Founding
St Gilbert of Sempringham originally wished to found a men's order, but found that to be impracticable. Instead, he accepted seven women whom he had taught in the village school and in 1131 founded an order of nuns based on the Cistercian Rule.
Eventually Gilbert added lay sisters to do the daily chores of his religious house, so that the nuns could attend to their duties, and lay brothers to work in the fields. In 1139 the small order opened its first new foundation on the island of Haverholm, a gift from Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln. Over the years, more and more new foundations were established, and Gilbert became overwhelmed. In 1147 he left England for Continental Europe to seek assistance, and approached the Cistercian Order at its major house in Cîteaux to take on the running of his foundations. The Cistercians declined, apparently because they felt unable to administer houses for both men and women, but Pope Eugenius III, himself a Cistercian, intervened to ask the abbot, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, to assist Gilbert in drawing up Institutes for a new Order. Pope Eugenius then appointed Gilbert as the first Master of the Order of Sempringham or Gilbertines.
Read more about this topic: Gilbertine Order
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