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St. Bernard of Clairvaux Today the universal Church celebrates St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who is considered by many as the “man of the twelve century.” Born in Burgundy, France, Bernard left home at the age of 20 to join the monastic community of Citeaux. Four of his brothers and 25 friends followed him into the monastery. After professing his vows, the Abbot sent him and twelve monks to found a new monastery, which afterward became the famous Abbey of Clairvaux. Bernard was appointed Abbot and feverishly set out to do the Lord’s work. Over time, Clairvaux had over 700 monks and eventually 160 daughter houses. Additionally, Bernard is well known for his theological works, including his commentary on the Song of Songs. His love for and writings on the Blessed Virgin Mary are truly remarkable. Furthermore, Bernard’s ability as arbitrator and counselor became well known. Unfortunately, he was pulled away from the monastery more and more to settle long-standing disputes. Finally, as Bernard’s fame spread, Pope Eugene III commissioned him to preach the second crusade. In obedience to the Holy Pontiff, Bernard traveled through France and Germany to arouse enthusiasm for the holy war to reclaim the Holy Land. Unfortunately, the crusade ended in a disaster as the ideals and morals of the soldiers were not those of the holy saint. Bernard died on August 20, 1153. He was the first Cistercian monk placed on the calendar of saints. Pope Pius VIII proclaimed him a doctor of the Church. Bernard’s life of contemplation, love for the Blessed Virgin Mary, eloquent writings, and outstanding life of faith and virtue are truly inspirational for us today. May we invoke his intercession that like him, we will bear witness to Christ and become saints! St. Bernard of Clairvaux, pray for us! .

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Life and Works of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux
J&t. itfetnatto. LIFE AND WORKS OF SAINT BERNARD, ABBOT OF CLA1RVAUX. EDITED BY DOM. JOHN MABILLON, Presbyter and Monk of the Benedictine Congregation of S. Maur. Translated and Edited with Additional Notes, BY SAMUEL J. EALES, M.A., D.C.L., Sometime Principal of S. Boniface College, Warminster. SECOND EDITION. VOL. I. LONDON: BURNS & OATES LIMITED. NEW YORK, CINCINNATI & CHICAGO: BENZIGER BROTHERS. EMMANUBi A $ t fo je s : SOUTH COUNTIES PRESS LIMITED. .NOV 20 1350 CONTENTS. I. PREFACE TO ENGLISH EDITION II. GENERAL PREFACE... ... i III. BERNARDINE CHRONOLOGY ... 76 IV. LIST WITH DATES OF S. BERNARD S LETTERS... gi V. LETTERS No. I. TO No. CXLV ... ... 107 PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. THERE are so many things to be said respecting the career and the writings of S. Bernard of Clairvaux, and so high are view of his the praises which must, on any just character, be considered his due, that an eloquence not less than his own would be needed to give adequate expression to them. and able labourer He was an untiring transcendently ; and that in many fields. In all his manifold activities are manifest an intellect vigorous and splendid, and a character which never magnetic attractiveness of personal failed to influence and win over others to his views. His entire disinterestedness, his remarkable industry, the soul- have been subduing eloquence which seems to equally effective in France and in Italy, over the sturdy burghers of and above of Liege and the turbulent population Milan, the all the wonderful piety and saintliness which formed these noblest and the most engaging of his gifts qualities, and the actions which came out of them, rendered him the ornament, as he was more than any other man, the have drawn him the leader, of his own time, and upon admiration of succeeding ages.
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The First Life of Bernard of Clairvaux
CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER SEVENTY-SIX THE FIRST LIFE OF BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER SEVENTY-SIX The First Life of Bernard of Clairvaux by William of Saint-Thierry, Arnold of Bonneval, and Geoffrey of Auxerre Translated by Hilary Costello, OCSO Cistercian Publications www.cistercianpublications.org LITURGICAL PRESS Collegeville, Minnesota www.litpress.org A Cistercian Publications title published by Liturgical Press Cistercian Publications Editorial Offices 161 Grosvenor Street Athens, Ohio 45701 www.cistercianpublications.org In the absence of a critical edition of Recension B of the Vita Prima Sancti Bernardi, this translation is based on Mount Saint Bernard MS 1, with section numbers inserted from the critical edition of Recension A (Vita Prima Sancti Bernardi Claraevallis Abbatis, Liber Primus, ed. Paul Verdeyen, CCCM 89B [Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2011]). Scripture texts in this work are translated by the translator of the text. The image of Saint Bernard on the cover is a miniature from Mount Saint Bernard Abbey, fol. 1, reprinted with permission from Mount Saint Bernard Abbey. © 2015 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, microfilm, microfiche, mechanical recording, photocopying, translation, or any other means, known or yet unknown, for any purpose except brief quotations in reviews, without the previous written permission of Liturgical Press, Saint John’s Abbey, PO Box 7500, College- ville, Minnesota 56321-7500. Printed in the United States of America. 123456789 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Vita prima Sancti Bernardi. English The first life of Bernard of Clairvaux / by William of Saint-Thierry, Arnold of Bonneval, and Geoffrey of Auxerre ; translated by Hilary Costello, OCSO.
