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

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise stated.

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

English: Stained glass representing St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Upper Rhine, circa 1450.

Français : Saint Bernard de Clairvaux, vitrail. Rhin supérieur, vers 1450.

Source/Photographer: Jastrow (2006)

(Wikimedia Commons)

St. Bernard of Clairvaux was named a Doctor of the Church in 1830. At the 800th anniversary of his death, Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical on Bernard, Doctor Mellifluus, in which he labelled him "The Last of the Fathers." Bernard did not reject human philosophy which is genuine philosophy, which leads to God; he differentiates between different kinds of knowledge, the highest being theological. Three central elements of Bernard's Mariology are how he explained the virginity of Mary, the "Star of the Sea", how the faithful should pray to the Virgin Mary, and how he relied on the Virgin Mary as Mediatrix.

Bernard also held some doctrines which the Reformers would later rekindle at the beginnings of the Protestant movement. Some people have therefore equated him with a Protestant before there were Protestants. In truth, he held to a mix of the Reformers' doctrines and the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church of his day. Bernard fought against the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Also of great importance to the Reformers would be Bernard's conception of justification. Calvin quotes Bernard several times to show the historical validity of Sola Fide, which Luther described as the article upon which the Church stands or falls. Calvin also quotes him in setting forth his doctrine of a forensic alien righteousness, or, as it is commonly called, imputed righteousness.

Bernard was instrumental in re-emphasising the importance of Lectio Divina and contemplation on Scripture within the Cistercian Order. Bernard had observed that, when Lectio Divina was neglected, monasticism suffered. Bernard considered Lectio Divina, and contemplation guided by the Holy Spirit, the keys to nourishing Christian spirituality.

Bernard of Clairvaux, as shown in the church of Heiligenkreuz Abbey, near Baden bei Wien, Lower Austria. Portrait (1700) with the true effigy of the Saint by Georg Andreas Wasshuber (1650-1732), (painted after a statue in Clairvaux with the true effigy of the saint)

Author: Georges Jansoone.

Photo: June 2006.

(Wikimedia Commons).

Bernard's theology and Mariology continue to be of major importance, particularly within the Cistercian and Trappist Orders. Bernard led to the foundation of 163 monasteries in different parts of Europe. At his death, they numbered 343. His influence led Pope Alexander III to launch reforms that would lead to the establishment of Canon Law. He was the first Cistercian monk placed on the Calendar of Saints and was canonized by Pope Alexander III on 18 January 1174. Pope Pius VIII bestowed on him the title of Doctor of the Church. He is fondly remembered as the "Mellifluous Doctor" (the Honey-Sweet-voiced Doctor) for his eloquence. The Cistercians honour him, as only the founders of Orders are honoured, because of the widespread activity which he gave to the Order.

The works of Bernard are as follows:

De Gradibus Superbiae, his first treatise;
Homilies on the Gospel, Missus est, written in 1120;
"Apology to William of St. Thierry" against the claims of the monks of Cluny;
"On the Conversion of Clerics," a book addressed to the young ecclesiastics of Paris, written in 1122;
De Laude Novae Militiae, addressed to Hugues de Payens, first Grand Master and Prior of Jerusalem (1129). This is a eulogy of the military Order, instituted in 1118, and an exhortation to the knights to conduct themselves with courage in their several stations;
De Amore Dei", wherein Bernard argues that the manner of loving God is to love without measure and gives the different degree of this love;
"Book of Precepts and Dispensations" (1131), which contains answers to questions upon certain points of the Rule of St Benedict, from which the abbot can, or cannot, dispense;
De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio, in which the Roman Catholic Dogma of Grace and Free Will was defended according to the principles of St Augustine;
De Consideratione ("On Consideration"), addressed to Pope Eugenius III;
De Officiis Episcoporum, addressed to Henry, Archbishop of Sens.

His sermons are also numerous:

On Psalm 90, Qui habitat, written about 1125;
"On the Song of Songs". [with an autobiographical passage, sermon 26, mourning the death of his brother, Gerard];
There are also 86 "Sermons for the Whole Year."

530 letters survive.

Many letters, treatises, and other works, falsely attributed to him survive, such as the l'Echelle du Cloître, les Méditations, and l'Edification de la Maison intérieure.

Saint Bernard's Prayer to the Shoulder Wound of Jesus is often published in Catholic prayer books.

