Jan 10 William de Don Jeon (of Burgess) d. ~1210 c. 1218

Thom and Jack
Good Morning, I love you

When reviewing a resume, a typical disqualifier is frequent job changes. But, then again, if a person is changing jobs frequently, some one new is always hiring the person. My recommendation is to stick with one organization for the long run. Believe it or not, the data seem to support that individuals who stick in one place ultimately advance further than the frequent movers. The turtle beats the hare. The ant survives the grasshopper. And then there’s William de Don Jeon.


January 10

William of Bourges d. ~1210 c. 1218


William de Don Jeon was born at Nevers France. He was educated by his uncle Peter, archdeacon of Soissons. William de Don Jeon was born into well connected Church family: thus, likely, also well connected in the secular arena. He was blessed to have an uncle well positioned in a near-by city. He was able to receive an excellent education not only from his uncle but from the Church and community resources from whom the archdeacon could draw.

You have an uncle from whom you can learn a lot. A man of honor, service, diligence: and, oh by the way, your Godfather. You might let yourself turn to him for guidance on faith and Church. He’ll give it to you straight. Although he has some long-term, justified complaints against our Church, with special disregard for some of the assholes in cassocks, he has a faith, religiosity, and piety worthy of your emulating. The Catholic half of your family also has the resources of Mother Church from which you should draw sustenance and education – for your mind and your soul.

William de Don Jeon became a canon of Soissons and of Paris. The man started as a student and rose up the ecclesiastical ranks. Such ascendency is in part who you know but also to continue in the trajectory usually requires demonstrable holiness as well as service and leadership talents that draw people to the Church. You should take a closer look at William de Don Jeon’s rise from his being sent to study with his uncle to his appointment as Canon of Paris. These were public positions in direct service to increasingly large groups of people. He was in the public eye as well under the watchful gaze of our Church fathers of the time.

Learn from this man how you too should prepare yourself and act in your vocation in order to be called on to serve and lead more people. How you should marshal your gifts and resources and pass them forward so that you bring back to God 5,000 times the talent He gave you.

William de Don Jeon then became a monk at Grandmont Abbey. On the rise, fast tracked, on the A-team. Suddenly William De Don Jeon ducks out of the public arena into a monastery. How does a person stay tuned to his vocation, the constant variations on the theme of God’s calling? This move is not predicted by anything we know from the brief bioblurb. This man has that story to tell.

The trajectory he was on pointed to the peaks of ecclesiastical hierarchy in France if not in Rome. All of a sudden he says no to this. He withdraws to pray and serve his fellow monks and the people for whom the monastery exists. Instead of flying higher on the wings of ascendency, William de Don Jeon becomes servant to the servant and pursues a life a prayer and aesthetics. If we stop the film here, what do we predict? Given what we know about the lives of saints, our best bet is that this man will do his best to follow God’s will: no matter what that is or where it takes him.

William de Don Jeon became a Cistercian. There is being a monk and there is being a Cistercian! The strictness of the rule and the demands for adherence to it are beyond what you think we get from our marines or navy seals. William de Don Jeon left the monastery near Paris, a vibrant hub of our Church where he had been canon and went to a Cistercian monastery at Pontigny. God will lead you almost anywhere. Some times we think we know why. Some times we agree to go without asking why. But Pontigny? The Cistercian monastery?

William de Don Jeon was elected to serve as Abbot at Fontaine-Jean in Sens, and in 1187 became Abbot at Chalis near Senlis. When a community of monks select their abbot, especially twelfth century Cistercians, the criteria include one’s personal adherence to the rule and the ability by example, exhortation, and direction to help others to do so also. William de Don Jeon was chosen to lead two Cistercian monasteries. Imagine not only his personal holiness and communal influence but also how a reputation necessary to be called to another monastery was built up around this man of God.

In 1200, William de Don Jeon was named Archbishop of Bourges. An abbot in the twelfth century was a big kahuna in the community and the Church, not to mention in the religious order and at the monastery. Obviously, William de Don Jeon’s reputation rang out beyond the abbey walls. He was called by the people of Borges, confirmed by Pope Innocent III, supported by his Cistercian superiors to become Archbishop. What the bioblurb tells us about his reign as archbishop allows you to extrapolate back to develop a fuller picture of him as Abbot and monk.

William of Bourges lived a life of great austerity. He was a canon in a major see. He withdrew to become a monk. He pursued his vocation into the Cistercians, whose very name should make you think of a life of austerity. He answered the call to be Abbot for two Cistercian monasteries: to be a model of Cistercian austerity. And the bioblurb says he lived a life of GREAT austerity! Austere beyond Cistercian austerity is radical piety; an extreme makeover of a religious kind. As Archbishop of Bourges he had regal opportunities and he chose to live a life of great austerity.

William of Bourges was in great demand as a confessor. When you think of bishop or archbishop you don’t think of confessor. I had a paradigm as a psych hospital ceo. I believed that I could best lead the hospital from the treatment team meeting. In the similar but profoundly more holy way, it seems that William of Bourges led his See (as he likely did his monasteries) by touching the souls of people directly, at the moments of their greatest vulnerabilities. Great numbers of people sought him out to confess to. What qualities of person do you require of some one to whom you are willing to confess to: confess even your minor faults and failings never mind any sins that aggrieve the heart of God?

William of Bourges aided the poor of his See. It is embarrassing to our Church that an archbishop is noteworthy because he aided the poor of his See. Alas, it is true. Many of our bishops were not servants of the poor. I’d say we’re getting better at it being more likely than not that our bishop aides the poor. He cannot, however, be much more generous than we are in our support of the poor of our diocese. Give more to our bishop. Tell him to aide the poor with your gift.

William of Bourges defended ecclesiastical rights against seculars, even the king. Twelfth century conflicts between the church and civil authorities were common. It was about land, a monster source of wealth. It was about tithes and taxes: who’d get the people’s money. It was about who had authority to judge which people and which offenses: the power of justice and mercy. Twelve hundred plus years into our Church, we still had challenges with role identity. Many of our church leaders were also the civil authority. It was common for Kings to name and control the men appointed to bishop, canon, priest, and deacon. Thus, who was their master? That William of Bourges had to defend ecclesiastical rights is a statement about the evolution of our western civilization.

William of Bourges converted many Albigensians during his missions to them. Any priest pursued as a confessor would not surprisingly be a success at converting his opponents. Not only dissuading them of the errors of their beliefs he brought them into full communion with the Church. Is that not the kind of person you want to be?

William of Bourges, a man to emulate.

I love you,
Dad
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