Bernard of Clairvaux

**Bernard of Clairvaux** (Latin: *Bernardus Claraevallensis*), O.Cist (1090 – 20 August 1153) was a French abbot and the primary reformer of the Cistercian order.

After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the
Cistercian order. "Three years later, he was sent to found a new abbey
at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the *Val d'Absinthe*, about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) southeast of Bar-sur-Aube. According to tradition, Bernard founded the monastery on 25 June 1115, naming it *Claire Vallée*, which evolved into *Clairvaux.* There Bernard would preach an immediate faith, in which the intercessor was the Virgin Mary."[1] In the year 1128, Bernard attended the Council of Troyes, at which he traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar,[a] which soon became the ideal of Christian nobility.

On the death of Pope Honorius II on 13 February 1130, a schism broke out in the Church. King Louis VI of France convened a national council of the French bishops at Étampes in 1130, and Bernard was chosen to judge between the rivals for pope. After the council of Étampes, Bernard spoke with King Henry I of England, also known as Henry Beauclerc, about Henry I's reservations regarding Pope Innocent II. Henry I was sceptical because most of the bishops of England supported Antipope Anacletus II; Bernard persuaded him to support Innocent. Germany had decided to support Innocent through Norbert of Xanten, who was a friend of Bernard's. However, Innocent insisted on Bernard's company when he met with Lothair II, Holy Roman Emperor. Lothair III became Innocent's strongest ally among the nobility. Although the councils of Étampes, Wurzburg, Clermont, and Rheims
 all supported Innocent, large portions of the Christian world still
supported Anacletus. At the end of 1131, the kingdoms of France,
England, Germany, Portugal, Castile, and Aragon supported Innocent; however, most of Italy, southern France, and Sicily, with the patriarchs of Constantinople, Antioch, and Jerusalem,[*clarify*]
 supported Anacletus. Bernard set out to convince these other regions to
 rally behind Innocent. The first person he went to was Gerard of
Angoulême. He proceeded to write a letter, known as Letter 126, which
questioned Gerard's reasons for supporting Anacletus. Bernard would
later comment that Gerard was his most formidable opponent during the
whole schism. After persuading Gerard, Bernard traveled to visit William X, Duke of Aquitaine.
 He was the hardest for Bernard to convince. He did not pledge
allegiance to Innocent until 1135. After that, Bernard spent most of his
 time in Italy
 persuading the Italians to pledge allegiance to Innocent. He traveled
to Sicily in 1137 to convince the king of Sicily to follow Innocent. The
 whole conflict ended when Anacletus died on 25 January 1138.[2] In 1139, Bernard assisted at the Second Council of the Lateran. Bernard denounced the teachings of Peter Abelard to the pope, who called a council at Sens in 1141 to settle the matter. Bernard soon saw one of his disciples elected Pope Eugene III.
 Having previously helped end the schism within the church, Bernard was
now called upon to combat heresy. In June 1145, Bernard traveled in
southern France and his preaching there helped strengthen support
against heresy.

After the Christian defeat at the Siege of Edessa, the pope commissioned Bernard to preach the Second Crusade.
 The last years of Bernard's life were saddened by the failure of the
crusaders, the entire responsibility for which was thrown upon him.
Bernard died at the age of 63, after 40 years as a monk. He was the
first Cistercian placed on the calendar of saints, and was canonized by Pope Alexander III on 18 January 1174. In 1830 Pope Pius VIII bestowed upon Bernard the title "Doctor of the Church".

## Early life (1090–1113)

Bernard's parents were Tescelin de Fontaine, lord of Fontaine-lès-Dijon, and Alèthe de Montbard, both members of the highest nobility of Burgundy. Bernard was the third of seven children, six of whom were sons. At the age of nine years, he was sent to a school at Châtillon-sur-Seine run by the secular canons
 of Saint-Vorles. Bernard had a great taste for literature and devoted
himself for some time to poetry. His success in his studies won the
admiration of his teachers. He wanted to excel in literature in order to
 take up the study of the Bible. He had a special devotion to the Virgin Mary, and he would later write several works about the Queen of Heaven.[3]

Bernard would expand upon Anselm of Canterbury's role in transmuting the sacramentally ritual Christianity of the Early Middle Ages
 into a new, more personally held faith, with the life of Christ as a
model and a new emphasis on the Virgin Mary. In opposition to the
rational approach to divine understanding that the scholastics adopted, Bernard would preach an immediate faith, in which the intercessor was the Virgin Mary.

