# Matins Nocturn reading for St. Robert of Molesme, Abbot, founder of
# Cîteaux (Apr 29) — a genuine Monastic-only saint: no `Sancti/04-29*.txt`
# names him at all (that plain file is St. Peter Martyr — see
# `st-peter-martyr.yml`'s own note on the date swap between this app's
# calendar and the general Tridentine one); his own proper vita exists
# only at web/www/horas/Latin/SanctiM/04-29oM.txt. Lectio1-4 (Nocturn
# 1) fall back to Common of a Confessor; Lectio5-8 are his own vita
# (the founding of Cîteaux), one continuous account, combined into a
# single reading, no genuine source break.
# No English/SanctiM/04-29oM.txt exists in the reference engine at
# all, so `en` is this project's own translation, marked `draft` per
# vu-prefer-text-over-missing. Two evident OCR slips in the Latin
# source ("matri su@" for "matri suæ"; "ad quibusdam Eremitis" for "a
# quibusdam Eremitis") silently corrected in transcription. No
# responsory given in the source.
id: st-robert
readings:
  - nocturn: 2
    isGospel: false
    text:
      la: >-
        Robertus in Campania, nobilibus ortus parentibus, cum matri suæ de illo prægnanti, Dei
        Mater apparuisset, et digitum ejus annulo subarrasset dicens, velle, ut suus esset
        sponsus filius, quem in utero portabat: quod fuit causa, ut omnia sua Monasteria ipsius
        Dei Matris nomini consecrarentur: annum agens undecimum apud sanctum Petrum de Cella
        suscepit habitum regularem. Ubi jejuniis, et orationibus vacans nocte, et die gratum Deo
        exhibebat obsequium, carnem spiritui, spiritum Creatori subjiciens. Ipso sic disponente,
        a Monachis illius Monasterii electus in Priorem, a Tornodorensibus in Abbatem cooptatur.


        Postea a quibusdam Eremitis fuit rogatus, ut idem munus super eis admitteret; quorum
        votis satisfecisset, nisi Tornodorenses Monachi reclamassent. Dimittens nuntios spem
        illis certam dedit se quam cito facultas tribueretur ei a Domino, ad eos profecturum.
        Assumptis posteà duobus sociis, iit ad nemus, cujus nomen Molismus erat, ubi propriis
        manibus laborantes, ex ramis arborum domicilia, et oratorium construxerunt, in eoque
        Domino salutares hostias, et sacrificium contriti cordis offerebant. Sed cum maxime
        desideraret ubicumque servi Dei reperiebantur, ipse quoque reperiri, venit ad locum
        Hauz, et devote ab istis Monachis susceptus, paulo post Abbatem illum elegerunt.


        De suo tamen secessu Molismenses contristati Summum Pontificem adjerunt; ejusque
        auctoritate freti virum Dei revocavere Molismum, in quo aliqui, ut Albericus, et
        Stephanus, et alii duo, cum Eremiticam vitam appeterent, ad locum, Vivicus dictum
        profecti sunt; sed ab illo pulsi, ad sylvam Cistertium vocatam, devenerunt, ubi ædificato
        Oratorio in honorem Beatæ Mariæ, perseveraverunt. Audiens autem beatus Robertus sanctam
        ipsorum conversationem, assumptis secum vigintiduobus monachis perrexit ad eos, ut sancti
        eorum propositi esset particeps, et adjutor, a quibuscum summa devotione susceptus,
        eisdem aliquandiu paterna solicitudine præfuit.


        Tanto pastore destitui ægre ferentes Monachi Molismi, Summum Pontificem adjerunt, ut
        beatum Robertum Molismum regredi cogeret. Annuens eis pontifex Cabilonensi Episcopo
        scripsit, quatenus alio Abbate Cisterciensibus ordinato, Robertum cogeret reverti
        Molismum. Dispositis ergo quæ ad observantiam, secundum regulam sancti Benedicti
        pertinebant, Abbatem eis loco sui præfecit Albericum, et eo mortuo Stephanum subrogavit.
        Sicque novellæ illius plantationis institutor existens beatus Robertus, cum utriusque
        Monasterii, Molismensis scilicet, et Cisterciensis, regimen haberet, Molismum secundo
        rediit. Tandem cum jam suum obitum appeteret, ejus horam illi Dominus revelavit, et anno
        ætatis suæ nonagesimotertio, clarus miraculis spiritum transmisit ad cælos, tertio
        Kalendas Maii, anno Domini millesimo nonagesimo octavo.
      en: >-
        Robert was born in Champagne of noble parents; when his mother was with child of him, the
        Mother of God appeared to her, and betrothed her finger with a ring, saying that she
        willed the son she was carrying in her womb to be her own spouse — for which cause all his
        monasteries were consecrated to the name of that same Mother of God. At the age of eleven
        he took the religious habit at the monastery of Saint-Pierre-de-Cella. There, devoting
        himself to fasting and prayer by night and by day, he rendered service pleasing to God,
        subjecting the flesh to the spirit, and the spirit to the Creator. By God's own disposing
        he was chosen Prior by the monks of that monastery, and afterwards co-opted Abbot by
        those of Tonnerre.


        Afterwards he was asked by certain hermits to take up the same office over them; whose
        wishes he would have granted, had not the monks of Tonnerre protested. Sending back their
        messengers, he gave them sure hope that he would come to them as soon as the Lord should
        grant him the means. Later, taking two companions with him, he went to the forest called
        Molesme, where, labouring with their own hands, they built dwellings and an oratory out
        of the branches of trees, and there offered to the Lord saving sacrifices and the
        sacrifice of a contrite heart. But as he greatly desired that, wherever servants of God
        were to be found, he himself might also be found among them, he came to the place called
        Aux, and being devoutly received by those monks, was shortly afterwards chosen their
        Abbot.


        The monks of Molesme, grieved at his withdrawal, went to the Supreme Pontiff; and,
        relying on his authority, recalled the man of God to Molesme. Meanwhile certain of the
        brethren — Alberic, Stephen, and two others — desiring the eremitical life, set out for
        the place called Vivicus; but being driven from there, they came to the forest called
        Cîteaux, where, having built an Oratory in honour of the Blessed Mary, they persevered.
        When blessed Robert heard of their holy manner of life, he took with him twenty-two monks
        and went to join them, that he might share in and assist their holy purpose; and, being
        received by them with the greatest devotion, he governed them for a time with fatherly
        solicitude.


        The monks of Molesme, taking it ill to be deprived of so great a shepherd, went again to
        the Supreme Pontiff, that he might compel blessed Robert to return to Molesme. The
        Pontiff, granting their request, wrote to the Bishop of Châlons that, another Abbot
        having been ordained for the Cistercians, he should compel Robert to return to Molesme.
        Having therefore settled what pertained to the observance according to the Rule of St.
        Benedict, he set Alberic over them in his own place as Abbot, and upon his death Stephen
        succeeded him. And so blessed Robert, having been the founder of that new planting, while
        holding the government of both monasteries — that of Molesme, and that of Cîteaux —
        returned a second time to Molesme. At length, when his death drew near, the Lord revealed
        to him the hour of it, and in the ninety-third year of his age, renowned for miracles, he
        sent forth his spirit to heaven, on the third day before the Kalends of May, in the year
        of the Lord one thousand ninety-eight.
    status: { la: verified, en: draft }
