Venerable Robert de Turlande

Robert de Turlande (c. 1000 - 17 April 1067) was a French Roman Catholic priest and professed member of the Order of Saint Benedict. He was of noble stock and was also related to Saint Gerald of Aurillac. He is best known for the establishment of the Benedictine convent of La Chaise-Dieu ('Home of God') and for his total commitment to the poor. He became a spiritual inspiration for Pope Clement VI - whose own origins in the religious life were based at that convent - and it was he who canonized the Benedictine abbot on 19 September 1531 in Avignon. Robert de Turlande was born in 1000 as the last child of the nobles Géraud de Turlande and Raingarde; she was the sister of the Bishop Rencon. He was also related to Gerald of Aurillac. His mother went into labour while in the forests near the castle she lived in and so gave birth to him there; locals perceived this as a sign that the child would become a hermit. Robert's education was overseen at the Church of Saint-Julien in Brioude where he later became its canon after he was ordained to the priesthood in 1026 - it was there that he founded a hospice for the poor of the region. He later became a monk at Cluny and placed himself under the direction of Odilo of Cluny. He travelled to Rome and later Monte Cassino in the Papal States to educate himself in the rule of Benedict of Nursia who established the Benedictines. On 28 December 1043 - with the knights Stephen Chaliers and Dalmas - he travelled to a vacant area of land around a ruined chapel that was to become his future Benedictine convent. In 1046, he and two of his companions received the permission of Pope Gregory VI to establish a hermitage and embark on a life of commitment to the poor. It was Gregory VI who suggested that the trio consider the contemplative life as a greater method of achieving their aim of providing for the poor; this prompted him to move to Auvergne.