Bernard of Clairvaux
1090–1153 1 entry
Biography
Bernard of Clairvaux was a French abbot, theologian and preacher, one of the most influential churchmen of the Middle Ages. Born in 1090 into a noble family near Dijon in Burgundy, he entered the strict new monastery of Cîteaux at twenty-two, bringing some thirty relatives and friends with him. In 1115 he was sent to found a daughter house at Clairvaux, which he led as abbot until his death and made the centre of the Cistercian order. Under his influence the order spread across Europe, from Portugal to Sweden.
An adviser to popes and kings, he settled a disputed papal election, opposed the philosopher Peter Abelard and in 1146 preached the Second Crusade at Vézelay. His sermons on the Song of Songs and his writings on the love of God make him one of the great mystics of Christianity. He died at Clairvaux in 1153, was declared a saint in 1174 and was named a Doctor of the Church in 1830.
- Aphorisms 1