Aelred, St

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Aelred, St (1109–67). Cistercian monk of Rievaulx; author, as novice-master, of Speculum Caritatis (The Mirror of Love), emphasizing God's love as restoring fallen humans into their true image. He was abbot of Revesby in 1143 and of Rievaulx in 1147. He wrote a major work on Christian friendship, based on Cicero's De Amicitia, but showing how friendship is transformed and spiritualized in relation to Christ (hence the title, De Spirituali Amicitia). He has, consequently, been adopted as the equivalent of a patron saint by some gay (homosexual) Christians.

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