Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), the Cistercian abbot who founded Clairvaux at twenty-five and for forty years was the conscience of Latin Christendom — preaching the Second Crusade, arbitrating a papal schism, prosecuting Abelard at Sens, and writing some of the warmest devotional prose of the Middle Ages. Luther, who had little patience with the schoolmen, called him the best of them.
Works (3)
- Life of St Malachy of Armagh — Bernard’s life of his friend Malachy, archbishop of Armagh, who died at Clairvaux in 1148 — the chief narrative source for the twelfth-century reform of the Irish church. (15 notes)
- On Loving God — Bernard’s answer to the question why and how much God is to be loved: “The reason for loving God is God Himself; the measure, to love without measure.” It traces four degrees of love, from loving oneself for one’s own sake to loving oneself only for God’s. (16 notes)
- Some Letters of Saint Bernard — Sixty-six letters to popes, kings, bishops, abbots, monks and noblewomen — the abbot of Clairvaux acting on the whole of twelfth-century Europe from a monastery. Letter 60 carries his indictment of Abelard’s teaching. (66 notes)