RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard who in the spring of 1135 induced Frederick of Staufen to submit to the emperor (Vita, IV, iii, 14; Otto of Freising, Chron., vii, 19). He then went to Italy, where in the beginning of June the Council of Pisa was held; according to the Vita (II, ii, S), everybody surrounded him here, so that it looked as if he were not in parte sollicitudinis, but in plenitudine potestatis. Nevertheless, resolutions were passed at that time regarding appeals to the papal see, which could hardly have been to the liking of Bernard. After the council he succeeded in inducing Milan and other cities of Upper Italy to submit to the pope and emperor (Epist., cxxix-cxxxiii, cxxxvii, cxl). In Milan they attempted to elevate him almost with force to the see of St. Ambrose (Vita, II, ii-v). During the last campaign of Lothair against Rome, Bernard went to Italy for the third time, in 1137; he worked there successfully against Anacletus, and after the Pentecost of 1138 he finally brought about the submission of his successor to Innocent and thus ended the schism (Epist., cccxvii). After this he left Rome. How great Bernard's influence in Rome was at this time may be seen from his successful opposition to Abelard (q.v.).
The ecclesiastico-political affairs of France soon made a new claim upon Bernard's attention. The young king, Louis VII, by making reckless use of his royal prerogatives, caused friction, as when he refused to invest Peter of Lachatre, whom the chapter of Bourges had elected archbishop. The pope consecrated him, nevertheless, and thus provoked a conflict which was enhanced by the partizanship of Count Theobald of Champagne. After a while Bernard was asked to mediate; he faithfully performed this difficult task and enjoyed the confidence of the king to the end of his life (cf. Epist., ccciv), whereas his relations to the pope appear to have been troubled toward the end (Epist., ccxviii; ccxxxi, 3).
A very unexpected event was the election of Bernard, abbot of Aquae Silvise near Rome, formerly a monk in Clairvaux, as Pope Eugenius III (1145-53). Bernard writes a little later (Epist., ccxxxix) that all who had a cause now came to him; they said that he, not Eugenius, was pope. And it is true that he exercised a remarkable influence in Rome especially at first, but Eugenius did not always follow his counsels and views; he had to consider the cardinals who were envious of Bernard. About this time Bernard, at the request of Cardinal Alberic of Ostia, undertook a journey to Languedoc, where heresy had advanced greatly and Henry of Lausanne (q.v.) had a large following. Bernard's presence there, especially at Toulouse, was not without effect, but to win permanent success continual preaching was required. A more important commission was given to him in the following year by the pope himself, to preach the crusade. At Vezelay, where the 4- The Sec- king and queen of France took the
ond Cru- cross, Mar. 21, 1146, Bernard's address sade. was most effective. He then traversed the north of France and Flanders, and the officious doings of the monk Radulf induced him to go into the regions of the Rhine; he suc-
ceeded in checking the persecutions of the Jews at Mainz, which Radulf had occasioned. His journey along the Rhine was accompanied by numerous cures, of which the Vita (vi) contains notices in the form of a diary. But he regarded it as the wonder of wonders that he succeeded on Christmas day, 1146, in influencing King Conrad in favor of the crusade, in the face of all political considerations. During the crusade Eugenius sought a refuge in France. Bernard accompanied him, and was present at the great council in Reims, 1148; in the debates against Gilbert of Poitiers (see Gilbert de la Porree) following the council, Bernard appeared as his main opponent; but the jealousy of the cardinals brought it about that Gilbert escaped unhurt (Vita, III, v, 15; Otto of Freising, De gestis Frid.r i, 55-57; Hist, pont., viii, MGH, Scrip., xx, 522 sqq.). About this time the first unfavorable news of the crusade became known, and tidings of its complete failure followed. No one felt the blow more keenly than Bernard, who with prophetical authority to speak had predicted a favorable issue (De consid., ii, 1). In the last years of his life he had to experience many things which caused him sadness. Men with whom he had had a lifelong connection died; his relations with Eugenius III were sometimes troubled (Epist., cccvi); the frailty and the pains of his body increased. But his mental vitality remained active; his last work, De consider atione, betrays freshness and unimpaired force of mind.
II. Ecclesiastical and Theological Significance: Bernard's entire life was dominated by the resolution he made while a youth. To work out the salvation of his soul, and — which meant the same thing to him — to dedicate him-
i. Asceti- self to the service of God, was thencecism. forth the sum of his life. To serve God demanded above all a struggle against nature, and in this struggle Bernard was in earnest. Sensual temptations he seems to have overcome early and completely (Vita, I, iii, 6) and an almost virginal purity distinguished him. To suppress sensuality in the wider sense of the word, he underwent the hardest castigations, but their excess, which undermined his health, he afterward checked in others (cf. Vita, I, xii, 60). He always remained devoted to a very strict asceticism (Epist., cccxlv; Cant., xxx, 10-12; Vita, I, xii, 60), but castigation was to him only a means of godliness not godliness itself, which demands of man still other things. The new life comes only from the grace of God, but it requires the most serious work of one's own nature. How much importance Bernard attached to this work, whose preliminary condition is a quiet collection of the mind, may be learned from the admonitions which he gives on that point to Eugenius. That he prefers the contemplative life to the active is nothing peculiar in him; and he doubtless had the desire to devote himself entirely to it. He may have believed that only duty and love impelled him to act. And yet, as he was eminently fitted for action, such work was probably also in harmony with his inclinations. From his own experience he received the strength to work, the thorough education of the personality, by which he exercised an almost fas-
Bernard of Clairvaux