499
BERNARD
years later, St. Stephen sent the young Bernard, at
the head of a band of monks, the third to leave
Clteaux, to found a new house at Valine d'Absinthe,
or Valley of Bitterness, in the Diocese of Langres.
This Bernard named Claire Valine, or Clairvaux,
on the 25th of June, 1115, and the names of Bernard
and Clairvaux thence become inseparable. During
the absence of the Bishop of Langres, Bernard was
blessed as abbot by William of Champeaux, Bishop
of Chalons-sur-Marne, who saw in him the predes-
tined man, senium Dei. From that moment a strong
friendship sprang up between the abbot and the
bishop, who was professor of theology at Notre Dame,
of Paris, and the founder of the cloister of St. Victor.
The beginnings of Clairvaux were trying and pain-
ful. The regime was so austere that Bernard's health
was impaired by it, and only the influence of his
friend William of Champeaux, and the authority
of the General Chapter could make him mitigate his
Vestment of St. Bern.ard of Clairvaux
austerities. The monastery, however, made rapid
progress. Disciples flocked to it in great numbers,
desirous of putting themselves under the direction
of Bernard. His father, the aged Tescelin, and all
his brothers entered Clairvaux as religious, leaving
only Humbeline, his sister, in the world and she, with
the consent of her husband, soon took the veil in
the Benedictine Convent of JuUy. Clairvaux be-
coming too small for the religious who crowded there,
it was necessary to send out bands to found new
houses. In 1118, the monastery of the Three Foun-
tains was founded in the Diocese of Chalons; in 1119,
that of Fontenay in the Diocese of Auton (now Dijon)
and in 1121, that of Foigny, near Veirins, in the
Diocese of Lain (now Soisson). Notwithstanding
this prosperity, the ,\bbot of Clairvaux had his trials.
During an ab-sence from Clairvaux, the Clrand Prior
of Cluny, Bernard of Uxells, sent by the Prince of
Priors, to use the expression of Bernard, went to
Clairvaux and enticed away the abbot's cousin,
Robert of Chatillon. This was the occasion of the
longest, and most touching of Bernard's letters.
In the year 1119, Bernard was present at the first
general chapter of the order convoked by Stephen
of Clteaux. Though not yet thirty years old, Bernard
was listened to with the greatest attention and re-
spect, especially when he developed his thoughts
upon the revival of the primitive spirit of regularity
and fervour in all the monastic orders. It was this
general chapter that gave definitive form to the con-
stitutions of the order and the regulations of the
"Charter of Charity" which Pope Calixtus II con-
firmed 23 December, 1119. In 1120 Bernard com-
posed his first work "De Gradibus Superbiae et
Humilitatis" and his homilies which he entitles
"De Laudibus Maria;". The monks of Cluny had
not seen, with satisfaction, those of CiteaiLX take
the first place among the religious orders for regu-
larity and fervour. For this reason there was a
temptation on the part of the "Black Monks" to
make it appear that the rules of the new order were
impracticable. At the solicitation of William of
St. Theirry, Bernard defended himself by publishing
his "Apology" which is divided into two parts. In
the first he proves himself innocent of the invectives
against Cluny, which had been attributed to him,
and in the second he gives the reasons for his attack
upon averred abuses. He protests his profound es-
teem for the Benedictines of Cluny whom he declares
he loves equally as well as the other religious orders.
Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, answered the
Abbot of Clairvaux without wounding charity in the
least, and assured him of his great admiration and sin-
cere friendship. In the meantime Cluny established
a reform, and Suger himself, the minister of Louis le
Gros, and Abbot of St. Denis, was converted by the
apology of Bernard. He hastened to terminate his
worldly life and restore discipline in his monastery.
The zeal of Bernard did not stop here; it extended to
the bishops, the clergy, and the faithful, and re-
markable conversions of persons engaged in worldly
pursuits were among the fruits of his labours. Ber-
nard's letter to the Archbishop of Sens is a real
treatise "De OfBeiis Episcoporum ". About the
same time he wrote his work on "Grace and Free
Will".
In the year 1128, Bernard assisted at the Coinicil of Troyes, which had been convoked by Pope Hono- rius II, and was presided over by Cardinal Matthew, Bishop of Albano. The purpose of this council was to settle certain disputes of the bishops of Paris, and regulate other matters of the Church of France. The bishops made Bernard secretary of the council, and charged him with drawing up the synodal stat- utes. After the council, the Bishop of Verdun was deposed. There then arose against Bernard unjust reproaches and he was denounced even in Rome, as a monk who meddled with matters that did not con- cern him. Cardinal Harmeric, on behalf of the pope, wrote Bernard a sharp letter of remonstrance. "It is not fitting", he said "that noisy and troublesome frogs should come out of their marshes to trouble the Holy See and the cardinals". Bernard answered the letter by saying that, if he had ass'sted at the council, it was because he had been dragged to it, as it were, by force. "Now illustrious Harmeric", he added, " if you so wished, who would have been more capable of freeing me from the necessity of assisting at the council than yourself? Forbid those noisy troublesome frogs to come out of their holes, to leave their marshes . . . Then your friend will no longer be exposed to the accosations of pride and presump- tion". This letter made a great impression upon the cardinal, and justified its author both in his eyes and before the Holy See. It was at this council that Bernard traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knighis Templars who soon became the ideal of the French nobility. Bernard praises it in his "De Laudibus Novff Militiae".
