Bernard of Clairvaux

Life events

1. Born — 1090

   Bernard was born at Fontaine-lès-Dijon to Tescelin de Fontaine, lord of Fontaine-lès-Dijon, and Alèthe de Montbard, both members of the highest nobility of Burgundy; he was the third of seven children.

2. Tonsured — 1113

   In 1113, Bernard and thirty other young noblemen of Burgundy, many of whom were his relatives, entered the reformed Benedictine monastery of Cîteaux, founded in 1098 near Dijon by Robert of Molesme.

3. Consecrated — 1115

   Three years after entering Cîteaux, Bernard was sent with twelve monks to found a new house in the Vallée d'Absinthe, Diocese of Langres; he named it Clairvaux on 25 June 1115 and was made abbot by William of Champeaux, Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne.

4. Council — 1128

   Bernard attended the Council of Troyes in 1128, where he helped draft the Rule of the Knights Templar, shaping the order's framework as an ideal of Christian knighthood.

5. Other — 1130

   On the death of Pope Honorius II in 1130, Bernard was called to judge between rival claimants at the Council of Étampes and decided in favour of Pope Innocent II over Antipope Anacletus II, then spent years reconciling European rulers and cities to Innocent's cause.

6. Other — 1146

   On 31 March 1146, at Vézelay, Bernard preached the Second Crusade before King Louis VII of France and an enormous crowd; so many enlisted that the cloth for making crosses was reportedly exhausted.

7. Wrote — 1150

   Bernard composed De consideratione (c. 1150), addressed to Pope Eugene III at the pope's own request, arguing that church reform must begin with the pope and that piety and meditation must precede temporal action.

8. Died — 1153

   Bernard died on 20 August 1153 at age sixty-three, after forty years of monastic life, and was buried at Clairvaux Abbey; his remains were later transferred to Troyes Cathedral after their destruction in 1792 by the French Revolutionary government.

Relationships

Documented claims

• Pope Pius VIII declared Bernard a Doctor of the Church in 1830, and Pope Pius XII's 1953 encyclical Doctor Mellifluus described him as 'the last of the Fathers.' (certain)
• Bernard helped found 163 monasteries across Europe during his lifetime, and more than sixty abbeys were established under his direct influence from Clairvaux. (likely)
• At the 1141 Council of Sens, Bernard confronted Peter Abelard over his theological teachings; Abelard chose to withdraw rather than answer, and the council condemned his positions, which the pope confirmed. (likely)
• Bernard serves as Dante Alighieri's final guide in the Paradiso of the Divine Comedy, culminating in a Marian prayer at the beginning of Canto XXXIII. (certain)
• Bernard composed 86 Sermones super Cantica Canticorum (Sermons on the Song of Songs) addressed to the monks of Clairvaux; the series remained incomplete at his death and was continued by the English Cistercian Gilbert of Hoyland. (likely)