Bernard was only nineteen years of age when his mother died. During
his youth, he did not escape trying temptations and around this time he
thought of retiring from the world and living a life of solitude and
prayer.[4]

In 1098 Saint Robert of Molesme had founded Cîteaux Abbey, near Dijon, with the purpose of restoring the Rule of St Benedict in all its rigour. Returning to Molesme, he left the government of the new abbey to Saint Alberic of Cîteaux,
 who died in the year 1109. At the age of 22, while Bernard was at
prayer in a church, he felt the calling of God to enter the Cistercian
Monks of Cîteaux.[5] In 1113 Saint Stephen Harding had just succeeded Saint Alberic as third Abbot of Cîteaux when Bernard and thirty other young noblemen of Burgundy sought admission into the Cistercian order.[6] Bernard's testimony was so irresistible that 30 of his friends, brothers, and relatives followed him into the monastic life.[5]

## Abbot of Clairvaux (1115–28)

The little community of reformed Benedictines at Cîteaux, which would have so profound an influence on Western monasticism, grew rapidly. Three years later, Bernard was sent with a band of twelve monks to found a new house at Vallée d'Absinthe,[5] in the Diocese of Langres. This Bernard named *Claire Vallée*, or *Clairvaux*, on 25 June 1115, and the names of Bernard and Clairvaux would soon become inseparable.[4] During the absence of the Bishop of Langres, Bernard was blessed as abbot by William of Champeaux, Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne. From that moment a strong friendship sprang up between the abbot and the bishop, who was professor of theology at Notre Dame of Paris, and the founder of the Abbey of St. Victor, Paris.[3]
The beginnings of Clairvaux Abbey
 were trying and painful. The regime was so austere that Bernard became
ill, and only the influence of his friend William of Champeaux and the
authority of the general chapter
 could make him mitigate the austerities. The monastery, however, made
rapid progress. Disciples flocked to it in great numbers and put
themselves under the direction of Bernard. The reputation of his
holiness soon attracted 130 new monks, including his own father.[5]
 His father and all his brothers entered Clairvaux to pursue religious
life, leaving only Humbeline, his sister, in the secular world. She,
with the consent of her husband, soon took the veil in the Benedictine nunnery of Jully-les-Nonnains. Gerard of Clairvaux, Bernard's older brother, became the cellarer of Citeaux. The abbey became too small for its members and it was necessary to send out bands to found new houses.[7] In 1118 Trois-Fontaines Abbey was founded in the diocese of Châlons; in 1119 Fontenay Abbey in the Diocese of Autun; and in 1121 Foigny Abbey near Vervins, in the diocese of Laon. In addition to these victories, Bernard also had his trials. During an absence from Clairvaux, the Grand Prior of the Abbey of Cluny went to Clairvaux and enticed away Bernard's cousin, Robert of Châtillon. This was the occasion of the longest and most emotional of Bernard's letters.[3]

In the year 1119, Bernard was present at the first general chapter of
 the order convoked by Stephen of Cîteaux. Though not yet 30 years old,
Bernard was listened to with the greatest attention and respect,
especially when he developed his thoughts upon the revival of the
primitive spirit of regularity and fervour in all the monastic orders.
It was this general chapter that gave definitive form to the
constitutions of the order and the regulations of the *Charter of Charity*, which Pope Callixtus II confirmed on 23 December 1119. In 1120, Bernard wrote his first work, *De Gradibus Superbiae et Humilitatis*, and his homilies which he entitled *De Laudibus Mariae*.
 The monks of the abbey of Cluny were unhappy to see Cîteaux take the
lead role among the religious orders of the Roman Catholic Church. For
this reason, the Black Monks
 attempted to make it appear that the rules of the new order were
impracticable. At the solicitation of William of St. Thierry, Bernard
defended the order by publishing his *Apology* which was divided
into two parts. In the first part, he proved himself innocent of the
charges of Cluny and in the second he gave his reasons for his
counterattacks. He protested his profound esteem for the Benedictines of
 Cluny whom he declared he loved equally as well as the other religious
orders. Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny,
 answered Bernard and assured him of his great admiration and sincere
friendship. In the meantime Cluny established a reform, and Abbot Suger, the minister of Louis VI of France, was converted by the *Apology*
 of Bernard. He hastened to terminate his worldly life and restore
discipline in his monastery. The zeal of Bernard extended to the
bishops, the clergy, and lay people. Bernard's letter to the archbishop of Sens was seen as a real treatise, *"De Officiis Episcoporum."* About the same time he wrote his work on *Grace and Free Will*.[3]

