Some time after Abelard's condemnation, the Pope was appeased at the solicitation of the Abbot of Clugni, who received this unfortunate gentleman into his monastery with great humanity, reconciled him with St. Bernard, and admitted him to be a Religious of his society.
This was Abelard's last retirement, in which he found all manner of kindness; he read lectures to the monks, and was equally humble and laborious. At last growing weak, and afflicted with a complication of diseases, he was sent to the priory of St. Marcel upon the Saone, near Chalons, a very agreeable place, where he died the 21st of April 1142, in the 63d year of his age. His corpse was sent to the chapel of Paraclete, to Heloise, to be interred, according to her former request of him, and to his own desire. The Abbot of Clugni, when he sent the body to Heloise according to the custom of those times, sent with it an absolution, to be fixed, together with his epitaph, on his grave-stone, which absolution was at follows:
"I Peter, Abbot of Clugni, having received Father Abelard into the number of my Religions, and given leave that his body be privately conveyed to the abbey of the Paraclete, to be disposed of by Heloise Abbess of the same abbey; do, by the authority of God and all the saints, absolve the said Abelard from all his sins*."
* Ego Petrus Cluniacensis Abbas, qui Pet. Abselardum in monacum Cluniacensem recepi, & corpus ejus surtim delatum Heloissa abbatissae & monialibus Paracleti concessi, authoritate omnipotentis Dei & omnium sanctorum, absolvo eum pro officio ab omnibus peccatis suis.
Heloise, who survived him twenty years, had all the leisure that could be to effect the cure of her unhappy passion. Alas! she was very long about it! she passed the rest of her days like a religions and devout Abbess, frequent in prayers, and entirely employed in the regulation of her society. She loved study; and being a mistress of the learned languages, the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, she was esteemed a miracle of learning.
Abelard, in a letter he wrote to the Religious of his new house, says expressly, that Heloise understood these three languages. The Abbot of Clugni, likewise, in a letter he wrote to her, tells her, she excelled in learning not only all her sex, but the greatest part of men†. And in the calendar of the house of the Paraclete she is recorded in these words: Heloise, mother and first abbess of this place, famous for her learning and religion. I must not here pass by a custom the Religious of the Paraclete now have to commemorate how learned their first Abbess was in the Greek, which is, that every year, on the day of Pentecost, they perform divine service in the Greek tongue. What a ridiculous vanity!
† Studio tuo & mulieres omnes eviciti, & pene viros universos suparasti. Abel Op.
Francis d’Amboise tells us how subtilely one day she satisfied St. Bernard, upon asking her, why in her abbey, when they recited the Lord's Prayer, they did not say, Give us this day our Daily bread, but Give us this day our Supersubstantial bread, by an argument drawn from the originals, affirming we ought to follow the Greek version of the gospel of St. Matthew wrote in Hebrew. Without doubt, it was not a little surprising to St. Bernard, to hear a woman oppose him in a controversy, by citing a Greek text. 'Tis true, some authors say, Abelard made this answer to St. Bernard, after hearing from Heloise that objections were made to that form of prayer. However the case was, a woman with a small competency of learning might in those time pass for a miracle; and though she might not equal those descriptions which have been given of her, yet she may deservedly be placed in the rank of women of the greatest learning. Nor was she less remarkable for her piety, patience, and resignation, during her sicknesses in the latter part of her life. She died the 17th of May 1163. 'Tis said she desired to be buried in the same tomb with her Abelard, though that probably was not executed. Francis d’Amboise says, he saw at the convent the tombs of the founder and foundress near together. However a manuscript of Tours gives us an account of an extraordinary miracle which happened when Abelard’s grave was opened for Heloise’s body, namely that Abelard stretched out his arms to receive her, and embraced her closely, though there were twenty good years passed since he died. But that is a small matter to a writer of miracles.
I shall conclude this history with an epitaph on Abelard, which the Abbot of Clugni sent Heloise, and which is now to be read on his tomb; it hath nothing in it delicate either for thought or language, and will scarcely bear a translation. It is only added here for the sake of the curious, and as an instance of the respect paid to the memory of so great a man, and one whom envy had loaded with the greatest defamations.
"Petrus in hac petra latitat, quem mundus Homerum
Clamabat, fed jam sidera sidus habent.
Sol erat hic Gallis, sed eum jam fata tulerunt:
Ergo caret Regio Gallica sole suo.
Ille sciens quid quid fuit ulli scibile, vicit
Artifices, artes absque docente docens.
Undecimae Maij petrum rapuere Calendae,
Privantes Logices atria Rege fuo.
Est fatis, in tumulo Petrus hic jacit Abaelardus,
Cui soli patuit scibile quid quid erat.