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Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. (Latin: Bernardus Claraevallensis; 1090 – 20 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templar, [a] and a major leader in the reform of the Benedictines through the nascent Cistercian Order.
- Overview
- Early life and career
- Founder and abbot of Clairvaux
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (born 1090, probably Fontaine-les-Dijon, near Dijon, Burgundy [France]—died August 20, 1153, Clairvaux, Champagne; canonized January 18, 1174; feast day August 20) Cistercian monk and mystic, founder and abbot of the abbey of Clairvaux and one of the most influential churchmen of his time.
Born of Burgundian landowning aristocracy, Bernard grew up in a family of five brothers and one sister. The familial atmosphere engendered in him a deep respect for mercy, justice, and loyal affection for others. Faith and morals were taken seriously, but without priggishness. Both his parents were exceptional models of virtue. It is said that his mother, Aleth, exerted a virtuous influence upon Bernard only second to what St. Monica had done for St. Augustine of Hippo in the 5th century. Aleth’s death, in 1107, so affected Bernard that he claimed that this is when his “long path to complete conversion” began. He turned away from his literary education, begun at the school at Châtillon-sur-Seine, and from ecclesiastical advancement, toward a life of renunciation and solitude.
Bernard sought the counsel of the abbot of Cîteaux, St. Stephen Harding, and decided to enter this struggling small new community that had been established by St. Robert of Molesme in 1098 as an effort to restore Benedictinism to a more primitive and austere pattern of life. Bernard took his time in terminating his domestic affairs and in persuading his brothers and some 25 companions to join him. He entered the Cîteaux community in 1112, and from then until 1115 he cultivated his spiritual and theological studies.
Bernard’s struggles with the flesh during this period may account for his early and rather consistent penchant for physical austerities. He was plagued most of his life by impaired health, which took the form of anemia, migraine, gastritis, hypertension, and an atrophied sense of taste.
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In 1115 Harding appointed him to lead a small group of monks to establish a monastery at Clairvaux, on the borders of Burgundy and Champagne. Four brothers, an uncle, two cousins, an architect, and two seasoned monks under the leadership of Bernard endured extreme deprivations for well over a decade before Clairvaux was self-sufficient. Meanwhile, as Bernard’s health worsened, his spirituality deepened. Under pressure from his ecclesiastical superiors and his friends, notably the bishop and scholar William of Champeaux, he retired to a hut near the monastery and to the discipline of a quack physician. It was here that his first writings evolved. They are characterized by repetition of references to the Church Fathers and by the use of analogues, etymologies, alliterations, and biblical symbols, and they are imbued with resonance and poetic genius. It was here, also, that he produced a small but complete treatise on Mariology (study of doctrines and dogmas concerning the Virgin Mary), “Praises of the Virgin Mother.” Bernard was to become a major champion of a moderate cult of the Virgin, though he did not support the notion of Mary’s Immaculate Conception.
By 1119 the Cistercians had a charter approved by Pope Calixtus II for nine abbeys under the primacy of the abbot of Cîteaux. Bernard struggled and learned to live with the inevitable tension created by his desire to serve others in charity through obedience and his desire to cultivate his inner life by remaining in his monastic enclosure. His more than 300 letters and sermons manifest his quest to combine a mystical life of absorption in God with his friendship for those in misery and his concern for the faithful execution of responsibilities as a guardian of the life of the church.
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It was a time when Bernard was experiencing what he apprehended as the divine in a mystical and intuitive manner. He could claim a form of higher knowledge that is the complement and fruition of faith and that reaches completion in prayer and contemplation. He could also commune with nature and say:
Believe me, for I know, you will find something far greater in the woods than in books. Stones and trees will teach you that which you cannot learn from the masters.
Aug 8, 2008 · Learn about the life and legacy of Bernard of Clairvaux, a medieval reformer, mystic, and influential leader of the Cistercian order. Find out how he wrote on the love of God, refuted Abelard, and promoted the Second Crusade.
Learn about the life, works and influence of St. Bernard, the founding abbot of Clairvaux Abbey and a prominent leader of the Cistercian reform. Explore his spiritual writings on grace, love, humility, Mary and the Song of Songs.
Learn about the life, works and legacy of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a prominent figure of the Cistercian order and a doctor of the Church. Find out how he founded Clairvaux, wrote many treatises and letters, and influenced the Crusades and the papacy.
Sep 30, 2013 · A comprehensive overview of the life, works, and legacy of Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the most influential figures in 12th-century Europe. Find modern biographies, editions, translations, and studies of his theology, spirituality, and role in the Cistercian Order and the church.
Learn about the life and achievements of Saint Bernard de Clairvaux, a French Cistercian monk, mystic, and doctor of the church. He founded the Cistercian order, mediated in the papal schism, preached the Second Crusade, and wrote on the Song of Solomon and Mary.