## Doctor of the Church (1128–46)

In the year 1128 AD, Bernard participated in the Council of Troyes, which had been convoked by Pope Honorius II, and was presided over by Cardinal Matthew 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. Around this time, he praised them in his *Liber ad milites templi de laude novae militiae*.[8]
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."[3]

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,

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

### Schism

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 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 Antipope Anacletus II. Innocent II, having been banished from Rome
by Anacletus, took refuge in France. 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, Duke of Aquitaine, from the cause of Anacletus.[4]

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. In May of that year, the
pope, supported by the army of Lothair III, entered Rome, but Lothair
III, 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 peacemaking 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 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".[3] 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*.[b]
 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.[3]

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.[3]

### 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 was compelled to throw
his own 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.[10] 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. Bernard's letters to William of St-Thierry also
express his apprehension about confronting the preeminent 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.[10]
 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.[10]
 The council found in favour of Bernard and their judgment was confirmed
 by the pope. Abelard submitted without resistance, and he retired to
Cluny to live under the protection of Peter the Venerable, where he died
 two years later.[4]

### 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 Innocent II,
took possession of Tre Fontane Abbey, from which Eugene 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 Eugene III, raised to the Chair of Saint Peter.[11] Bernard sent him, at the pope's own 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.[12]

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.[13] Henry of Lausanne's followers became known as Henricians. In June 1145, at the invitation of Cardinal Alberic of Ostia, Bernard traveled in southern France.[14]
 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 calls upon
them to extirpate the last remnants of the heresy. He also preached
against Catharism.[11]

## 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 county had fallen into the hands of the Seljuk Turks.[15] 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. In 1144 Eugene III commissioned Bernard to preach the
Second Crusade[5] and granted the same indulgences for it which Pope Urban II had accorded to the First Crusade.[16]

There was at first virtually no popular enthusiasm for the crusade as
 there had been in 1095. Bernard found it expedient to dwell upon taking
 the cross as a potent means of gaining absolution for sin and attaining
 grace. On 31 March, with King Louis VII of France present, he preached to an enormous crowd in a field at Vézelay. James Meeker Ludlow describes the scene romantically in his book *The Age of the Crusades*:

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.[16] Unlike the First Crusade, the new venture attracted royalty, such as Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France; Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders; Henry, the future Count of Champagne; Louis's brother Robert I of Dreux; Alphonse I of Toulouse; William II of Nevers; William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey; Hugh VII of Lusignan, Yves II, Count of Soissons;
 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."[16]

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.[15]
 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 traveled
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.[18]

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.[11] 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.[19]

Moved by his burning words, many Christians embarked for the Holy Land, but the crusade ended in miserable failure.[5]

## Final years (1149–53)

The death of his contemporaries served as a warning to Bernard of his
 own approaching end. The first to die was Suger in 1152, of whom
Bernard wrote to Eugene 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.[11] He was buried at the Clairvaux Abbey, but after its dissolution in 1792 by the French revolutionary government, his remains were transferred to Troyes Cathedral.

