LAKE JAMES

NORTH CAROLINA

Saint Bernard, Abbot

The Twelfth Century was a time of great religious intensity in many parts of Europe, one of the foremost examples being Bernard. The son of a knight and landowner, he was given a secular education, but at the age of 23, chose to enter the Benedictine Abbey of Citeaux. Although his family opposed his decision, he later persuaded four of his brothers and 26 of his friends to join him in founding a new monastery at Clairvaux. He was a prolific writer of letters and sermons reflecting the ardor with which he preached love for God, and in the process, became one of the most influential figures in Christendom. Through his ministry, sixty new abbeys were founded, all affiliated with Clairvaux and the Cistercian reform of the Benedictine Order.

When a former monk of Clairvaux was elected Pope (Eugenius III), Bernard became his trouble shooter. He preached against the Albigensian heresy, and also recruited for the Second Crusade to liberate Jerusalem, a Crusade which ended in disaster and for which he was roundly attacked for having supported it so eagerly. He died on August 20, 1153, the day kept since 1174 as his Feast Day.

Especially known for his great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Bernard also wrote the words to three hymns in our Hymnal: O Sacred Head Sore Wounded, Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee, and Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts.

[A.T.K.Z.+ - based largely on “Lesser Feasts and Fasts”]

A Collect for the Feast of Saint Bernard, Abbot

O God, by whose grace your servant Bernard of Clairvaux, kindled with the flame of your love, became a burning and a shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and aided by his prayers, may walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

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To learn more about St. Bernard of Clairvaux from Wikipedia.org, click here.

This page last modified on Friday, April 11, 2008 09:40 PM