§ 65. ST. BERNARD OP CLAIRVAUX. 357
Bernard's sense of personal imworthiness was a controlling element in his religious experience. In this regard he forms a striking contrast to the self-confidence and swagger of Abselard. He relied with childlike trust upon the divine grace. In one of his very last letters he begged his friend the abbot of Bonneval to be solicitous in prayer to the Saviour of sinners in his behalf. His last days were not without sorrow. His trusted secretary was found to have betrayed his confidence, and used his seal for his own pur poses. William of St. Thierry and other friends had been passing away. Bernard's last journey was to Metz to com pose a dispute between bishop Stephen and the duke of Lorraine. Deutsch, perhaps the chief living authority on Bernard, says : " Religious warmth, Q-enialittit, is the chief thing in his character and among his gifts." l Harnack pays this tribute to him, that w he was the religious genius of the twelfth century, the leader of his age in religion."2 " Ber nard," said Luther, — and he was not easily deceived by monkish pretension, — " Bernard loved Jesus as mucli as any one can."3 Ray Palmer has imparted to his version of Ber nard's hymn its original religious fervor, —
44 Jesus, Thou Joy of loving hearts,
Thou Fount of life, Thou Light of men, From the best bliss which earth imparts We turn unfilled to Thee again."
The encomium of Bernard's early biographer Alanus is high praise, but probably no man since the Apostles has deserved it more: "The majesty of his name was surpassed by his lowliness of heart,"4
vincebat tamen sublimitatem nominis humilitas cordis.
1 Herzog, II. 634
2 Dogmengeschichte, III. 301.
3 Bindseil, Colloquia, III. 152. Bernhardus hat den Jesus so lieb als einer sein mag.
4 Vita secunda, XVII. ; Migne, 185, 498.
858 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
§ 66. The Augustinian&i Carthusians, Carmelites, and other Orders.
Among the greater orders which came into existence be fore 1200 are the Augustinians, the Premonst rants, the Car thusians, and the Carmelites.
1. The Augustinians were a distinct family from the Benedictines, followed the so-called rule of St. Augustine, and were divided into the canons regular of St. Augustine and the mendicant friars of St. Augustine.
The bodies of canons regular were numerous, but their organization was not compact like that of the stricter mo nastic orders.1 They were originally communities of secular clerics, and not conventual associations. They occupied a position between the strict monastic existence and an inde pendent clerical life. Their origin can be assigned to no exact date. As early as the eleventh century a rule, ascribed to St. Augustine, appeared in several forms. It was pro fessed by the clerical groups forming the cathedral chap ters, and by bodies of priests associated with other churches of prominence.2 The various church services, as, for exam ple, the service of song, and the enforced rule of celibacy, encouraged or demanded a plurality of clergymen for a church.
Moved by the strong impulse in the direction of conven tual communities, these groups inclined to the communal life and sought some common rule of discipline. For it they looked back to Augustine of Hippo, and took his household
1 See art. Augustiner, in Herzog, II. 254 sqq., and in Wetzer-Welte, I. 1655 sqq. Theod. Kolde, D. deutsche Augustiner Congregation und Joh. von Staupitz, Gotha, 1879.
2 At Campell, near Paris, there were not less than fifty priests, whose number was reduced by Innocent III. to twenty-two. See Hurter, III. 375. The terms canonicus scecularis and regularis do not occur before the twelfth century. Up to that time they were known as clerici religiosi, clerici regulares, clerici professi, clerici communiter viventes, etc. So Denifle, Archiv far Lit. und Kirchengeschichte for 1885, p. 174. He quotes Amort, Vetus diacipUna canonicontm reyul. et scecuL, Venice, 1747, I. 333.