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The Church Impotent, by Leon J Podles, 6
6 The Foundations of Feminization EN AND WOMEN, as far as we can tell, participated equally in Christianity until about the thirteenth century. If anything, men were more prominent in the Church not Monly in clerical positions, which were restricted to men, but in religious life, which was open to both men and women. Only around the time of Bernard, Dominic, and Francis did gender differences emerge, and these differences can be seen both in demographics and in the quality of spirituality. Because these changes occurred rapidly and only in the Latin church, innate or quasi- innate differences between the sexes cannot by themselves account for the increase in women’s interest in Christian- ity or the decrease in men’s interest. In fact, the medieval feminization of Christianity followed on three movements in the Church which had just begun at the time: the preaching of a new affective spirituality and bridal mysticism by Bernard of Clairvaux;1 a Frauenbewegung, a kind of women’s movement; and Scholasticism, a school of theology. This concurrence of trends caused the Western church to become a difficult place for men. Bernard of Clairvaux and Bridal Mysticism Like the light pouring through the great windows of Chartres, the 02 The Foundations of Feminization 03 brilliance of the High Middle Ages is colored by the personality of Bernard of Clairvaux. Like many great men, Bernard contained multitudes. As a monastic who united prayer and theology, he looked back to the patristic era, especially to Augustine. A monk who renounced the world, he set in motion the Crusades, whose effects are still felt in the geopolitics of Europe and the Middle East.
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Solemnity of Mary and Simple Profession of Br. Bernard Marra
SOLEMNITY OF MARY, 2014 AND SIMPLE PROFESSION OF BR. BERNARD MARRA Since the liturgy is so much a part of the Benedictine life to which you, Br. Bernard, are making profession this morning, I would like to begin this homily with a few comments about the history of today’s feast. Younger Catholics today know it only as the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, for this has been its designation for the past 45 years, ever since the revision of the liturgical calendar by Pope Paul VI in 1969, but for the seven years before that it was called simply the Octave Day of Christmas, while from 1570 until 1962 it was the feast of Christ’s circumcision, and in still earlier times the first day of January was celebrated in Rome as a feast of Mary. The most recent change is therefore a revival of what had been Roman liturgical practice from the seventh century until the late Middle Ages. This is exactly the point that Pope Paul made in naming the octave day of Christmas the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. He wrote: In the revised ordering of the Christmas period … the attention of all should be directed towards the restored Solemnity of Mary, the holy Mother of God. This celebration, placed on January 1 in conformity with the ancient … liturgy of the city of Rome, is meant to commemorate the part played by Mary in this mystery of salvation.1 What Pope Paul there referred to as “the part played by Mary” could hardly be overemphasized.
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St. Francis of Assisi St. Bernard of Clairvaux
St. Bernard of Clairvaux St. Francis of Assisi Our Mother of Perpetual Help (A Secondary Mission Church) ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX CHURCH SEPTEMBERBRADFORD, 5, 2021 PA We may ask - what is the beauty of the Letter from Saint James? The answer is its simplicity and straightforwardness. The letter offers very practical lessons on how to live out our daily life as a Catholic Christian. From the reading today, we hear him talking about a common fault that we all have - that is to merely judge on outward appearances. You may ask yourself, why do we do this? The answer is quite simple. Because then you don’t have to get to know the per- son or even try to understand where that person is coming from. Let us hear the words from Saint James: “For if a man with gold rings and fine clothes comes into the assembly, and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in, and you pay attention to the one who is wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Sit here, please,’ while you say to the poor one, ‘Stand there,’ or ‘Sit at my feet,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil designs?” I like the letter of Saint James because he gives a simple and practical way to live out our faith on a daily basis. He does not go off on heavy theological discussions. Much like Joe Friday from the old TV series, Dragnet, who always started off his in- terviews with this line: “Just the facts Mam, just the facts.” Saint James tells us much the same thing.
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Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York
promoting access to White Rose research papers Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ This is an author produced version of a paper published in The Journal of Ecclesiastical History. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/10455 Published paper Thompson, K. (2009) The other Saint Bernard: The 'troubled and varied career' of Bernard of Abbeville, Abbot of Tiron, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 60 (4), pp. 657-672 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022046909990042 White Rose Research Online [email protected] The Other Saint Bernard: the ‘troubled and varied career’ of Bernard of Abbeville, Abbot of Tiron ‘A troubled and varied career.’1 Such is David Knowles’ assessment of Bernard of Abbeville, founder of the abbey of Tiron, which lies in the wooded landscape of the Perche region between Alençon and Chartres in western France.2 Bernard’s career is conventionally coupled with those of Robert of Arbrissel and Vitalis of Mortain, all of them important figures in the ascetic revival in monasticism which gripped western Europe in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries.3 Yet while the Fontevraudine and Savignac affiliations that derived from Robert and Vitalis’s activities have been much discussed, there is no major history of the abbey of Tiron. The rigour of Bernard’s approach to monastic life, however, was much admired by contemporaries, including the kings, Henry I of England, David I of Scotland and Louis VI of France. His abbey of Tiron was the source for over a hundred communities throughout France and perhaps surprisingly in Scotland, Wales and England.4 The speed with which these daughter houses were established over such a broad area was remarkable, but the impetus was not sustained, and the so-called ‘Order of Tiron’ had ceased to be an influential force within the western monastic tradition by the beginning of the thirteenth century.
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The Book of Saints Is Designed for Meditation and Reflection and Includes Prayers and Biblical Readings That Stir the Heart As They Instruct the Mind.” —Robert L
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Trial and Triumph
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On the Perfection of Life for Sisters
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In the Twelfth Century, St. Bernard of Clairvaux Once Rescued a Murderer Being Led to Execution
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St. Bernard of Clairvaux Feast: August 20
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The Feast Day of St Henry
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