Saint Bernard's views on the Virgin Mary also influenced other saints, e.g., in the classic text on Mariology, "The Glories of Mary", Saint Alphonsus Liguori based his analysis of Mary as the "Gate to Heaven" on Saint Bernard's statement: No one can enter Heaven, unless by Mary, as though through a door.

Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" places him as the last guide for Dante, as he travels through the Empyrean (Paradiso, cantos XXXI–XXXIII). Dante's choice appears to be based on Bernard's contemplative mysticism, his devotion to Mary, and his reputation for eloquence.

He is also the attributed author of the poem, often translated in English hymnals as, "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded".

THIS CONCLUDES THE ARTICLE ON SAINT BERNARD, ABBOT AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH.

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

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise stated.

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

Church of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in Flachsmeer, 

District of Leer, East Frisia, Germany.

Deutsch: Hist. Kirche (kath.) in Flachsmeer, LK Ler, Ostfriesland. 

Author: Frisia Orientalis

Photo: May 2009. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

Second Crusade (1146–49)

News came at this time from the Holy Land that alarmed Christendom. Christians had been defeated at the Siege of Edessa and most of the country had fallen into the hands of the Seljuk Turks. The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the other Crusader states were threatened with similar disaster. Deputations of the bishops of Armenia solicited aid from the Pope, and the King of France also sent ambassadors. The Pope commissioned Saint Bernard to preach a Second Crusade and granted the same Indulgences for it which Pope Urban II had accorded to the First Crusade.

There was, at first, virtually no popular enthusiasm for the Crusade, as there had been in 1095. Bernard found it expedient to dwell upon the taking of the Cross as a potent means of gaining absolution for sin and attaining grace. On 31 March, with King Louis present, he preached to an enormous crowd in a field at Vézelay. When Bernard was finished, the crowd enlisted en masse; they supposedly ran out of cloth to make Crosses. Bernard is said to have given his own outer garments to be cut up to make more.

Unlike the First Crusade, the new venture attracted royalty, such as Eleanor of Aquitaine, then Queen of France; Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders; Henry, the future Count of Champagne; Louis’ brother Robert I of Dreux; Alphonse I of Toulouse; William II of Nevers; William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey; Hugh VII of Lusignan; and numerous other nobles and bishops.

But an even greater show of support came from the common people. Bernard wrote to the Pope a few days afterwards, "Cities and castles are now empty. There is not left one man to seven women, and everywhere there are widows to still-living husbands."

Church of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Kurrenberg, Germany. 

Deutsch: katholische Kirche St. Bernhard in Kürrenberg

Author: GFreihalter

Photo: April 2011. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

Bernard then passed into Germany, and the reported miracles which multiplied almost at his every step undoubtedly contributed to the success of his mission. Conrad III of Germany and his nephew, Frederick Barbarossa, received the Cross from the hand of Bernard. Pope Eugenius came in person to France to encourage the enterprise. As in the First Crusade, the preaching inadvertently led to attacks on Jews; a fanatical French monk named Radulphe was apparently inspiring massacres of Jews in the Rhineland, Cologne, Mainz, Worms, and Speyer, with Radulphe claiming Jews were not contributing financially to the rescue of the Holy Land.

The archbishop of Cologne and the archbishop of Mainz were vehemently opposed to these attacks and asked Bernard to denounce them. This he did, but when the campaign continued, Bernard travelled from Flanders to Germany to deal with the problems in person. He then found Radulphe in Mainz and was able to silence him, returning him to his monastery.

The last years of Bernard's life were saddened by the failure of the Second Crusade he had preached, the entire responsibility for which was thrown upon him. Bernard considered it his duty to send an apology to the Pope and it is inserted in the second part of his "Book of Considerations." There he explains how the sins of the Crusaders were the cause of their misfortune and failures. When his attempt to call a new Crusade failed, he tried to disassociate himself from the fiasco of the Second Crusade, altogether.

Interior of Church of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Rome.

Chiesa di San Bernardo alle terme, nel quartiere Castro Pretorio, a Roma. Interno. 

Author: gaspa

Photo: August 2006. 

(Wikimedia Commons). 

The death of his contemporaries served as a warning to Bernard of his own approaching end. The first to die was Abbot Suger in 1152, of whom Bernard wrote to Eugenius III: "If there is any precious vase adorning the palace of the King of Kings, it is the soul of the venerable Suger". Conrad III and his son, Henry, died the same year. From the beginning of the year 1153, Bernard felt his death approaching. The passing of Pope Eugenius had struck the fatal blow by taking from him one whom he considered his greatest friend and consoler.

