In respect of illumination, there was a great quarrel between the
Abbey of Citeaux and that of Cluny. The great Abbey of Clugny (or Cluny)
in ancient Burgundy was founded in 910, and in the course of a century
or obtained a degree of splendour, influence, and prosperity unrivalled
by any other medi?val foundation. It possessed enormous wealth and
covered Western Europe with its affiliated settlements. Under Peter the
Venerable, when the controversy began, it was the chief monastic centre
of the Christian world. The words of Pope Urban II., when addressing the
community, were: "Ye are the light of the world."
The grand Basilica at Cluny was completed in 1131, and, until the
erection of St. Peter's at Rome, was the largest church in Christendom,
and even then was only ten feet shorter than the Roman edifice. The
building is a masterpiece of architectural beauty and massiveness, being
with its narthex added by Abbat Roland de Hainaut, no less in length
than 555 feet. The splendour of the church, its gorgeous tombs and
mausoleums, its huge coronals for lights of brass, silver, and gold--the
grand candelabrum before the altar, with its settings of crystal and
beryl--the mural painting of the cupola, and the general luxury and
magnificence of the whole constituted an unpardonable sin in the eyes of
the stern and self-denying Cistercians.
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