Background
Richard Rolle was born about 1290 in the vicinity of Thornton-le-street, Yorkshire, England. He was the son of William Rolle, a gentleman of Richmondshire.
(This important volume is a modern English translation of ...)
This important volume is a modern English translation of Richard Rolle's English writings. Much of the translation is based on Hope Emily Allen's Middle English edition of 1931. It is supplemented by more complete versions of the English Psalter and the Meditations on the Passion. It aims at a presentation of Rolle in today's language, and for readers with a modern approach to spirituality who are interested in the religious aims and idioms of the past. The book also seeks to convey some of Rolle's religious fervor, and above all the measured cadence of his prose style, placing him within the context of the ideas and language of his own age.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0809130084/?tag=2022091-20
(RICHARD ROLLE COLLECTION 2 BOOKS Richard Rolle was an Eng...)
RICHARD ROLLE COLLECTION 2 BOOKS Richard Rolle was an English hermit, mystic, and religious writer. He is also known as Richard Rolle of Hampole or de Hampole, since at the end of his life he lived near a Cistercian nunnery in Hampole, Yorkshire. In the words of Nicholas Watson, scholarly research has shown that "during the fifteenth century he was one of the most widely read of English writers, whose works survive in nearly four hundred English...and at least seventy Continental manuscripts, almost all written between 1390 and 1500." BOOKS THE FIRE OF LOVE THE FORM OF PERFECT LIVING AND OTHER PROSE TREATISES PUBLISHER: AETERNA PRESS
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1786470616/?tag=2022091-20
(This treatise is partly autobiographical and partly a pra...)
This treatise is partly autobiographical and partly a practical manual to the devout life. Erratic, even turbulent at times, the fire explores the shadow-land beyond the realm of common Christian experience.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140442561/?tag=2022091-20
Richard Rolle was born about 1290 in the vicinity of Thornton-le-street, Yorkshire, England. He was the son of William Rolle, a gentleman of Richmondshire.
He was sent to Oxford by Thomas de Neville, who saw great intellectual promise in the boy. Rolle progressed well in his studies until at the age of 19 he had a deeply moving mystical experience of love and union with God.
At the age of 19 Rolle decided to serve God by contemplation as a hermit. He borrowed two gowns from his sister and a rain hood from his father to make a habit and tried to set up a hermitage in the nearby woods. He had an unsatisfactory time of it until one day he was recognized by John de Dalton, son of his former benefactor, as he donned a surplice in the Dalton chapel and, with ecclesiastical permission, preached a moving sermon. The Nevilles set him up on the estate with shelter, food, and suitable clothing.
It was not long before Rolle discovered that curious and intrusive friendship can destroy those essentials of a contemplative life, solitude and peace of mind. For a time he sought over the countryside for what he needed. At length he found a spot near the Cistercian convent of St. Mary's at Hampole. Here his freedom was unhampered, and he settled down for a course of contemplative prayer. His experiences could not be contained, and they overflowed in passionate writing. At first he wrote in Latin, the language of the learned. Little by little, as his reputation for holiness spread, he was asked for advice and guidance. Since many who appealed to him were simple people, he turned to English, the vigorous, malleable Northumbrian dialect. His manuscripts were widely distributed and highly prized, some of the more than 400 extant being passed down in wills as family heirlooms.
Rolle died in Hampole in 1349, perhaps from the plague which was ravaging the country at the time. He had built an enduring reputation for holiness which encouraged the nuns at St. Mary's to write an office in view of a probable canonization. It is from this office that we learn most of the details of his life.
Rolle's writing was a stupendous achievement. Of the English prose tracts, some running to 10, 000 words, the following are outstanding: The Form of Perfect Living, Ego dormio et cor meum vigilat, A Commandment of the Love of God, and the Commentary on the Psalter. With these, his Latin works, his many shorter prose tracts, and his many versified themes, he influenced people as dissimilar as the great mystic Walter Hilton and that seeker for true sanctity Margery Kempe. His style is passionate and personal but controlled by moderation, reasonableness, and a sense of humor.
(RICHARD ROLLE COLLECTION 2 BOOKS Richard Rolle was an Eng...)
(This important volume is a modern English translation of ...)
(This treatise is partly autobiographical and partly a pra...)