March 19th - Bl. Clement of Dunblane, Bishop

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March 19th - Bl. Clement of Dunblane, Bishop

Died 1256-58. One of the pioneers about whom we hear little is the
colorful and resourceful Bishop Clement of Dunblane, who received his
habit from Saint Dominic's hands and introduced the Dominicans as he
preached in Scotland. The monasteries he founded within a few years of
the beginning of the Dominican Order served the Church well, and the
Church annals are begemmed with the names of the people who made
history in that interesting country.

We read the names of Robert Bruce and Lord Douglas on the rolls of
benefactors of the Blackfriars. James Beaton, archbishop of Saint
Andrews, fled for sanctuary to the Dominican church in 1517; and in
1554, John Knox was called to give an account of his strange doctrines
in the Blackfriars Church of Edinburgh.

Clement was Scottish by birth, and having met Saint Dominic at the
University of Paris and being received into the order, he was vocal
and active in bringing the friars to his homeland. Tradition holds
that the Scottish king, Alexander II, in Paris on a diplomatic
mission, made a personal appeal to Saint Dominic for missionaries. It
is an historical fact that this monarch was their first benefactor
when the mission band at last arrived, shortly after Dominic's death.

The priory in the lovely, seaside town of Ayr was founded in 1230, and
seven other large houses soon followed. There is record of
transactions with the rulers of the region at this time, and, a few
years later, King Robert Bruce granted the Dominicans the privilege of
grinding their grain at his mill.

Clement was appointed bishop of Dunblane in 1233, by Pope Gregory IX,
a devoted friend of Saint Dominic. He worked in this see for 23 years,
and, according to an old record, he "labored with unflagging zeal to
uproot superstition and destroy vice, to make true and solid piety
known and practiced, and to draw the faithful entrusted to his charge
to the imitation of all the virtues of Christian perfection, as he
himself fulfilled all the duties of a watchful and loving pastor"--a
description of a bishop that can hardly be bettered. He is described
as being poor himself, and the father of the poor, and all the old
writers speak of his zeal in restoring the ruined churches and the
neglected rights of the Church.

According to surviving records, he must have been a busy man, this
rugged missionary in an equally rugged land. He rebuilt Dunblane
Cathedral, visited tirelessly among the outlying regions of his
diocese, setting things in order, and solicited most of the funds for
reconstruction himself. He was appointed on several papal commissions,
once to inquire into the heroic virtues of Margaret of Scotland,
another time to determine the validity of a bishop's appointment. He
was sent to collect alms for the Holy Land in 1247, at a time when he
badly needed the money to rebuild his own diocese.

Through his influence, the episcopal see was transferred from the Isle
of Iona, which was frequently inaccessible and always in danger from
stormy seas, to a place where it could be readily in touch with the
rest of Scotland. He attended the general chapter of the Order held in
London in 1250. At one time he had to pronounce a sentence of
excommunication on all those who had tried to murder the king.

In spite of these varied and absorbing labors, we are interested to
find that he wrote at least three books: a life of Saint Dominic, a
book on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and the history of the Dominican
Order in Scotland.

When Clement died, he left a legacy of personal holiness so great that
even a Protestant historian would say of him: "This man was an
excellent preacher, learned above many of that time, and of singular
integrity of conversation" (Benedictines, Dorcy).


Saint Quote:
The perfection of a Christian consists in mortifying himself for the
love of Christ. Where there is no great mortification, there is no
great sanctity.
To mortify one passion, however small, is a greater help in the
spiritual life than many abstinences, fasts, and disciplines.
-- St. Philip

Bible Quote:
For where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion and every vile
deed. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable,
gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
variance, without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in
peace for them that make peace.  (James 3:16-18) DRB


My Lord and my God
By St Nicholas of Flue (1417-1487)

My Lord and my God,
take from me everything
that distances me from You.
My Lord and my God,
give me everything
that brings me closer to You.
My Lord and my God,
detach me from myself
to give my all to You.
Amen