The Golden Epistle

This practical guide to the spiritual life, cherished by monks, beguines, and layfolk for eight centuries, can still lead men and women to God.

The Golden Epistle first appeared in 1145 and has been ascribed to several different authors, among them Bernard of Clairvaux and Guigo the Carthusian. Today its author is known to have been William of Saint Thierry, a Cistercian monk of the abbey of Signy and a friend of Saint Bernard. After studying at one of the cathedral schools that flourished in the early twelfth century, William entered monastic life at the Benedictine abbey of Saint Nicaise in Rheims. By the early 1120's he became abbot of the abbey of Saint Thierry, just outside the royal city, and took a leading role in a reform movement aimed at greater simplicity of life. Resigning that post in middle age to enter the Cistercians, he found himself increasingly attracted to the solitary life and shortly before writing The Golden Epistle visited the nearby Charterhouse of Mont Dieu.

It was read continuously throughout the Middle Ages and into modern times, especially by lay men and women seeking guidance in their spiritual lives.