Henry of Clairvaux, Bl.

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HENRY OF CLAIRVAUX, BL.

Cistercian abbot, cardinal; a.k.a. Henricus Gallus; b. at the Burgundian castle of Marcy; d. Arras, France, Jan. 1, 1189, buried at Clairvaux. He became a cistercian in 1155, abbot of hautecombe in 1160, and abbot of clairvaux in 1176. He served the popes by a mission to Abp. Henry of Reims (1162) and by reconciling King henry ii of england with the Church of Canterbury (1178). Since 1178 he had been active in reconciling the albigenses; in 1181by then cardinal bishop of Albanohe assumed leadership of that mission. He refused election to the papacy in 1187, preferring to dedicate himself to preaching a new crusade. He persuaded frederick barbarossa to take the cross along with thousands of Germans (1188); before his death, he had arranged for treaties between France and England and enrolled Philip Augustus and Henry II in this, the Third Crusade.

Feast: July 4.

Bibliography: Letters and a treatise in Patrologia Latina, ed. j. p. migne, 217 v. (Paris 187890) 204:215402; 185:627628. s. steffen, "Heinrich, Kardinalbischof von Albano: Ein Kirchenfürst des zwölften Jahrhunderts," Cistercienser-Chronik 21 (1909) 225236, 267280, 300306, 334343. g. kÜnne, Heinrich von Clairvaux (Berlin 1909). y. m. j. congar, "Henri de Marcy, abbé de Clairvaux, cardinal-évêque d'Albano et légat pontifical," Analecta Monastica 5 (1958) 190.

[j. r. sommerfeldt]