Excerpts from
The Book of Miracles
By Hanna Lützen
The year is
1178. Herbert – a monk from the
Cistercian motherhouse, the abbey at Clairvaux – has begun the write his Liber
Miraculorum, the Book of Miracles. Eskil, the venerable and now retired archbishop of Lund, contributes to
Herbert’s work. As the great founder of
the Cistercian order in Scandinavia, Eskil is able to relate many remarkable
events from his abbeys. Particularly,
the Danish ones: Tvis, Løgum, Holme, Vitskøl, Øm, Sorø and, last but not least,
Esrum, the first Cistercian institution in Denmark. They come alive in Herbert’s imagination. Together, Herbert’s pen and Eskil’s
reminiscences create fantastic tales of what the Cistercian monks saw at their
posts in these harsh, desolate, and strange locales that just a century ago
were devoted to the worship of the dread idol Svantevit.
Eskil has reached his most
disturbing and terrible recollection. He will now tell Herbert about the abbey at Esrum. His “own” cloister, built in 1151 on land
granted to him by the royal decree of Erik Lam. Monks from Clairvaux travelled there to meet with Eskil’s men and
help rebuild a deteriorating Benedictine abbey, located a bit off the beaten
path, away from inhabited areas. The
French brothers trudged through Europe, noting how the climate became harsher
as their journey progressed and how the people became more barbaric. They shuddered and sent a wistful thought
back to their motherhouse in Clairvaux, as they fervently prayed to God for
strength to carry out their duties among this primitive, filthy people whose
voices sounded like barking dogs. But
Eskil welcomed his downhearted brothers and, before long, there stood a
finished building with fresh clearings for an herb garden and excavations that
would soon become new wells and water mains. Its location in northern Zealand made it possible for Eskil to keep a
benevolent eye on the place. The
distance from Lund to Esrum was inconsequential. So, the archbishop could keep informed at all times of events at
his institution. He often came to the
rescue of the Cistercians, when problems occasionally arose. The Cistercian order was close to Eskil from
the start and he always took time to read through the cloister’s annals, when
he came to visit.
Herbert and Eskil are sitting
together in Herbert’s chamber one dark and bitter cold December evening. It is twilight and these two old brothers,
clad in white, sit at a wooden desk in the warm, protective circle of the
candle’s gleam. Now, Eskil will begin
his tale of the wonder at Esrum abbey. It is the story of Satan’s works and of the miracle that was performed
through men’s diligence, ability and faith. The tale of Krista.
Translated by Russell Dees
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