## Theology

Bernard 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 labeled 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. The central elements of Bernard's Mariology are how
he explained the virginity of Mary, *the "Star of the Sea"*, and her role as Mediatrix.
Bernard, like Thomas Aquinas, denied the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary.[20][*irrelevant citation*][21][22] John Calvin quotes Bernard several times[23] in support of the doctrine of *Sola Fide*,[24] which Martin Luther described as the article upon which the church stands or falls.[25] Calvin also quotes him in setting forth his doctrine of a forensic alien righteousness, or as it is commonly called imputed righteousness.[26]

## Temptations and intercessions

One day, to cool down his lustful temptation, Bernard threw himself
into ice-cold water. Another time, while sleeping in an inn, a
prostitute was introduced naked beside him, and he saved his chastity by
 running.[5]

Many miracles were attributed to his intercession. One time he
restored the power of speech to an old man that he might confess his
sins before he died. Another time, an immense number of flies, that had
infested the Church of Foigny, died instantly after the excommunication he made on them.[5]

So great was his reputation that princes and Popes sought his advice, and even the enemies of the Church admired the holiness of his life and the greatness of his writings.[5]

## Spirituality

Bernard was instrumental in re-emphasizing 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.[27]
Bernard "noted centuries ago: the people who are their own spiritual directors have fools for disciples."[28]

## Legacy

Bernard's theology and Mariology continue to be of major importance, particularly within the Cistercian and Trappist orders.[c]
 Bernard led to the foundation of 163 monasteries in different parts of
Europe. At his death, they numbered 343. His influence led Alexander III
 to launch reforms that would lead to the establishment of canon law.[29] He was the first Cistercian monk placed on the calendar of saints and was canonized by Alexander III 18 January 1174. Pope Pius VIII
 bestowed on him the title "Doctor of the Church". He is labeled the
"Mellifluous Doctor" for his eloquence. Cistercians honour him as the
founder of the order because of the widespread activity which he gave to
 the order.[11]

Bernard is Dante Alighieri's last guide, in *Divine Comedy*, as he travels through the Empyrean.[30]
 Dante's choice appears to be based on Bernard's contemplative
mysticism, his devotion to Mary, and his reputation for eloquence.[31]

He is also the attributed author of the poems often translated in English hymnals as "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" and "Jesus the Very Thought of Thee".

The Couvent et Basilique Saint-Bernard,
 a collection of buildings dating from the 12th, 17th and 19th
centuries, is dedicated to Bernard and stands in his birthplace of Fontaine-lès-Dijon.[32]

## Works

An engraving of The Lactation of Saint Bernard.
 The Virgin Mary is shooting milk into the eye of Saint Bernard of
Clairvaux from her right breast which allegedly miraculously cured an
eye affliction.

The modern critical edition is *Sancti Bernardi opera* (1957–1977), edited by Jean Leclercq.[33][d]

Bernard's works include:

* his first treatise.[34]
* Written in the defence of the Cistercians against the claims of the monks of Cluny.[35]
* A book addressed to the young ecclesiastics of Paris.[36]
* in which the Roman Catholic dogma of grace and free will was defended according to the principles of St Augustine.[37]
* Outlines seven stages of ascent leading to union with God.[38]
* addressed to Hugues de Payens,

 first Grand Master and Prior of Jerusalem. This is a eulogy of the
Knights Templar order, which had been instituted in 1118, and an
exhortation to the knights to conduct themselves with courage in their
several stations.[39]

* Answers questions about which parts of *Rule of Saint Benedict* an abbot can, or cannot, dispense.[40]
* Addressed to Pope Eugene III.[41]
* [42]
* A letter to Henri Sanglier, Archbishop of Sens on the duties of bishops.[43]

His sermons are also numerous:

* Most famous are his *Sermones super Cantica Canticorum* (*Sermons on the Song of Songs*).

 Although it has at times been suggested that the sermon form is a
rhetorical device in a set of works which were only ever designed to be
read, since such finely polished and lengthy literary pieces could not
accurately have been recorded by a monk while Bernard was preaching,
recent scholarship has tended toward the theory that, although what
exists in these texts was certainly the product of Bernard's writing,
they likely found their origins in sermons preached to the monks of
Clairvaux.[e]

```
Bernard began to write these in 1135 but died without completed the

```

series, with 86 sermons complete. These sermons contain an
autobiographical passage, sermon 26, mourning the death of his brother,
Gerard.[44][45] After Bernard died, the English Cistercian Gilbert of Hoyland
 continued Bernard's incomplete series of 86 sermons on the biblical
Song of Songs. Gilbert wrote 47 sermons before he died in 1172, taking
the series up to Chapter 5 of the Song of Songs. Another English
Cistercian abbot, John of Ford, wrote another 120 sermons on the Song of Songs, so completing the Cistercian sermon-commentary on the book.

