St Gilbert and the Gilbertines
Image taken from re-enactment footage courtesy of Wagscreen
St Gilbert is one of Lincolnshire’s greatest saints. He was the son of Sir Joscelin,
a Norman knight mentioned in the Domesday Book, who married a Saxon lady. Joscelin
was awarded Sempringham in return for undertaking military service to his King
It is believed Gilbert was born at Sempringham around 1083. He was deformed and
initially despised by his father as he could not carry arms. The young Gilbert was
sent abroad to study, where he excelled as a scholar and was subsequently accepted
by his father. On his return to Sempringham, he taught local children to read and
write, later becoming the rector of Sempringham. He subsequently became a member
of the household of Richard Bloet, Bishop of Lincoln and was ordained a year later
aged forty. Alexander the Magnificent, successor to Bloet, took Gilbert into his
household where he stayed until the death of his father. In 1131, Gilbert returned
to Sempringham as parish priest and lord of the manor.
Gilbert was keen to follow new ways of thinking that included setting up monasteries
based on the principle of poverty rather than lavishness. Gilbert provided a modest
convent and cloister on the north side of St Andrew’s Parish Church at Sempringham
for seven local girls educated and guided by him to follow the Benedictine Rule.
This was the foundation of the Gilbertine Order which grew rapidly in popularity.
The Gilbertines were the only purely English Order and were unique in that they
welcomed both men and women. In 1147, the Pope Eugenius III made Gilbert Master
of the Order of Sempringham, which meant that it was officially recognised by the
Church as a religious order. Bishop Robert de Chesney invited Gilbert to found a
monastery in Lincoln and take over the hospital of the Holy Sepulchre. This Priory
was to become St Katherine’s without Lincoln.
The growth and popularity of the Order was not without problems. In 1164, the Gilbertines
were drawn into the dispute between Henry II and Thomas a Becket. They were accused
of harbouring the fugitive on his escape from the King and Gilbert was called to
account. Gilbert maintained his innocence and the admiration the King had for him
led to the charges being dropped.
In 1170, another calamity occurred when some of his order claimed they could not
accept new demands on the Gilbertine Rule and took their dispute to the Archbishop
of Canterbury and the Pope. Furthermore they wanted less work more food and choice
in clothing. There was a national scandal and even the King was drawn into the dispute.
Eventually the Pope accepted the advice of the King and a ruling was made in Gilbert’s
favour.
Gilbert died at the great age of a hundred and six. In his lifetime and after death,
he was popular, honoured by princes and kings and loved by the people. Eleven years
after he died, the King, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop and Dean and Chapter
of Lincoln, the Master of Sempringham and a long list of bishops, nobles and abbots
petitioned the King to have Gilbert declared a saint. The canonisation procedure
was completed in 1202 and Pope Innocent III admitted him to the calendar of saints.
His feast day is February 4th and will be recognised in St Katherine’s.
By the time of the Dissolution, there were twenty six Gilbertine priories with most
of them in Lincolnshire, and others in Yorkshire, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire,
Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Cumbria.