Candlelight vigil for abbey saint

One of the medieval era's great entrepreneurial spirits has been remembered with a candlelight vigil at a Yorkshire abbey to mark the 900-year anniversary of his birth.

By The Newsroom

Published 21st May 2010, 11:42 BST

Updated 21st May 2010, 11:42 BST

A series of events is being staged throughout this year to celebrate the landmark anniversary of the birth of Rievaulx's own saint,

Aelred.

As part of the celebrations which are being organised by English Heritage, 900 candles were lit at Rievaulx Abbey on Wednesday evening.

The 12th-century abbot of the North Yorkshire abbey, near Helmsley, combined a charismatic personality with a sound head for business. In his 20-year tenure from 1147, he was instrumental in its major growth and expansion, turning the abbey into an international business by capitalising on its land and farming portfolio.

Aelred masterminded the enterprise that generated enormous wealth and prestige for what was, in effect, a leading Cistercian "corporation".

Nevertheless, Aelred's acclaimed spiritual writings spread a philosophy of the Cistercian order as a simpler, less materialistic and more egalitarian way of life than its Benedictine counterpart.