Bernard
Bernard (c.1090–1153), Cistercian monk and abbot of Clairvaux. Born at Fontaines, near Dijon, the third son of Tescelin Sorrel, a Burgundian Crusader, he was educated at Châtillon-sur-Seine by secular canons. He became known as a young man of charm, wit, learning, and eloquence. At the age of twenty-two, with thirty-one companions including some of his brothers and other noblemen, he became a monk at the poverty-stricken and reformed monastery of Cîteaux. This large influx of new recruits enabled it to survive and expand under its English abbot Stephen Harding.
After a few years' probation, Bernard was made abbot of Clairvaux, a new foundation. In conditions of acute poverty he was at first too severe on his community. When he realized this, he gave up preaching, improved the food (sometimes it had been barley bread and boiled beech-leaves), and generally consolidated its position with the help of the local bishop. Eventually Clairvaux made foundations at Fontenay (Burgundy) and in Britain, including Rievaulx (North Yorkshire) in 1132, Whitland (Dyfed) in 1140, Boxley (Kent) in 1146, Margam (West Glamorgan) in 1147, and Mellifont (Co. Louth, Ireland) in 1142. Meanwhile other foundations were made elsewhere, and Clairvaux itself numbered 700 monks at Bernard's death.
From an early time Bernard, although a member of an Order that practised seclusion from the world in chosen obscurity, became involved in Church affairs and soon emerged as one of the most charismatic and influential personalities in the cause of reform. At the Synod of Troyes he obtained recognition for the new Order of Templars (whose rule he had written himself), which aimed at providing a respectable, dedicated body of knights to fight the Church's battles in the Crusades and elsewhere, besides devoting themselves to the care of the sick and the pilgrims. In 1130, after a disputed papal election, Bernard took sides for Innocent II against Anacletus; his ardent partisanship, together with help from Norbert, eventually rallied the whole Church to recognize Innocent. Meanwhile, the Cistercian Order, now with strong papal support, increased even more rapidly; Cistercian influence reached its highest point when a former pupil of Bernard, Eugenius III, was elected pope in 1145. This continued until both died within a few months of each other, eight years later.
Bernard, like his knightly forebears, thrived on conflict, but his energy was directed against what he believed to be heterodoxy or monastic tepidity. He attacked both Peter Abelard and Gilbert de la Porrée, two of the best scholars of his time, for their theological opinions; he also severely criticized, not always justly, Cluny, and so, by implication, traditional Black Benedictine monasticism. He took to intervening by letter or persuasion in many episcopal elections in different parts of Europe, such as that of William of York. Not surprisingly, he made enemies as well as friends, both in life and after death. Perhaps the greatest failure of his life was the Second Crusade. This he had preached with immense energy and determination. Moved by the eloquence and prophetic fervour with which he identified the cause of God with this military expedition, many people of all classes had rallied to his call and taken the Cross. But this Crusade ended in disaster and some, not altogether fairly, blamed Bernard for it.
Bernard's character can best be studied in his writings. These include his Letters, which reveal his passionate eloquence and involvement, his sermons on the Canticle, which, like them, were polished and repolished, besides various treaties on theological subjects. Perhaps the most attractive, as well as one of the most simply written, is his treatise on the Love of God. This has become a spiritual classic. He was also prominent in fostering devotion to the human nature of Christ and to the Blessed Virgin. His affective approach influenced greatly the development of medieval spirituality.
His influence on monasticism has been deep and lasting. On the one hand he encouraged monks to devote themselves to mystical prayer in and through the ordinary framework of monastic observance; on the other, he modified the concepts of early Cîteaux in practice, developing the Cistercian Order into a mass movement of unprecedented expansion and renown. In this he was helped both by the genius of the earlier juridical structure of his Order and by social and economic causes which led, for example, to the enormous expansion of lay brothers. At his death the Cistercians numbered about 400 houses almost all over Europe (over fifty in England and Wales). Whatever his failings, his influence on very many aspects of 12th-century Church life was considerable, but is being currently reassessed by both academic and monastic historians.
His cult began unofficially during his lifetime. He was formally canonized in 1174 and nominated a Doctor of the Church in 1830. Feast: 20 August.
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- AA.SS. Aug. IV (1739), 101–368; early Lives also in P.L., clxxxv, and Eng. tr. of Vita Prima by G. Webb and A. Walker (1960); modern Lives by W. Williams (1935), J. Leclercq (1966). Works in P.L., clxxxii–clxxxv and crit. edn. by J. Leclercq and others (1957–75), with Eng. tr. of his Letters by B. S. James (1953) and other works by American Cistercians (1970– ); J. Leclercq, Recueil d'études sur S. Bernard et ses écrits (1962); Bernard de Clairvaux (1953); Saint Bernard Théologien (1953). See also E. Gilson, The Mystical Theology of St. Bernard (1940); M.O., pp. 208–57, 705–9; J. Leclercq and others, The Influence of St. Bernard (1976); Lives by P. Riché (1989), J. Berlioz (1990); see also B. P. Maguire, The Difficult Saint (1991). For recent literature see R. Godding, ‘Bernardina et Cisterciensia’ in Anal. Boll., cxi (1993), 189–214
