Introduction
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO At the Ballantyne Press
TO THE READER
This selection of S. Bernard's letters has been made in the hope that it may find its way into the hands of many to whom the volumes of the greater collection are unknown, or are for one reason or another inaccessible. The letters of great and good men give us information about them which can be derived from no other source. "As the eyes are to the other bodily senses," says the editor of S. Augustine's correspondence, "so are the letters of illustrious men in numberless ways more wonderful than all their other works. In them, as in the mirror of the human eyes, appear the personal qualities, passions, virtues, and vices of the individual. Just as no one can better show himself to the life than in his letters, so nowhere can he be better known" than in them. This is true of the letters of every saint, as well as of every man of affairs; and the peculiar value and charm of such collections of letters is almost universally acknowledged.
S. Bernard's unique position in the Church in his day, and the widespread authority he possessed, no less than his acknowledged place among the spiritual writers of all ages, tend to make his correspondence peculiarly interesting, as revealing in a more intimate way than any of his more formal writings, the characteristic qualifications and virtues, which won for him the great position he held so long during the middle ages. His learning and judgment no doubt fully appear in his tracts, treatises, and sermons; but in the private letters that were intended only for the eye of the recipient, the reader can get a deeper insight into the man and the saint, and learn more fully, because more naturally, his real qualities. In them appear his prudence and zeal, his love of truth and piety, the warmth of his human affections and his natural eloquence with more genuine truth than, say, in his commentary on The Canticle of Canticles, his Mystical Vine, or his Treatise against Abelard.
"It sometimes happens," says the editor above quoted, "that in writing about themselves, the saints immoderately exaggerate their bad qualities; or disparage their good more than is just. When another, however, writes about them, he is unable properly to penetrate the interior qualities of their soul; or if he can, is unable properly to express his knowledge for the benefit of others. But in their letters writers display themselves spontaneously, and paint themselves in their natural colours." Nature, locality, occasion, and persons are produced before the mind of the reader even when the writer had no conscious design of doing so, and this in so clear a manner "that any careful reader may, in these letters of our author, look into his face and soul as if he were close at hand."
For the benefit of those readers of this little volume who may not have access to any full account of S. Bernard's career, it may be useful to give here a brief outline of his life. The Saint was born in the year 1091 in the village of Fontaine, in the province of Burgundy. He received a good education in his youth, and from the first displayed the best Christian dispositions. At the age of three-and-twenty he determined to dedicate his life to God in the cloister; and made choice of Citeaux, a monastery then under the fervent direction of S. Stephen Harding and which S. Robert had founded only a few years previously from Molêsmes. Bernard took with him to Citeaux thirty companions, and from this refuge he was sent two years later, in 1115, to be Abbot of Clairvaux, the first offshoot of the future great religious congregation of Cistercians which had its centre at Citeaux.
The former solitude of Clairvaux soon became peopled under S. Bernard with men who were attracted by the Saint's great personality and some 700 novices are said to have sat at his feet to learn the science of the saints. He himself lived to see one of his disciples upon the throne of S. Peter, six more become cardinals, and over thirty bishops in various sees of the Christian world. He acquired, in a truly marvellous way, the general esteem and confidence of bishops, nobles, and peoples. For a considerable period there was no ecclesiastical matter of any importance, no difference to be composed, and no religious enterprise upon which he was not consulted. It was with his assistance, or it may be said by the authority of his name, that Innocent II. was recognised in the Church as Pontiff, and that Victor voluntarily abdicated the position of anti-pope. From 1131 to 1138 S. Bernard was constantly at work healing the schism. At the Council of Sens in 1140 he confounded Abelard by his learning and secured his condemnation. In 1148 he preached the Crusade, the partial failure of which he subsequently attributed to the sins of the Crusaders.
During all this time he lived as a true monk in the face of the world, and so many wonders and miracles were worked by him, or through his instrumentality, that he became commonly known as the Thaumaturgus of the West. During his lifetime he founded 160 monasteries in various parts of the western world, and he died at the age of sixty-three on 20th August 1153.
A word may now be allowed about S. Bernard's literary style, of which we have evidence in the two volumes of his "Letters," translated and published by Dr. Eales, a selection from which is made in this small volume. He writes always in a lively and pleasant way: his thoughts are exalted and are expressed in a manner, full of unction ; whilst tender, he is by no means wanting in strength, and at times he is vehement in defence of the truth or when it is necessary to carry conviction to the mind of him with whom he is corresponding. His diction is saturated, so to speak, with Holy Scripture; and he constantly makes use of texts taken from the Bible, and still more frequently of Biblical expressions interwoven into his own language. His favourites among the Fathers are S. Ambrose and S. Augustine, and he follows their teachings and opinions as conclusive arguments for the truth.