* There are 125 surviving *Sermones per annum* (*Sermons on the Liturgical Year*).
* There are also the *Sermones de diversis* (*Sermons on Different Topics*).
* 547 letters survive.[46]

Many letters, treatises, and other works, falsely attributed to him survive, and are now referred to as works by pseudo-Bernard.[47] These include:

* [47]
* This was probably written at some point in the thirteenth century. It

circulated extensively in the Middle Ages under Bernard's name and was
one of the most popular religious works of the later Middle Ages. Its
theme is self-knowledge as the beginning of wisdom; it begins with the
phrase "Many know much, but do not know themselves".[48][49][47]

* [47]

## See also

* Biography portal
* Catholicism portal
* Saints portal
* France portal

* List of Catholic saints
* List of Latin nicknames of the Middle Ages: Doctors in theology
* Scholasticism
* St. Bernard de Clairvaux Church
* Prayer to the shoulder wound of Jesus

## Translations

* *On consideration*, trans George Lewis, (Oxford, 1908) https://books.google.com/books?id=kkoJAQAAIAAJ
* *Select treatises of S. Bernard of Clairvaux: De diligendo Deo & De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae*, (Cambridge: CUP, 1926)
* *On loving God, and selections from sermons*, edited by Hugh Martin, (London: SCM Press, 1959) [reprinted as (Westport, CO: Greenwood Press, 1981)]
* *Cistercians and Cluniacs: St. Bernard's Apologia to Abbot William*, trans M Casey. Cistercian Fathers series no. 1, (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1970)
* *The works of Bernard of Clairvaux. Vol.1, Treatises, 1*,

edited by M. Basil Pennington. Cistercian Fathers Series, no. 1.
(Spencer, Mass.: Cistercian Publications, 1970) [contains the treatises *Apologia to Abbot William* and *On Precept and Dispensation*, and two shorter liturgical treatises]

* Bernard of Clairvaux, *On the Song of Songs*, 4 vols, Cistercian Fathers series nos 4, 7, 31, 40, (Spencer, MA: Cistercian Publications, 1971–80)
* *Letter of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux on revision of Cistercian*

chant = Epistola S[ancti] Bernardi de revisione cantus Cisterciensis*, edited and translated by Francis J. Guentner, (American Institute of Musicology, 1974)*

* *Treatises II : The steps of humility and pride on loving God*, Cistercian Fathers series no. 13, (Washington: Cistercian Publications, 1984)
* *Five books on consideration: advice to a Pope*, translated by

John D. Anderson & Elizabeth T. Kennan. Cistercian Fathers Series
no. 37. (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1976)

* *The Works of Bernard of Clairvaux. Volume Seven, Treatises III: On Grace and free choice. In praise of the new knighthood*, translated by Conrad Greenia. Cistercian Fathers Series no. 19, (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1977)
* *The life and death of Saint Malachy, the Irishman* translated and annotated by Robert T. Meyer, (Kalamazoo, Mich: Cistercian Publications, 1978)
* Bernard of Clairvaux, *Homiliae in laudibus Virginis Matris*, in *Magnificat: homilies in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary*

```
translated by Marie-Bernard Saïd and Grace Perigo, Cistercian Fathers

```

Series no. 18, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1979)

* *Sermons on Conversion: on conversion, a sermon to clerics and Lenten sermons on the psalm "He Who Dwells".*, Cistercian Fathers Series no. 25, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1981)
* Bernard of Clairvaux, *Song of Solomon*, translated by Samuel J. Eales, (Minneapolis, MN: Klock & Klock, 1984)
* *St. Bernard's sermons on the Blessed Virgin Mary,* translated from the original Latin by a priest of Mount Melleray, (Chumleigh: Augustine, 1984)
* Bernard of Clairvaux, *The twelve steps of humility and pride; and, On loving God*, edited by Halcyon C. Backhouse, (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1985)
* *St. Bernard's sermons on the Nativity*, translated from the original Latin by a priest of Mount Melleray, (Devon: Augustine, 1985)
* *Bernard of Clairvaux : selected works*, translation and

foreword by G.R. Evans; introduction by Jean Leclercq; preface by Ewert
H. Cousins, (New York: Paulist Press, 1987) [Contains the treatises *On conversion, On the steps of humility and pride, On consideration*, and *On loving God*; extracts from *Sermons on The song of songs*, and a selection of letters]

