Alchemist Monks

Alchemist Monks Victor. Arturo. Cabello. Reyes. "A world dwells in the Heart of a millet Seed, in the wing of a bird is the Ocean of Life, and in the pupil of an Eye is a Heaven." (Mahmud Shabistani, The Garden of the Mystical Rose) From early in the Middle Ages, bishops, monks, friars and canons practiced the sacred science of alchemy in monasteries and abbeys. Mendicant, Dominican and Franciscan orders and many friars in their monasteries practiced the Magnum Opus. From and during the Middle Ages, monasteries, convents and abbeys were transformed into places and temples of alchemical knowledge. Cathedrals of Knowledge! As for alchemy – miraculous as it may seem – its search was associated with the stone = Christ, as well as with the process of Creation and the Eucharist. Therefore, alchemy as a science of knowledge and a science of nature is similar to the attempt of creation and its understanding from chaos to Light. Without a doubt, like the search for the Grail (twelfth and thirteenth centuries), alchemist monks "Christianized" the alchemical message in a spiritual and material way. It is said that in each monastery there was a particular place to place the 'alchemical furnace' and some wise monks to treat the philosophical stone in its various forms. On the other hand, from the tenth to the thirteenth century, the monastic school opened up and the mendicant orders=(Premonstratensians and Cistercians) founded colleges of alchemical knowledge controlled by intellectual monks who, thanks to the existence of the monastic life, acted as masters and sages of metallurgical workmanship. "A university Freemasonry dreams of leading Christianity." (Jacques Le Goff, The Intellectuals in the Middle Ages, p.p.118-119) However, the rough Stone is then roughened and polished into the Philosopher's Stone, thanks to the work tools and the technique required for physical, mental, material and spiritual transmutation; Art of transforming impure metals or imperfect stones into polished stones. Transmute dead stones into living philosophical stones! ''This Booke the greatest Clearkes mayteach...'' "To the Clerics this Book wants to teach..." (Thomas Norton, The Ordinall of Alchemy) It is the Officium divinum = Magisterium Artifex of the alchemist monk. It is striking that it is part of what was considered heresies from the fourth to the eleventh century, since the clerics have a determining role in the fundamental and historical study of alchemy. In the same way, when a construction was carried out (Gothic Cathedral), the workforce was administered and regulated by certain provisions and plans according to a hierarchy from the architect (almost always a monk), to the master and "stonecutter" officers. From the end of the eleventh century, it is known that the Benedictine monk Theophilus described, among notes and notes, a whole valuable series of inventions made by monks in monasteries, such as the production of glass, fire paints, and the "alchemical" mixture of colors=( Schedula diversarum artium). And indeed, in the "artistic work" were hidden alchemical symbols and the harmonization of stone forms. The particular contributions of monk-masons are examined by the architectural master-monk, and are harmonized between forms and styles of polished stone. In this way, the cathedrals = Chartres, Reims, Paris, Strasbourg, Cologne and Vienna were built. On the other hand, the Freemason-operatives remained united and 'artistic freedom' was directed by the preconceived ideas of the master-architect. The stone is carved and chiseled for transformation and polishing. In fact, the Hermetic and Solomonic tradition is fused by wise translator and educated monks. "Solomon is the master of all Eastern and Hebrew science, not only the Sage of the Old Testament, but he is the great representative of Hermetic Science and under his name is placed the encyclopedia of magical knowledge, since Solomon is the master of secrets, the possessor of the mysteries of Science". (Jacques LeGoff, The Intellectuals in the Middle Ages, p.62) Manuscripts, oriental parchments and vellum, come into contact with monks educated in Italy and Spain = (Greek, Latin and Arabic). It is striking that these monks work with Arabic manuscripts and versions of Greek texts, some of which are clearly of "alchemical-hermetic" origin from the Ars Regia of the Sons of the Golden Head. Bernard of Sylvester, centuries before Paracelsus, wrote his fundamental allegory between macrocosm and microcosm; the original foundation of the Whole. As can be seen, the medieval alchemist in most cases was a cleric = ''a learned clerk'', since they were formally educated in the study and reproduction of all kinds of manuscripts and ancient parchments, from the 9th century to the middle of the 17th century, the practice of alchemy reached monarchs and emperors. Let us remember the monk Geoffrey Chaucer, a great connoisseur of alchemy in the 14th century who satirically writes about alchemy in his Canon's Yeoman Tale (1390). In summary, many were master monk alchemists='Theophilus (tenth century), Robert of Chester, archdeacon of Pamplona and Valencia, Thomas Norton of Briseto (1433-1513), Abbé Dom Pernety, Benedictine of Saint Maur (eighteenth century), Albertus Magnus, Arnau of Vilanova, Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon (1214-1294), George Ripley (1450-1490), Canon of Bridlington, Abbot Trithemius, Gerard of Cremona (1114-1187), Basil Valentine (1394), Abbot Cremer, of Westminster, John Dastin (wrote Alchemical Letters to Pope John XXII and Cardinal Orsini), Thomas Vaughan (1621-66). ''... The Earth as raw material is not a dead body, but is inhabited by Spirit, which is the Life and Soul of the earth. All creatures, minerals as well, receive their forces from the Spirit of the earth. Spirit is Life. He is fed by the stars and he nourishes all living things in his lap." (Basilio Valentín) In this way, the stone is polished and worked according to the model; often with deep alchemical and Kabbalistic elements included among the forms and symbols. On the