S. Bernard in the midst of all his labours found time for writing a great many letters. Four hundred and eighty-two of these, some of considerable length, have been preserved, and are to be found printed in the great collections of the Saint's works. From these, as given to English readers in the faithful and easy translation made by the late Dr. Eales, sixty-six are selected as samples in the present volume. Where all is so excellent and so really fascinating the task of selection was not difficult, and mainly consisted in the unwelcome process of exclusion. The reason why one should be taken and another left was not always obvious, and beyond choosing all the letters which in any way had something to do with England, and one or two characteristic specimens, such as No. II.: "To the monk Adam," or No. LX. on "the Heresies of Peter Abelard," with the preceding note, practically no principle has guided the choice. In the notes it has been thought best, when reference is made to other letters not contained in this volume, to retain the numbers given to the letters in the original volumes. It may, in conclusion, be hoped that some at least may be tempted by these sample letters of a man who had to play so great a part in the first half of the twelfth century, to desire to become further acquainted with him in the larger collections of his writings.
FRANCIS AIDAN GASQUET.
Athenæum Club,
All Saints' Day, 1903.
CONTENTS
LETTER PAGE I. To the Canons Regular of Horricourt 1 II. To the Monk Adam 3 III. To Bruno, Archbishop Elect of Cologne 27 IV. To the Prior and Monks of the Grand Chartreuse 31 V. To Peter, Cardinal Deacon 33 VI. To the Same 34 VII. To Matthew, the Legate 40 VIII. To Gilbert, Bishop of London, Universal Doctor 42 IX. To Ardutio (or Ardutius), Bishop Elect of Geneva 44 X. To the Same, When Bishop 45 XI. To the Abbot of Saint Nicasius at Rheims 47 XII. To Louis, King of France 49 XIII. To the Same Pope, in the Name of Geoffrey, Bishop of Chartres 52 XIV. To Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln 54 XV. To Alvisus, Abbot of Anchin 57 XVI. To Rainald, Abbot of Foigny 61 XVII. To the Same 66 XVIII. To the Same 69 XIX. To Suger, Abbot of S. Denis 70 XX. To Guy, Abbot of Molêsmes 85 XXI. To the Abbot of S. John at Chartres 86 XXII. To Simon, Abbot of S. Nicholas 90 XXIII. To the Same 92 XXIV. To Oger, Regular Canon 94 XXV. To the Same 107 XXVI. To the Same 112 XXVII. To the Same 115 XXVIII. To the Abbots Assembled at Soissons 117 XXIX. To Henry, King of England 121 XXX. TO Henry, Bishop of Winchester 122 XXXI.
To the Abbot of a Certain Monastery at York, From Which the Prior Had Departed, Taking Several Religious with Him 124 XXXII. To Thurstan, Archbishop of York 127 XXXIII.
To Richard, Abbot of Fountains, and His Companions, Who Had Passed Over to the Cistercian Order from Another 129 XXXIV. Hildebert, Archbishop of Tours, to the Abbot Bernard 131 XXXV. Reply of the Abbot Bernard to Hildebert, Archbishop of Tours 133 XXXVI. To the Same Hildebert, Who Had Not Yet Acknowledged the Lord Innocent as Pope 135 XXXVII. To Magister Geoffrey, of Loretto 138 XXXVIII. To His Monks of Clairvaux 140 XXXIX. To the Same 143 XL. To Thomas, Prior of Beverley 147 XLI.
To Thomas of St. Omer, After He Had Broken His Promise of Adopting a Change of Life 160 XLII. To the Illustrious Youth, Geoffrey de Perrone, and His Comrades 165 XLIII. A Consolatory Letter to the Parents of Geoffrey 168 XLIV. Concerning the Maccabees But to Whom Written Is Unknown 169 XLV.
To a Youth Named Fulk, Who Afterwards Was Archdeacon of Langres 177 XLVI.
To Guigues, the Prior, And to the Other Monks of the Grand Chartreuse 192 XLVII. To the Brother of William, a Monk of Clairvaux 206 XLVIII. To Magister Walter de Chaumont 208 XLIX. To Romanus, Sub-Deacon of the Roman Curia 212 L. To Geoffrey, of Lisieux 214 LI. To the Virgin Sophia 216 LII. To Another Holy Virgin 223 LIII. To Another Holy Virgin of the Convent of S. Mary of Troyes 227 LIV. To Ermengarde, Formerly Countess of Brittany 230 LV. To the Same 231 LVI. To Beatrice, a Noble and Religious Lady 232 LVII. To the Duke and Duchess of Lorraine 234 LVIII. To the Duchess of Lorraine 235 LIX. To the Duchess of Burgundy 237 Note to Treatise 238 LX. To the Same, Against Certain Heads of Abaelard's Heresies 259 LXI. To Louis the Younger, King of the French 294 LXII. To Pope Innocent 297 LXIII. To the Same, in the Name of Godfrey, Bishop of Langres 298 LXIV. To the Above-names Falco 299 LXV. To the Canons of Lyons, on the Conception of S. Mary 300 LXVI. To the Patriarch of Jerusalem 308
Footnotes
1 Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) wrote over 480 letters during his thirty-eight years as Abbot of Clairvaux. This selection of 66 letters, translated by Samuel J. Eales in 1904, shows Bernard in every role — spiritual director, political mediator, theological controversialist, monastic reformer, and pastor of souls.