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, and a major leader in the reform of the Benedictines through the nascent Cistercian Order.
Bernard was sent to found Clairvaux Abbey only a few years after becoming a monk at Cîteaux. In 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.
The abbot advocated crusades in general and convinced many to participate in the unsuccessful Second Crusade, notably through a famous sermon at Vézelay (1146).
Bernard was canonized just 21 years after his death by Pope Alexander III. In 1830, Pope Pius VIII declared him a Doctor of the Church.
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. Aged nine, he was sent to a school at Châtillon-sur-Seine run by the secular canons of Saint-Vorles. Bernard was interested in literature and rhetoric.
Bernard's mother died when he was a youth. During his education with priests, he often thought of becoming one. In 1098, a group led by Robert of Molesme founded Cîteaux Abbey, near Dijon, to live according to a literal interpretation of the Rule of St. Benedict. They established new administrative structures among their monasteries, effectively creating a new order, known, after the first abbey, as the Order of Cistercians. After his mother died, Bernard decided to go to Cîteaux. In 1113, he and thirty other young noblemen of Burgundy, many of whom were his relatives, sought and gained admission to the new monastery. Bernard's example was so convincing that scores (among them his own father) followed him into the monastic life. As a result, he is considered the patron of religious vocations.
The little community of reformed Benedictines at Cîteaux grew rapidly. Three years after entering, Bernard was sent with a group of twelve monks to found a new house at Vallée d'Absinthe, in the Diocese of Langres. This Bernard named Claire Vallée, or Clairvaux, on 25 June 1115, and the names of Bernard and Clairvaux soon became inseparable. Bernard was made abbot by William of Champeaux, Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne. From then on, a strong friendship grew between the abbot and the bishop, who was professor of theology at Notre Dame of Paris and the founder of St. Victor Abbey in Paris.
The beginnings of Clairvaux Abbey were austere, and Bernard even more so. He had often been ill since his noviciate, due to extreme fasting. Nonetheless, candidates for the monastic life flocked to him in great numbers. Clairvaux soon started founding new communities. 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 Bernard's lifetime, more than sixty abbeys followed, though some were not new foundations but transferrals to the Cistercians.
Bernard spent extended time outside of the abbey as a preacher and a diplomat in the service of the pope. Described by Jean-Baptiste Chautard as "the most contemplative and yet at the same time the most active man of his age", Bernard described the disparate parts of his personality when he called himself the "chimera of his age".
In addition to successes, Bernard also had his trials. Once, when he was absent from Clairvaux, the prior of the rival Abbey of Cluny went to Clairvaux and convinced Bernard's cousin, Robert of Châtillon, to become a Benedictine. This was the occasion of the longest and most emotional of Bernard's letters. When his brother Gerard died, Bernard was devastated, and his deep mourning was the inspiration for one of his most moving sermons.
The Cluny Benedictines were unhappy to see Cîteaux gain such prominence so quickly, particularly since many Benedictines were becoming Cistercians. They criticized the Cistercian way of life. At the solicitation of William of St.-Thierry, Bernard defended the Cistercians with his Apology. Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny, answered Bernard and assured him of his admiration and friendship. In the meantime, Cluny launched a reform and Bernard befriended Abbot Suger.
Although acknowledged as "a difficult saint", Bernard has remained influential in the centuries since his death and was named a Doctor of the Church in 1830. In 1953, on the 800th anniversary of his death, Pope Pius XII devoted the encyclical Doctor Mellifluus to him. He labeled the abbot "the last of the Fathers".
In opposition to the rational approach to understanding God used by the scholastics, Bernard preached poetically, using appeals to emotion and conversion to foster a more immediate experience of faith. He is considered to be a master of Christian rhetoric: "His use of language remains perhaps his most universal legacy." He contributed lyrics to the Cistercian Hymnal.
As a master of prayer, the abbot emphasized the value of personal, experiential friendship with Christ.
As a mariologist, Bernard was not original but exceptionally effective at spreading devotion to Jesus' mother, since his preaching attracted a large audience. He emphasized Mary's humility and insisted on her central role in Christian theology. He developed the theology of her role as Co-Redemptrix and mediator. He famously called Mary an "aquaeduct of grace". Dante has Bernard speak a profound Marian prayer at the beginning of the thirty-third canto of the Paradiso. In Goethe's Faust, Bernard appears as a "Doctor Marianus", a committed devoté of the Virgin Mary.
Bernard made a self-confident impression and had an undeniable charisma in the eyes of his contemporaries; the historian Holdsworth wrote that "his first and greatest miracle was himself". 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. When Honorius II died in 1130, a schism broke out in the Church by the election of two popes, Pope Innocent II and Antipope Anacletus II. Innocent, having been banished from Rome by Anacletus, took refuge in France. King Louis VI convened a national council of the French bishops at Étampes, and Bernard, summoned there by the bishops, was chosen to judge between the rival popes. He decided in favour of Innocent.
Bernard travelled on to 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.