Fr. Scott Haynes
Saint Norbert was not a particularly pious young man until he had an encounter with God similar to that of St. Paul. While riding through the countryside one bright day in the year 1115, Norbert had not gone far with the sky darkened due to a sudden storm. A bolt of lightning struck the ground near Norbert, causing his mount to rear and throw him to the ground. Norbert lay unconscious for some time, but when he awoke he went to his knees, calling out:
“Lord, what dost thou wish that I should do?”
A voice was heard to respond:
“Avoid evil and do good.”
At that, Norbert was a changed man, determined to obey the heavenly command. He made a spiritual retreat and became a Priest, giving away his estates and retiring to a life of rural solitude, applying himself to a life of prayer and contemplation. Saint Norbert left his hermitage from time to time to preach in France, Belgium and Germany, begging for his bread along the way. In time, a few good men were drawn to his sanctity and began to follow him.
During this time Saint Norbert befriended Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and it is thought that Saint Bernard’s example inspired Saint Norbert to form a similar community for canons. A remote place in the marshy forested lands of Premontre was selected to be the place where they decided to make their place of retreat, devoting themselves to the chanting of the Divine Office, prayer and meditation. Soon they had a simple monastery and church in the wilderness. The Order of Canons Regular of Premontre, also known as the Premonstratensians, White Canons, or the Norbertines, are a religious order founded at Premontre in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became the Archbishop of Magdeburg.
Saint Norbert prayed that he might know the will of God for his order, and he had a vision of Saint Augustine, who gave him his rule and said:
“I am Augustine, Bishop of Hippo; behold here the rule which I have written; if your fellow-brethren, my sons, shall have observed it well, they shall stand without fear in the presence of Christ on the terrible day of the last judgment.”
Saint Norbert had a tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. She herself, Our Lady of Premontre, appeared to him in a vision, giving Norbert the white habit that he and his brothers in religion were to wear.
Guerenus wrote in his commentaries on the Canticle of Canticles that:
“Saint Norbert, with his holy Order, was raised up by Divine Providence to render conspicuous in his day two mysteries, the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady.”
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