* Conrad Rudolph, *The 'Things of Greater Importance': Bernard of Clairvaux's Apologia and the Medieval Attitude Toward Art*, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990) [Includes the *Apologia* in both Leclercq's Latin text and English translation]
* *Love without measure: extracts from the writings of St Bernard of Clairvaux*, introduced and arranged by Paul Diemer, Cistercian studies series no. 127, (Kalamazoo, Mich. : Cistercian Publications, 1990)
* *Sermons for the summer season: liturgical sermons from Rogationtide and Pentecost*,

 translated by Beverly Mayne Kienzle; additional translations by James
Jarzembowski, (Kalamazoo, Mich: Cistercian Publications, 1991)

* Bernard of Clairvaux, *On loving God*, Cistercian Fathers series no. 13B, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1995)
* Bernard of Clairvaux, *The parables & the sentences*, edited by Maureen M. O'Brien. Cistercian Fathers Series no. 55, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2000)
* Bernard of Clairvaux, *On baptism and the office of bishops, on the conduct and office of bishops, on baptism and other questions: two letter-treatises*, translated by Pauline Matarasso. Cistercian Fathers Series no. 67, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2004)
* Bernard of Clairvaux, *Sermons for Advent and the Christmas season*

```
translated by Irene Edmonds, Wendy Mary Beckett, Conrad Greenia; edited

```

 by John Leinenweber; introduction by Wim Verbaal. Cistercian Fathers
Series no. 51, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2007)

* Bernard of Clairvaux, *Sermons for Lent and the Easter Season*,

 edited by John Leinenweber and Mark Scott, OCSO. Cistercian Fathers
Series no. 52, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2013)

## Notes

1. André de Montbard, one of the founders of the Knights Templar, was a half-brother of Bernard's mother.
2. Other mystics such as John of the Cross also found their language and symbols in *Song of Songs*.[9]
3. His texts are prescribed readings in Cistercian congregations.
4. For a research guide see McGuire (2013).
5. For a history of the debate over the *Sermons*, and an attempted solution, see Leclercq, Jean. "Introduction". In Walsh (1976), pp. vii–xxx.

## Citations

3. Gildas 1908.
4. Bunson 1998, p. 129.
5. Pirlo 1997.
6. McManners 1990, p. 204.
8. Durant (1950) p.593.
9. Cunningham & Egan 1996, p. 128.
10. Evans 2000, pp. 115–123.
11. Bunson 1998, p. 130.
12. McManners 1990, p. 210.
13. Alphandéry 1911, pp. 298–299.
14. McManners 1990, p. 211.
15. Riley-Smith 1991, p. 48.
16. Durant (1950) p.594.
17. Ludlow 1896, pp. 164-167.
18. Durant (1950) p. 391.
19. Runciman 1952, pp. 232–4, 277.
21. James 1998, ep. 174.
22. Most 1996.
24. Calvin 1960, bk.3 ch.2 §25, bk.3 ch.12 §3.
25. Luther 1930, p. 130.
26. Calvin 1960, bk.3 ch.11 §22, bk.3 ch.25 §2.
27. Cunningham & Egan 1996, pp. 91–92.
28. Cunningham & Egan 1996, p. 21.
29. Duffy 1997, p. 101.
30. *Paradiso*, cantos XXXI–XXXIII
31. Botterill 1994.
33. SBOp.
34. PL, 182, cols. 939–972c.
35. PL, 182, cols. 893–918a.
36. PL, 182, cols. 833–856d.
37. PL, 182, cols. 999–1030a.
38. PL, 182, cols. 971–1000b.
39. PL, 182, cols. 917–940b.
40. PL, 182, cols. 857–894c.
41. PL, 182, cols. 727–808a.
42. PL, 182, cols. 1073–1118a.
43. Ep. 42 (PL, 182, cols. 807–834a).
44. Verbaal 2004.
45. PL, 183, cols. 785–1198A.
46. SBOp & v. 7–8.
47. Gildas 1907.
48. PL, 184, cols. 485–508.
49. Bestul 2012, p. 164.