-control so that he could serve God more effectively.

3) He exercised his God-given military responsibilities solely to defend the innocent and, according to his biographer, Odo, "never stained his sword with human blood." Indeed, Gerald and his men fought with the "backs of their swords" and with "spears reversed" to show that God alone gave them victory. Gerald's very restricted use of war foreshadowed the rules for Christian military conduct (such as protection for civilians) pioneered by Cluny's monks in the 1000s.

4) Cluny's second abbot, Odo, was so distressed by the way local nobles governed by sheer power, that he siezed upon Gerald as his model for temporal rulers, ruling justly and for the common good rather than for selfish motives. In Gerald of Aurillac, Odo found a count who lived in the world, but was not of it, and wielded the sword of government in a fully Christian, quasi-monastic manner. By Gerald's example, Odo hoped to show how one might adapt to secular circumstances the basic Christian principles that monks aspired to live out: justice, honesty, humility, and selfless love. Odo wrote:

"This man of God is an example to the mighty, [and thus] let them see how they may imitate him as one of themselves held up for their example."

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Stormarm (talk • contribs) 10:33, 22 April 2007 (UTC).