Cistercian sermons enjoyed a golden age as the Order expanded and flourished in the twelfth century. The sermon was the preferred literary genre for influential Cistercian commentary on the Song of Songs as well as other works of exegesis. Extant sermons are found as complete and polished literary works, reports, parables and sententiae – short summaries or outlines containing the major points of the sermon. These texts provide a guide to monastic spirituality and theology. Preaching, whether formal sermons or informal chapter talks, was centred in the liturgy of the community as described in the Rule of Benedict. Everyday preaching offers a glimpse of life within the monastery. Rarely did the preacher direct comments to life in the outside world. However, Cistercian preachers occasionally addressed audiences beyond the monastery, and even preached on crusade missions. The numerous editions of Cistercian sermons give testimony to the richness of medieval Cistercian preaching. Unfortunately, little evidence remains to elucidate the preaching done by medieval abbesses, with the exception of Innocent III’s letter concerning abbesses preaching in northern Spain in the late twelfth century.

Cistercian preaching and the liturgy

Preaching was central to the community liturgy, as Chrysogonus Waddell emphasises: the sermon preached in chapter ‘was itself a liturgical act, with the preacher breaking the bread received from Christ, ever present and acting through his word’. The Cistercian usages describe how the Rule of Benedict was to be read in chapter, which usually took place after Prime and was followed by a commentary by the abbot or another monk appointed by the abbot. A parallel chapter was held for the lay brothers each week; the abbot or a designated monk spoke there. Cistercians delivered formal sermons to the community on the major liturgical feasts of the First Sunday of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Palm Sunday, Easter, Pentecost, John the Baptist, Peter and Paul and the Dedication as well as the Marian feasts of Purification, Annunciation, Nativity and Assumption. Most extant sermons by major Cistercian writers correspond to those feasts.