Bernard died at age sixty-three on 20 August 1153, after forty years spent in the cloister. He was buried at Clairvaux Abbey, but, after its dissolution in 1792 by the French revolutionary government, his remains were transferred to Troyes Cathedral.


PART NINE FOLLOWS

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

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise stated.

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

Altar of Saint Bernard in the North Transept of Ebrach Abbey, Germany.

Author: Mattana

Photo: June 2012. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

In 1139, Bernard assisted at the Second Council of the Lateran, in which the surviving adherents of the schism were definitively condemned. About the same time, Bernard was visited at Clairvaux by Saint Malachy, Primate of All Ireland, and a very close friendship formed between them. Malachy wanted to become a Cistercian, but the Pope would not give his permission. Malachy would die at Clairvaux in 1148.

Contest with Abelard

Towards the close of the 11th-Century, a spirit of independence flourished within schools of philosophy and theology. This led for a time to the exaltation of human reason and rationalism. The movement found an ardent and powerful advocate in Peter Abelard. Abelard's treatise on the Trinity had been condemned as heretical in 1121, and he himself had thrown his book into the fire. 

However, Abelard continued to develop his teachings, which were controversial in some quarters. Bernard, informed of this by William of St-Thierry, is said to have held a meeting with Abelard, intending to persuade him to amend his writings, during which Abelard repented and promised to do so. 

But, once out of Bernard's presence, he reneged. Bernard then denounced Abelard to the Pope and cardinals of the Curia. Abelard sought a debate with Bernard, but Bernard initially declined, saying he did not feel matters of such importance should be settled by logical analyses.

The Choir of Ebrach Abbey, Germany.

Author: Mattana

Photo: June 2012. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

Bernard's letters to William of St-Thierry also express his apprehension about confronting the pre-eminent logician. Abelard continued to press for a public debate, and made his challenge widely known, making it hard for Bernard to decline. In 1141, at the urgings of Abelard, the archbishop of Sens called a Council of Bishops, where Abelard and Bernard were to put their respective cases. so Abelard would have a chance to clear his name.

Bernard lobbied the prelates on the evening before the debate, swaying many of them to his view. The next day, after Bernard made his opening statement, Abelard decided to retire without attempting to answer. The Council found in favour of Bernard and their judgment was confirmed by the Pope. Abelard submitted without resistance, and he retired to Cluny Abbey to live under the protection of Peter the Venerable, where he died two years later.

Cistercian Order and Heresy

Bernard had occupied himself in sending bands of monks from his overcrowded monastery into Germany, Sweden, England, Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland, and Italy. Some of these, at the command of Pope Innocent II, took possession of Three Fountains Abbey, from which Pope Eugenius III would be chosen in 1145.

Pope Innocent II died in the year 1143. His two successors, Pope Celestine II and Pope Lucius II, reigned only a short time, and then Bernard saw one of his disciples, Bernard of Pisa, and known thereafter as Eugenius III, raised to the Chair of Saint Peter.

Detail of the Altar of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux,

The North Transept, Ebrach Abbey, Germany.

Author: Mattana

Photo: June 2012. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

Bernard sent him, at the Pope's request, various instructions, which comprise the Book of Considerations, the predominating idea of which is that the reformation of the Church ought to commence with the sanctity of the Pope. Temporal matters are merely accessories; the principles, according to Bernard's work, were that piety and meditation were to precede action.

Having previously helped end the schism within the Church, Bernard was now called upon to combat heresy. Henry of Lausanne, a former Cluniac monk, had adopted the teachings of the Petrobrusians, followers of Peter of Bruys and spread them in a modified form after Peter's death.

Henry of Lausanne's followers became known as Henricians. In June 1145, at the invitation of Cardinal Alberic of Ostia, Bernard travelled in Southern France. His preaching, aided by his ascetic looks and simple attire, helped doom the new sects. Both the Henrician and the Petrobrusian faiths began to die out by the end of that year. 

Soon afterwards, Henry of Lausanne was arrested, brought before the bishop of Toulouse, and probably imprisoned for life. In a letter to the people of Toulouse, undoubtedly written at the end of 1146, Bernard called upon them to extirpate the last remnants of the heresy. He also preached against the Cathars.

PART EIGHT FOLLOWS

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

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise stated.


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

Altar of Saint Bernard in the North Transept of Ebrach Abbey, Germany.

Author: Mattana

Photo: June 2012. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

Ebrach Abbey, Germany.

