Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

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Synopsis

BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, b. 1091 at Fontaines, near Dijon, Burgundy; d. at Clairvaux, Aug. 20, 1153; canonized by Alexander III., 1173; was the third son of a noble and wealthy family, and received a complete training in all knightly accomplishments, but felt himself so strongly drawn toward things holy, that, in spite of the remonstrances of his family, he retired in 1113 to the Monastery of Citeaux (Cistertium), and became a monk. Though the Monastery of Citeaux (founded in 1098 by Stephan Harding) was renowned for the severity and strictness of its rules, Bernard, nevertheless, produced a strong impression in the circles into which lie had entered, by the austerity of his ascetic practices, and by the passionate energy with which he concentrated his whole life on the one thing needful. When, in 1115, the monastery proved too small for the number of persons asking for admission, - Bernard, for instance, came in company with thirty others whom he had converted from the world, - and it was found necessary to send out a colony and found a new monastery, Bernard was placed at the head of the emigrants. They settled in the wild and barren gorge of Clairvaux (Clara Vallis); and it cost an incredible amount of perseverance, hard labor, and self-sacrifice, to build a house in this inhospitable region. But the monastery prospered wonderfully, and its abbot soon became famous. He was severe, almost austere, but he was not hard: to all he showed a kindness of heart and a suavity of manners which charmed and consoled. he was humble and meek; but he was not diffident: on one thing he was so sure, that his conviction made him a commander, and a harbor of refuge to every one who felt weak, or doubtful, or tempted. he was young, and singularly inexperienced; but he had that magical intuition into characters and circumstances which comes from perfect sincerity of heart, and furnishes the best aid to any one who is sick, and the best remedy to any thing which is wrong. So great was the confidence he enjoyed, that in 1128 he was called upon to draw up the rules for the order of the Templars.

In the schism which broke out after the death of Honorius II., Bernard immediately and resolutely took the side of Innocent II.; and the enormous energy which he developed in the case decided both the course and the issue of the contest. At time synod of Estampes he induced the French clergy to recognize Innocent. The recognition by Louis VI. of France, Henry I. of England, and Lothair of Germany, followed soon after, and was, partly at least, also the result of his exertions. Lothair he even persuaded to give up some of the claims which he based on the concordat of Worms, and to make a campaign to Italy to expel Anaclet II. While Innocent staid in France, Bernard accompanied him from place to place, and preached to the people in his behalf, with an eloquence whose effect often approached the miraculous. In France he bore down every trace of opposition; and in Italy too, whither he went twice (in 1133 and 1136), his presence was more effective than that of the armies of Lothair. Shortly after the ending of the schism, the controversy with Abelard began. Abelard was a rationalist; Bernard, a mystic: Abelard held that the doctrines of Christianity ought to pass through the sifting of reason, in order to become a fit subject of faith; while Bernard demanded that they should be embraced at once by faith, through an act of the will. With Abelard, faith meant reasoned conviction: with Bernard, intellect meant enthusiastic contemplation. Between those two men a conflict was unavoidable. But at the synod of Sens (1140), where Abelard expected to meet Bernard as his counterpart in a disputation, Bernard appeared as his accuser. Abelard refused to defend himself, and appealed to the Pope; but Bernard frustrated the appeal, and Abelard was in reality condemned unheard. Peter Venerabilis, however, the great Abbot of Clugny, with whom Abelard spent the last years of his life, afterwards brought about a personal reconciliation between the two antagonists. Perhaps the greatest, or, at all events, the most striking, exploit which Bernard performed, was the preaching of the second crusade, 1146. He roused the people of France and Germany to a pitch of enthusiasm hardly surpassed by that which produced the first crusade; but the result corresponded very poorly to the preparations, and be felt himself somewhat embarrassed at the complete failure. Very remarkable, also, was his activity in South-western France (1147-49), among the heretics of Albi and Toulouse, though he was not completely successful in this case, either. He met there with a state of mind which somewhat resembled his own, and the miraculous in his personal influence became somewhat weakened by this circumstance.

The works of Bernard comprise a number of sermons, especially on the Canticles; a number of mystic theosophic treatises, De Diligendo Deo, De Gradibus Humilitatis et Superbiae, etc.; De Consideratione ad Eugenium III. (ed. Hurter, Innsbruck, 1885), a most characteristic work; a poem in hexameter; and a series of hymns, still living both in the Roman Catholic and in the Reformed churches (the most famous is the familiar, "0 sacred head now wounded," which was translated into German by Gerhardt); and four hundred and nineteen letters of the greatest historical and psychological interest. His style is generally strained, artificial, and cumbersome; but his thoughts have often the same power as hunger or thirst. They absorb the whole man whom they beset, and throw him with passionate decision in one direction. The best edition of his works is that by MABILLON, Paris, 1667, 2 vols. folio, afterwards often reprinted, as in Migne, 1854, 4 vols. 8vo. This edition contains his life written by his friend and disciple Godfrey.

Philip Schaff, ed., A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology, 3rd edn, Vol. 1. Toronto, New York & London: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1894. pp.248-249.

Primary Sources

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