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Bernard was
born in 1090 at Fontaines les Dijon, the family castle near Dijon,
Burgundy, the third son of seven children. He was sent to study at
Chatillon and after a frivolous youth decided, on the death of his mother,
to pursue a religious life. In 1112, he persuaded thirty-one of his
friends and relatives (including four of his brothers) to go with him to
Citeaux, which had been founded in 1098, the first Cistercian monastery,
which observed a strict interpretation of the Benedictine rule. They were
most welcomed by the abbot, St. Stephen Harding. In 1115 Bernard was sent
with twelve monks to found a Cistercian house at Langres, with Bernard as
the abbott. Though there were initial difficulties because of Bernard's
strict discipline and austerities, his holiness soon attracted scores of
disciples. The name was changed from the Vallee d'Absinthe to Clairvaux
and was to become the mother house of some sixty-eight Cistercian
monasteries established by its monks. Bernard soon became involved in
matters outside the monastery as his reputation for learning and wisdom
spread, and he soon was one of the most powerful influences in Europe,
consulted by rulers and Popes. He supported the legitimacy of Pope
Innocent II's election in 1130 against the claims of antipope Anacletus II
and successfully led the struggle that led to Innocents's acceptance as
Pope. Bernard was the leader in convincing the Lombards to accept Lothaire
II as Emperor. In 1140 Bernard began preaching in public and was soon
regarded with awe for the miracles attributed to him and for the eloquence
of his preaching, for which he was acclaimed as the greatest preacher of
his times. He was the leader in the attacks on Abelard, questioning his
rationalism and extreme exaltation of human reason and opposed it with his
own certitude of faith and reliance on traditional authority. He was
instrumental in having Abelard condemned at the council of Sens and
forcing him into retirement. In 1142, Bernard arbitrated the disputed
succession to the see of York in England, and in the same year he saw the
abbot of the Cistercian Tre Fontane monastery in Rome, whom he had brought
to Clairvaux as a postulant, Peter Bernard Paganelli, elected Pope as
Eugene III. In 1145 the papal legate asked him to go to Languedoc in
southern France to combat the Albigensian heresy, and his preaching was
most successful, though not enduring. In 1146 he helped stop a series
pogroms in the Rhineland, and in the same year, at Eugene's request, he
preached a crusade against the Turks, who had captured Edessa on Christmas
in 1144. He roused all of Europe to the Second Crusade, headed by Emperor
Conrad III and Louis VII of France, which was to end in disaster - a fate
he blamed on the wickedness and lack of dedication of the crusaders. In
1153 Bernard left Clairvaux to effect a peace between the duke of Lorraine
and the inhabitants of Metz, which had been attacked by the duke. He was
stricken on his return and died at Clairvaux on August 20 of that year.
Bernard is considered the second founder of the Cistercians, and from the
time at twenty-five when he became abbot of Clairvaux he soon became the
domiant influence in the religious and political sphere of Western Europe.
His influence during the last forty years of his life was enormous and he
was prominently involved in practically every major event of those years.
His mystical writing, especially De Diligendo Deo, one of the outstanding
medieval mystical works, formed the mysticism of the Middle Ages, and his
other writings, his more than three hundred sermons, his treatise De
Consideratione, written for Pope Eugene's guidance, some five hundred
known letters, his reflections on Scripture, and his deep devotion to Mary
and the Infant Jesus all had a profound effect on Catholic spirituality.
Called the Mellifluous Doctor, he was canonized in 1174, was formally
declared a Doctor of the Church in 1830, and is considered the last of the
Fathers of the Church. |
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(From the Dictionary of Saints,
Copyright 1980 by John J. Delaney) |
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The Memorare of St. Bernard |
