Richard was born to a farming family and grew up at Thornton-le-Dale, in England. He studied at the University of Oxford but dropped out at age 18 or 19 to become a hermit. At first, he lived with a squire, John Dalton, in Pickering; there he became to have mystical experiences. His location after that is unknown, though he most likely lived in Richmondshire or Yorkshire. In the early 1330s, he began writing, in both English and Latin; many works were written to a Yorkshire anchoress, Margaret Kirkby, who was key in establishing his later reputation. He eventually died at a Cisterican nunnery in Hampole, where he had often helped the nuns in some way, though the details are unclear.
Not only was Richard a profuse writer, he also became one of the most-read English writers of the 15th century. Among his most famous works are the Incendium Amoris (The Fire of Love) and The Form of Living, as well as two Commentaries on the Psalter and a Commentary on the Readings in the Office of the Dead taken from Job, which was his first work to be published, in 1483. Along with longer works, he also wrote a number of short treatises. The below work is listed as one of his treatises, but it appears to actually be a section from his Latin Postilla super canticum canticorum (Notes on the Song of Songs), which only covers the first few verses of the book. I am not sure if the English translation is Richard's or not. In my modernization of the Middle English, I strove to keep as much of the original text as possible, which leads to some out-of-use grammatical constructions and words; I also kept the spelling "Jesu" ("Ihesu" in the original text"). Paragraph divisions are my own.
That is in English, “Oil out-poured is thy name.” The name of Jesu comes into the world, and as soon as it comes it smells like oil out-poured. “Oil” is said, for everlasting salvation is hoped. Soothly,[1] “Jesu” means as much as “savior” or “hale-full.”[2] Therefore, what means it, “Oil out-poured is thy name,” but “Jesu is Thy Name”? This Name is oil out-poured, for Jesu, the Word of God, has taken man’s kind. Jesu, Thou fulfills in works what Thou is called in name. Soothly, Thou saves man, Whom we call savior. Therefore, Jesu is Thy Name. Ah! Ah! that wonderful Name! Ah! that delightable Name! This is the Name that is above all names; Name altogether highest, without which no man hopes for hale. This name is, in mine ear, a heavenly sound, in my mouth, honey-full sweetness. Wherefore, do not wonder that I love that Name, the which gives comfort to me in all anguish. I cannot pray, I cannot have mind, without sounding the Name of Jesu. I savor no joy that with Jesu is not mingled. Whereso I be, whereso I sit, w hatso I do, the mind of the savor of the Name “Jesu” departs not from my mind. I have set my mind, I have set it like a tokening upon mine arm, for love is strong as death (cf. Sgs 8:6). As death slays all, so love overcomes all. Everlasting love has overcome me, not for to slay me, but for to quicken me. But it has wounded me, therefore it should heal me. It has through-fixed my heart, that it be healed to the marrow. And now, overcome, I fail. I hardly live for joy. Near-at-hand, I die; for I endure not in deliciousest sweetness, and I am ever drunken. It befalls that the flesh may not, of His virtue, every fail while the soul, in such joys, is ravished for to joy. But when unto me would come such joy, but for Jesu? The name of Jesu has taught me for to sing, and has lightened my mind with the heat of unmade light. Therefore I sigh, and cry, “Who shall shew to the loved Jesu, that I languish for love?” (cf. Sgs 2:5) My flesh has failed, and my heart melts in love, yearning for Jesu. All the heart, fastened in the yearning for Jesu, is turned into the fire of love; and with the sweetness of the Godhead it is fully filled.
Therefore—Ah, good Jesu—have mercy on this wretch! Show Thyself to this languishing one! Be Thou leech[3] unto this wounded one! If Thou come, I am hale, I feel myself, not sick, but languishing for Thy love; late my soul takes breath, seeking Thee, Jesu, Whom it loves; with what love it is taken, Thou Whom only it covets. Soothly, the mind, touched with the sovereign sweetness, breathes for to wax hot in the love of the Maker, whiles it strains to hold busily within itself the sweetest Name of Jesu. Soothly, from thence arises a great love; and whatever thing that it truly touches, it ravishes it utterly to it. It inflames the affection, it binds the thought, yea, and all the man it draws to the service of it. Soothly, Jesu, desirable is Thy Name, lovable and comfortable. None such sweet joy may be considered. None such sweet song may be heard. None such sweet and delightable solace may be had in mind. Therefore, whatsoever thou be, that readies thyself for to love God, if thou will never be dissuaded nor deceived, if thou will be wise and not unwise, if thou will stand and not fall, have in mind, busily, for to hold the Name of Jesu in thy mind; and then thine enemy shall fall and thou shall stand; thine enemy shall be made wake, thou shall be made strange. And if thou will loyally do this, far from dread, thou shall be a glorious and lovable overcomer.
