St. Norbert and His Order

Norbert was a pioneer; and his foundation is a happy and successful mixture of the spiritual elements which constitute the perfect priestly and religious life. The Order of Prémontré represents in medieval and modern society, a form of sacerdotal life which, during many centuries, was deemed the ideal of the clerical profession, the guarantee of its interior sanctity and its exterior reputation. It unites in itself all that stamps the life of the active priest as a worthy imitation and a continuation of the life of Christ's own disciples, protecting them by the common life, against an ever threatening spirit of worldliness and at the same time raising the sacerdotal labor for the salvation of souls to the highest pitch of intensity, by the law of love and the example of the Savior who sent out his apostles two by two. The Order of St. Norbert originated in the twelfth century as a masterpiece of unequaled beauty. It arose in an age of transition. As the artistic monuments of the transition period between Roman and Gothic possess certain peculiar charms, a freshness of youth and growth, a variety of motion and development, so also with the Norbertine Order. Though the plan of St. Norbert was not entirely original, still he may truly be called a pioneer, who united in one institute contemplation and action, social asceticism and the priesthood, under the perfect obedience to the supreme Head of the Church. Today most know about Benedictines, Dominicans, Jesuits and Franciscans, but few have heard of the order of Prémontré, or as they are more commonly known the Norbertines. This order possessed its own liturgical tradition, along with an epic history. May this work fill in the gap in our knowledge.