To encounter a person who makes holiness attractive is an enviable experience. Such a person was Gilbert of Hoyland, abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Swineshead in Lincolnshire, friend of Aelred of Rievaulx, and continuator of the sermons on the Song of Songs of Bernard of Clairvaux.
When the great saint of Clairvaux died in 1153, he had reached only the first four versus of chapter three of the Canticle in his eight-four sermons. It was Gilbert who took up his unfinished task. When Gilbert in his turn died, leaving the commentary unfinished, it was brought to completion by yet another English abbot, John of Ford.
Those who know and admire Bernard's eloquence and contemplative insight will want to make the acquaintance of his successors. While conscious of continuing his work and remaining true to his spirit, they infused their sermons with their own personalities and through them shared with others their own rich experiences of God. As Lawrence C. Braceland says in his introduction to this first English translation of Gilbert's work: Gilbert is an experience. He has found the Beloved.