Author: Mattana

Photo: June 2012.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In the year 1128, Bernard of Clairvaux participated in the Council of Troyes, which had been convoked by Pope Honorius II, and was presided over by Cardinal Matthew, Bishop of Albano. The purpose of this Council was to settle certain disputes of the bishops of Paris, and regulate other matters of the Church of France.

The bishops made Bernard Secretary of the Council, and charged him with drawing up the synodal statutes. After the Council, the bishop of Verdun was deposed. It was at this Council that Bernard traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar, who soon became the ideal of Christian nobility. He later praised them in his De Laude Novae Militiae.

Again, reproaches arose against Bernard, and he was denounced, even in Rome. He was accused of being a monk who meddled with matters that did not concern him. Cardinal Harmeric, on behalf of the Pope, wrote Bernard a sharp letter of remonstrance stating: "It is not fitting that noisy and troublesome frogs should come out of their marshes to trouble the Holy See and the cardinals."

Bernard answered the letter by saying that, if he had assisted at the Council, it was because he had been dragged to it by force. In his response Bernard wrote: "Now, illustrious Harmeric, if you so wished, who would have been more capable of freeing me from the necessity of assisting at the Council than yourself? Forbid those noisy troublesome frogs to come out of their holes, to leave their marshes . . . Then your friend will no longer be exposed to the accusations of pride and presumption".

This letter made a positive impression on Harmeric, and in the Vatican.

Altar of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Ebrach Abbey, Germany. 

Die Abteikirche der ehemaligen Zisterzienserabtei in Ebrach. 

Author: Thomas Mirtsch. 

Photo: June 2012. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

Bernard's influence was soon felt in provincial affairs. He defended the rights of the Church against the encroachments of kings and princes, and recalled to their duty Henri Sanglier, archbishop of Sens and Stephen of Senlis, bishop of Paris.

On the death of Pope Honorius II, which occurred on 14 February 1130, a schism broke out in the Church by the election of two popes, Pope Innocent II and Pope Anacletus II.

Innocent II, having been banished from Rome by Anacletus, took refuge in France. King Louis VI convened a national Council of the French bishops at Étampes, and Bernard, summoned there by consent of the bishops, was chosen to judge between the rival popes. He decided in favour of Innocent II. This caused the pope to be recognized by all the great powers.

He then went with him into Italy and reconciled Pisa with Genoa, and Milan with the Pope. The same year, Bernard was again at the Council of Reims, at the side of Innocent II. He then went to Aquitaine, where he succeeded for the time in detaching William X of Aquitaine, Count of Poitiers, from the cause of Anacletus.

In 1132, Bernard accompanied Innocent II into Italy, and, at Cluny, the Pope abolished the dues which Clairvaux used to pay to that abbey. This action gave rise to a quarrel between the White Monks and the Black Monks, which lasted 20 years.

Statue of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, kneeling before Christ on the Cross, in Bamberg, Germany.

Bamberg, Alter Ebracher Hof, Bernhardskreuz von 1738 von Daniel Friedrich Humbach.

Photo: Andreas Praefcke. 

September 2008. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

In May of that year, the Pope, supported by the army of Emperor Lothair III, entered Rome, but Lothair, feeling himself too weak to resist the partisans of Anacletus, retired beyond the Alps, and Innocent sought refuge in Pisa in September 1133.

Bernard had returned to France in June and was continuing the work of peace-making which he had commenced in 1130. Towards the end of 1134, he made a second journey into Aquitaine, where William X had relapsed into schism.

Bernard invited William X to the Mass which he celebrated in the Church of La Couldre. At the Eucharist, he "admonished the Duke not to despise God as he did His servants".

William yielded and the schism ended. Bernard went again to Italy, where Roger II of Sicily was endeavouring to withdraw the Pisans from their allegiance to Innocent. He recalled the city of Milan to obedience to the Pope, as they had followed the deposed Anselm V, Archbishop of Milan.

For this, he was offered, and he refused, the archbishopric of Milan. He then returned to Clairvaux. Believing himself at last secure in his Cloister, Bernard devoted himself with renewed vigour to the composition of the works which would win for him the title of "Doctor of the Church".

He wrote at this time his sermons on the Song of Songs. In 1137, he was again forced to leave his solitude, by order of the Pope, to put an end to the quarrel between Lothair and Roger of Sicily. At the Conference,  held at Palermo, Bernard succeeded in convincing Roger of the rights of Innocent II. He also silenced the final supporters who sustained the schism. Anacletus died of "grief and disappointment" in 1138, and, with him, the schism ended.


PART SEVEN FOLLOWS