Today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Gilbert of Sempringham.

Saint-Gilbert was born at Sempringham to a wealthy Norman knight of England. He served Bishop Robert Bloet as a clerk and was ordained by the bishop’s successor. After his father’s death, he returned to Sempringham to assume his lordly duties as heir in 1131. In the same year, he began acting as an adviser for seven young women living in enclosures with lay sisters and brothers. He decided the community should be incorporated into an established religious order.

After establishing the community, he went to Citeaux to ask them if they would take over the community for him and was declined. With express permission from the pope, Gilbert then continued to lead the community along with the addition of several Canons Regulars who acted as spiritual leaders and him as Master General.

The community would later be known as the Gilbertine Order, the only English Order that existed during his time.

He was known for his sternness to his Order in enforcing the rules in his Order and his concern for the poor.

Saint Gilbert was canonized by Pope Innocent III in 1202.