a French monastic, was born probably at Merston, in England, and flourished in the first half of the 12th century, first a monk at Clairvaux. and later as abbot of the new monastery founded at Vaucelle, in the diocese of Cambray, by St. Bernard. Raoul is renowned both for his magnificence and for his charity. In the time of want, he supported for months as many as five thousand paupers. Charles de Visch, in his Bibliotheque Cistercienne, counts him among the learned writers of his time, and attributes to him many works; but, according to Pastoret, these works are lost. He died in 1152. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.