Aelred of Rievaulx
1110 AD — January 12, 1167 AD · Feast day: January 12
Son of a hereditary priest in Hexham, Aelred rose to steward of the Scottish royal court before entering Rievaulx Abbey at twenty-four in 1134. As abbot he built the community to 140 choir monks and 500 lay brothers, while writing 'De Spirituali Amicitia' — a work whose opening proposition, that Christ himself is the ground of all true friendship, startled an age that distrusted human affection.