Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.
Saint Bernard.
Abbot and Doctor of The Church.
Feast Day 20 August.
Double.
White Vestments.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
"The Honey-Mouthed Doctor"
(Doctor Mellifluous).
Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY
Artist: René de Cramer.
"Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium".
Used with Permission.
English: Christ embracing Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.
Español: La obra representa a Jesucristo abrazando
al monje cisterciense San Bernardo de Claraval.
Artist: Francisco Ribalta (1565–1628).
Date: 1625-1627.
Current location: Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain.
Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art.
(Wikimedia Commons)
"Jesu Dulcis Memoria".
This great Hymn is by
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.
Available on YouTube at
Jesu, dulcis memoria,
dans vera cordis gaudia:
sed super mel et omnia
ejus dulcis praesentia.
Nil canitur suavius,
nil auditur jucundius,
nil cogitatur dulcius,
quam Jesus Dei Filius.
Jesu, spes paenitentibus,
quam pius es petentibus !
quam bonus te quaerentibus !
sed quid invenientibus ?
Nec lingua valet dicere,
nec littera exprimere:
expertus potest credere,
quid sit Jesum diligere.
Sis, Jesu, nostrum gaudium,
qui es futurum praemium:
sit nostra in te gloria,
per cuncta semper saecula.
Amen.
Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast !
Yet sweeter far Thy face to see
And in Thy Presence rest.
No voice can sing, no heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find,
A sweeter sound than Jesus' Name,
The Saviour of mankind.
O hope of every contrite heart !
O joy of all the meek !
To those who fall, how kind Thou art !
How good to those who seek !
But what to those who find ? Ah !, this
Nor tongue nor pen can show
The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.
Jesus ! our only hope be Thou,
As Thou our prize shalt be;
In Thee be all our glory now,
And through eternity.
Amen.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.
Available on YouTube at
The Church is pleased to honour, during The Octave of The Assumption, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, "The Honey-Mouthed Doctor" (Doctor Mellifluous), whose principal title of glory is to have Celebrated, with ineffable tenderness and ardent piety, in his Prayers, his Books and Sermons, the varied greatness of The Blessed Virgin Mary.
Born in 1091, of a noble Burgundian family, he succeeded, at the age of twenty-two, in winning over to Christ thirty noblemen, who, with him, embraced Monastic Life at Cîteaux, France.
There, The Cistercian Order, a Branch of the old Benedictine trunk, acquired a new vigour, which enabled it to cover the whole of Europe with its shoots. "The Just," says the Offertory, "shall flourish like the palm-tree, he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus (Lebanon)."
And, in the famous Monastery which Saint Bernard Founded a short time afterwards in The Vale of Clairvaux, on The Left-Bank of The River Aube, and whose first Abbot he became (Communion), he each day lavished on a Community of 700 Monks the treasures of Doctrine and Wisdom, with which God endowed him and which makes his name immortal (Introit, Epistle, Gradual).
An austere Monk, a great Christian Orator, and a Learned Doctor, he was the luminary, mentioned in the Gospel, which enlightened the World in the 12th-Century.
He was consulted by Duke William of Aquitaine, by the Duchess of Lorraine, by the Countess of Brittany, by Prince Henry, son of the King of France, by Prince Peter, son of the King of Portugal, by King Louis VI of France, by King Louis VII of France, by King Conrad of Germany, and by the Abbot of Saint Denis, Paris.
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). Lastly, he attacked Islam, and, by Preaching The Second Crusade, at Vézelay, France, he stirred up the whole of Europe by his overpowering eloquence.
Pope Pius VIII in Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome, on the Sedia Gestatoria.
He reigned from 1829 to 1830, the shortest reign of any Pope in the 19th-Century,
and caused Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
to be placed among The Doctors of The Church.
Artist: Horace Vernet (1789–1863).
Date: 1829.
Source/Photographer: http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?startat=/getPoster.asp&CID=C208C6E1931040E4BF97
(Wikimedia Commons)
"Salve, Regina".
Hail, Holy Queen.
Available on YouTube at
Saint Bernard died at Clairvaux, France, 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 Marian Anthem of The Season, currently Salve Regina (Hail, Holy Queen), of which the three last invocations, "O Clemens, O Loving, O Sweet Virgin Mary" are attributed to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.
Mass: In mëdio.
Commemoration: The Octave of The Assumption.
Creed.
