Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

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Saint Bernard of Clairvaux , 1090?–1153, French churchman, mystic, Doctor of the Church. Born of noble family, in 1112 he entered the Cistercian abbey of Cîteaux, taking along 4 or 5 brothers and some 25 friends. In 1115 he headed the group sent to found a house at Clairvaux. There he remained abbot all his life, despite many efforts to elevate him to higher ecclesiastical office. A holy life, a reputation for miraculous cures, and unusual eloquence made Bernard renowned, and he became the most powerful religious influence in France and, in time, in all Western Europe. His example and mystical theology had decisive influence on the Cistercian order, and he is sometimes called its second founder. During his lifetime 68 houses were founded out of Clairvaux alone. It was he who led the long struggle to seat Innocent II, the canonically elected pope, and persuaded Lombardy to accept Emperor Lothair II. He procured the condemnation of Peter Abelard and Arnold of Brescia (1140), and he preached the Second Crusade (1146). He was the adviser of popes, especially of his friend Eugene III . He was tireless in journeys to make peace, and he undertook many arduous charitable missions; he stopped a wave of pogroms in the Rhineland (1146) and he repeatedly saved luckless peasants from the powerful. Through his writings, St. Bernard exerted a profound influence on Roman Catholic spirituality. His deep devotion to the Virgin Mary and to the Infant Jesus is evident in his work, which consists of about 330 sermons, some 500 known letters, and 13 treatises. His style, strong and eloquent, full of biblical allusions, and intensely personal and direct, has earned him the name Mellifluous Doctor. Among his sermons, the series of 86 on the Canticles have been favorites ( St. Bernard on the Song of Songs, tr. 1952). The most important treatises are On the Steps of Humility and Pride (c.1125; tr. by Geoffrey Webb and Adrian Walker, 1957), On Consideration (1149–53; tr. by E. Kennan, 1989), and On the Love of God (c.1127; tr. by T. L. Connolly, 1951). He was canonized in 1174. Feast: Aug. 20.

Bibliography: See W. Williams, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1952); T. Merton, The Last of the Fathers (1954, repr. 1970); O. J. Egres, Saint Bernard, His Life and Teaching (1971); J. R. Sommerfeldt, The Spiritual Teachings of Bernard of Clairvaux (1991).

Bernard, St (1090–1153), Abbot of Clairvaux. In 1112 he entered the monastery of Cîteaux and three years later was sent to establish a new house at Clairvaux. He came to exercise an immense influence in ecclesiastical and political affairs. In 1129 at the Synod of Troyes he obtained recognition for the Rule of the Templars, which he is said to have drawn up. In the disputed Papal election in 1130, he secured the victory of Innocent II; his relation with the Papacy became even closer with the election of a Cistercian monk and former pupil as Eugenius III in 1145. In his last years Bernard preached the Second Crusade.

His best-known work is the unfinished series of sermons on the Song of Songs. In it he ranges from the practical life of the monk to the mystical confrontation between the bridegroom and the bride of the Canticle; by use of allegory he interprets the bridegroom as Christ and the bride sometimes as the Church, sometimes as himself. Other sermons convey his deep-felt devotion to the BVM. Various treatises single out particular themes of the ascetic life. His letters show his concern with political and moral matters. They did much to prepare and then secure the condemnation of Peter Abelard at the Council of Sens (1140). Bernard sought to limit the use of reason in theology, and in his denunciation of the luxury of the Cluniac way of life to defend the ascetic ideal. In his opposition to the persecution of the Jews, he stood out from his contemporaries. Feast day, 20 Aug.

Bernard, St (1090–1153), abbot of the Cistercian foundation of Clairvaux and one of the foremost figures of the 12th-cent. monastic Reformation. He preached the Second Crusade, and opposed the dialectical theological method of Abelard which he had condemned at Soissons and Sens. He developed and preached ‘The Cistercian Programme’, a progression from carnal to spiritual love which, in its literary application, became one of the most important elements in medieval poetry from the troubadours to Dante. In his mysticism the stress is on God's grace, according to the Augustinian school, rather than on the deliberate achievement of man's contemplative efforts which was the aspect emphasized by the Neoplatonists and their followers in the prose mysticism of the 14th cent.

Bernard of Clairvaux, St (1090–1153). Christian monastic reformer and mystical writer. He joined the Cistercian monastery at Citeaux in c.1111, and established at Clairvaux in 1115 a daughter house in which he insisted on rigorous observance and discipline. He combined an emphasis on the love and mercy of God with vehement controversy on this earth. He was officially charged with preaching the Second Crusade. He was canonized in 1174 and proclaimed Doctor of the Church in 1830. Feast day, 20 Aug.

Bernard's understanding of spiritual life is affective, dominated by the way in which the human freedom to consent is met by God's grace so that the consequence of love flows forth.

Bernard of Clairvaux, St (1090–1153) French theologian and abbot. He was the first abbot of Clairvaux in France; his monastery there became one of the chief centres of the Cistercian order. He was noted for his asceticism, severity, and eloquence; his preaching at the council of Vézelay in 1146 instigated the Second Crusade; he had the French theologian Peter Abelard condemned for heresy.

Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint (1090?–1153) French mystic and religious leader. He was abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Clairvaux from 1115 until his death. Under his direction nearly 100 new monasteries were founded. He was canonized in 1174. His feast day is August 20.