Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor of the Church (Part Two)

Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Illustrations taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise stated.

20 August (Feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor)
Double
White Vestments

Vision of Saint Bernard 

(with Saint Benedict and Saint John the Evangelist)

by Fra Bartolomeo (1472 - 1517)

(the Uffizi Gallery, Florence)

Pope Eugenius III, who had been trained by Saint Bernard to the monastic life, solicited and received his counsels. At the Council of Etampes, he put an end to the schism, which, opposing Anacletus to Innocent III, troubled the clergy and people of Rome.

He was consulted by William of Aquitaine, by the Duchess of Lorraine, by the Countess of Brittany, by Henry, son of the King of France, by Peter, son of the King of Portugal, by Louis VI, Louis VII, Conrad, Lothaire and by the Abbot of Saint Denis. He silenced the famous Doctor Abelard at the Council of Laon, and his powerful logic unmasked the errors of Arnold of Brescia and of Peter de Bruys (Gospel).

The Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

Author: Chris Wee

Photo: May 2006. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

Lastly, he attacked Islam, and, by preaching the Second Crusade at Vezelay, he stirred up the whole of Europe by his overpowering eloquence.

Saint Bernard died at Clairvaux on 20 August 1153 and his body was laid at the foot of the altar of the Blessed Virgin. He left 160 monasteries which he had founded in Europe and Asia. His writings, replete with doctrines inspired by divine wisdom, caused him to be placed among the Doctors of the Church by Pope Pius VIII.

Let us have recourse to the intercession in Heaven of the one who, on Earth, taught us the way of life (Collect). Let us ask him to give us his love for the Mother of God, and let us piously recite the Anthem of the Season, Salve Regina, of which the three last invocations, "O Clement, O Loving, O Sweet Virgin Mary", are attributed to him.

PART THREE FOLLOWS