other hand, the work of the 'rough stone' always expresses its suspicious dimension rich in hidden elements that comes to light every day. In the Vatican Apostolic Library=(Cod.Urb. lat. 899, f.106 v., 91=Nicola d'Antonio degli Agli (1480), the famous column of the Temple = Boaz, the farmer of Bethlehem and his wife Ruth the "gleaner" appears; symbolizing the alchemical spirit and masculine principle = seed of the work. The science of alchemy was jealously guarded by the alchemist clerics as a secret and sacred science = Royal Priestly Art! To this end, spiritual-material science and worldview. This is so, through constantly copying manuscripts and transcribing parchments, the monks intervene and learn about the "legacy of chimie" first-hand. In the famous work Book of the Holy Trinity (15th century), there is a table that relates Christ's wounds to the planets, metals and colors, highlighting the virtues and "deadly sins". The stone of the monk stonemasons hides enigmatic emblems that were transmitted from ''word of mouth'' penetrating the most hidden levels and secrets of the process of transmutation of raw stone and 'raw material' to the Great Work of stone carving. Let us remember the Catalan Franciscan Juan de Rupescissa and his search for the Quintessence and the material stone. (De consideratione quinta essentiae omnium rerum, 1351-2). Philosopher's Stone as 'omnium remedium'. The monastic workshops are art schools where monks take care of everything, architecture, goldsmithing, sculpture, painting, weaving and upholstery, glass and ceramics. In the seventh century, St. Eligius was famous in the Monastery of Solignac for his goldsmith's art. Bishop St. Bernard was the protector of the architecture and casting of bronze. ''To treat alchemy as no more than plain material chemistry is undoubtedly an error; to treat it as no more than an interior mental process is no less.'' (F. Sherwood Taylor, The Alchemists, p.180) Se afirma que fray Elías de Cortona, superior de la Orden Franciscana, permitía a los monjes en una celda privada practicar la alquimia. Claro ejemplo, Buenaventura de Iseo y autor de Liber Compostella o Libro del Campo de la Estrella, Robert Grossetete y Gerardo de Cremona. Entre los Dominicos alquimistas, tenemos a Vicente de Beauvais, Alberto Magno y Tomás de Aquino. ''Los grandes pensadores de la alquimia fueron esa gente de iglesia que en la Edad Media constituían, sin lugar a dudas, la élite intelectual. El dominico San Alberto Magno, el franciscano Roger Bacon brillaron por sus conocimientos alquímicos.'' (J. van Lennep, Arte y Alquimia, p.53) Camino del Adeptus=''el que ha conseguido a Dios''. Se dice que el monje Gerberto fue el primer grran alquimista occidental. (fue papa en 999=Silvestre II). Durante el siglo XIII, se encuentra la alquimia desarrollada y madura en formas diversas experesivas en dos principios; composición de metales y producción. Todos los metales estaban formados de diversas sustancias conteniendo azufre y mercurio. ''The enterprise of alchemy saw monks and canons collaborating with secular priests, merchants, and artisans: exchanging books, debating ingredients, sharing space, and setting down their experience in treatises, poems, and recipe collections.'' (Jennifer Rampling, The Experimental Fire, p.16) La alquimia={Alconomie},en su desarrollo medieval tiene algo de poesía. Monjes ingleses según Rampling, son Michael de Northgate y John of London(1320s), el Benedictino Walter de Evesham, abad de Evesham, cercano a Worcester (1280-1301), y el Cisterciano Richar Dove entre otros. La orden de San Benito, entre pobreza y obediencia, contenía elementos de estudio alquímico en las celdas de sus monjes. Cabe decir que Abades del Cluny desde San Berno (950), practican ciertas modalidades de recetas alquímicas en sus monasterios. ''Y es que la mayor parte de los alquimistas, al menos hasta los albores del Renacimiento, fueron clérigos, en especial frailes pertenecientes a las órdenes mendicantes, las más pujantes desde su fundacióm en el siglo XIII.'' (Luis E. Inigo Fernández, Breve Historia de la Alquimia, p.139) The alchemy of the convents and monasteries never expects to be vindicated by academics and neo-recipe blowers, their own structure of rational and practical-experimental thought (with successes and failures), bifurcates into two aspects; material and spiritual in the search for the Philosopher's Stone and elixir of life. Thomas Ellys (1493-1557), Prior of Little Leighs, is an alchemist It is a priestly alchemy that goes beyond being understood as material or felt as spiritual power exclusively. There are three alchemical currents: metallurgical, sacred and prescription, medical and spiritual. ''Avoide youre bokis writen of receytis, For al such receptis be ful of deceytis.'' (Thomas Norton, Ordinall) For the alchemist monk, transcending the material or the physical stone was the transcendental vehicle of the Philosopher's Stone, as it was transmuted as man's consciousness. Opus Dei and the monk's work in the monastery and laboratory = Labora and Ora, imply abundant study and constant reading and a virtuous and healthy life. "How Nature laments, and tells her pain and complaint. A foolish blower, sophistical, who uses nothing but mechanical art." (Jean de Meung) Science, literature and art in monasteries and in their libraries and desks=(scriptoria), are part of intellectual knowledge and work. It should be clarified: In monasteries you learn to take advantage of time = Rule. ''... a monk who had labored hard in this Art for twenty years and still knew nothing.'' (Arnaldo de Vilanova, De secretis naturae) So alchemy and architecture are almost exclusively in the hands of monks, artists and workers = Monk Hilduard was the master builder of the abbey church of Saint-Pére, in Chartres; Isemberto is the architect of the cathedral of Saintes. "Almost everyone wants to be called an Alchemist, any vulgar idiot, the young and the old. The barber, the old woman, a gossipy counselor. The tonsured monk, the priest and the soldier." (Franz Gassman (fourteenth century)