Seek, therefore, the Name of Jesu, and hold it, and forget it not. Soothly, nothing slackens such fell flames, destroys ill thoughts, puts out venomous affections, does away with curious and vain occupations from us. This Name Jesu, loyally held in mind, draws out vices by the root, sets virtues, in-laws charity, in-sets savor of heavenly things, wastes discord, reforms peace, gives indwelling rest, does away with the grievousness of fleshly desires, turns all earthly thing to annoyance, fills the lover with ghostly joy. So that it may well be said, “Et gloriabuntur omnes qui deligunt nomen tuum, quoniam tu benedices iusto,” that is, “All shall joy, that loves Thy Name, for Thou shall bless the righteous” (Ps 5:12-13). Therefore, the righteous has deserved to be blessed, if the Name of Jesu truly he has loved; and therefore, he is called righteous, for he constrained himself truly to love Jesu. Wherefore, what may befall unto him that unceasingly covets for to love the Name of Jesu? Soothly, he loves, and he yearns for to love, for we have known that the love of God stands in such manner that, inasmuch as we may love, the more we long for to love. Wherefore it is said, “Qui edunt me adhuc esurient, et qui bibunt me adhuc sciciunt?”, that is to say, “They that eat Me, they hunger yet; and they that drink me, they thirst yet” (Sir 24:29). Therefore, by itself, delightable and covetable is the Name of Jesu, and the love of it. Therefore, joy shall not fail unto him that covets busily for to love Him Whom angels yearn for to behold. Angels ever see, and ever they yearn for to see; and so are they filled, that their filling does not take away their desire, and so they desire that[4] their desire does not take away their filling. This is full joy, this is endless joy, this is glorious joy, the which the filled uses lastingly without annoyance; and if we use it, we shall be filled ever without lessening. Therefore, Jesu, all shall joy that loves Thy Name. Soothly, they shall joy now, by the in-setting of grace, and, in time to come, by sight of joy, and therefore they shall joy, because joy comes of love. Therefore, he that loves not, he shall ever more be without joy. Therefore, many wretches of the world, trusting themselves to joy with Christ, [5] shall sorrow without end. And why? For they loved not the Name of Jesu. Whatso ye[6] do, if ye give all that ye have unto the needy, but ye love not the Name of Jesu, ye travail in vain. As only they may joy in Jesu that love Him in this life; and they that fill themselves with vices and venomous delights do not dread that they are put out of joy. Also, all wit that the Name of Jesu is hale-full, fruitful, and glorious.
Therefore, who shall have hale that loves it not, or who shall bear the fruit before Christ that has not the flower? And joy shall he not see, that, joying, loved not the Name of Jesu. The wicked shall be done away, that he see not the joy of God. Soothly, the righteous seeks the joy and the life, and they find it in Jesu, Whom they loved. I went about by coveting of riches, and I found not Jesu. I sat in companies of worldly mirth, and I found not Jesu. In all there, I sought Jesu, but I found Him not, for He let me wit,[7] by His grace, that He is not found in the land of soft living. Therefore, I turned by another way, and I ran about by poverty, and I found Jesu, pure born in the world, laid in a crib and lapped in clothes. I went by suffering of weariness, and I found Jesu weary in the way, tormented with hunger, thirst, and cold, filled with reproofs and blames. I sat by myself, fleeing the vanities of the world, and I found Jesu in the desert, fasting on the mount, praying alone. I ran by the pain of penance, and I found Jesu bound, scourged, given gall to drink, nailed to the Cross, hanging on the Cross, and dying on the Cross. Therefore, Jesus is not found in riches, but in poverty; not in delights, but in penance; not in wanton joying, but in bitter grating; not among many, but in only-ness. Soothly, an evil man finds not Jesu, for, where He is, he seeks Him not. He constrains himself to seek Jesu in the joy of the world, where never He shall be found. Soothly, therefore, the Name of Jesu is hale-full, and needs behooves be loved by all coveting salvation. He covets well his salvation that keeps busily in himself the Name of Jesu. Soothly, I have no wonder if the tempted fall, that puts not the Name of Jesu in lasting mind. Securely only may he or she choose to live, that has chosen the Name of Jesu especially, for there may no wicked spirit annoy, where Jesu is much in mind or is named in mouth, etc. Explicit.[8]
Footnotes: [1] “Sooth” means “truth,” as in the old phrase, “for sooth!”
[2] Hale” is an older English world for “health,” originally spelled “hele” or “hael,” where one can see the connection to “heal.” There are also connections to “whole.”
[3] The term “leech” could mean “doctor” in older English usage.
[4] The editor’s notes interpolate this phrase, found in the original Latin, but not in the Middle English translation.
[5] That is, trusting that they would have joy with Him in eternity.
[6] In Middle English, “ye” is the second-person plural, as opposed to “thou,” the second-person singular. “You” was a form of “ye,” but it later became used as a formal singular.
[7] “To wit” means “to know,” and the verb was very commonly used in older English. Occasionally one still hears the phrase “to wit” as analogous to “that is.”
[8] The text ends somewhat abruptly since it is a fragment of a larger work; see the Introduction.
Source: English Prose Treatises of Richard Rolle de Hampole, ed. George G. Perry, Early English Text Society, Original Series, 20 (London: Oxford University Press, 1921), 1-5.