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Bernard of Clairvaux — Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain

theologian

Bernard of Clairvaux

Burgundian saint, abbot and theologian (1090–1153)

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Also known as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Bernard, St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Key facts

Occupation: theologian, writer, philosopher, hymnwriter
Position held: abbot of Clairvaux, abbot
Citizenship: Kingdom of France
Born: 1090, 1091
Died: August 20, 1153, 1153

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Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).

Overview

Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. (; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templar, and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order through the nascent Cistercian Order. He was sent to found Clairvaux Abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val d'Absinthe, about southeast of Bar-sur-Aube. In the year 1128, Bernard attended the Council of Troyes, at which he traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar, which soon became an ideal of Christian nobility. On the death of Pope Honorius II in 1130, a schism arose in the church. Bernard was a major proponent of Pope Innocent II, arguing effectively for his legitimacy over the Antipope Anacletus II. Bernard advocated crusades in general and convinced many to participate in the unsuccessful Second Crusade, notably through a famous sermon at Vézelay (1146).

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“Experto crede: aliquid amplius invenies in silvis, quam in libris. Ligna et lapides docebunt te, quod a magistris audire non possis.”
— Believe me, you will find more lessons in the woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you what you cannot learn from masters.
“Qui se sibi magistrum constituit, stulto se discipulum subdit.”
— He that will teach himself in school, becomes a scholar to a fool.
“Ego addo et de pertinacia Græcorum, qui nobiscum sunt, et nobiscum non sunt, juncti fide, pace divisi, quanquam et in fide ipsa claudicaverint a semitis rectis.”
— I, for one, shall speak about those obstinate Greeks, who are with us and against us, united in faith and divided in peace, though in truth their faith may stray from the straight path.
“Among us on the earth there is His memory; but in the Kingdom of heaven His very Presence. That Presence is the joy of those who have already attained to beatitude; the memory is the comfort of us who are still wayfarers, journeying towards the Fatherland.”
— On Loving God, Ch. 3, Paul Halsall trans.
“What of the souls already released from their bodies? We believe that they are overwhelmed in that vast sea of eternal light and of luminous eternity”
— On Loving God, Ch. 11, Paul Halsall trans.
“Sunt namque qui scire volunt eo fine tantum ut sciant; et turpis curiositas est. Et sunt qui scire volunt, ut sciantur ipsi; et turpis vanitas est. ... Et sunt item qui scire volunt, ut scientiam suam vendant, verbi causa, pro pecunia, pro honoribus; et turpis quaestus est. Sed sunt quoque qui scire volunt, ut aedificent; et caritas est. Et item qui scire volunt, ut aedificentur; et prudentia est.”
— To learn in order to know is scandalous curiosity. (Translation from Alfred Howard Campbell Downes, The Mystical Theology of St. Bernard, translating Étienne Gilson's La théologie mystique de saint Bernard)

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.