Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot & Doctor
S. Bernardi Abbatis et Ecclesiae Doctoris
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, abbot and reformer of the Cistercian Order, was a preacher of singular power and sweetness, and is honoured as a Doctor of the Church under the title of the “Mellifluous Doctor.”
Saint Bernard was born about the year 1090 at Fontaines, near Dijon in Burgundy, of a noble and devout family. Gifted in mind and gentle in manner, he might have shone in the world; but, drawn to give himself wholly to God, he entered as a young man the new and austere monastery of Cîteaux, the cradle of the Cistercian reform. Such was the ardour of his soul that he brought with him some thirty companions — brothers, kinsmen, and friends — whom he had persuaded to embrace the monastic life.
Abbot of Clairvaux
After a few years Saint Bernard was sent with a band of monks to found a new house in a valley which came to be called Clairvaux, the “valley of light.” There he was made abbot, and there he laboured for the rest of his life, governing his community with a father’s love and a saint’s severity, and leading his monks in the way of prayer, penance, and charity. Under his guidance Clairvaux flourished and sent forth monks to found many other monasteries, so that the Cistercian reform spread throughout Europe.
Though he loved above all the silence and solitude of the cloister, Saint Bernard was drawn again and again into the affairs of the whole Church. Popes and princes sought his counsel; he laboured to heal a schism that had divided the Church, to compose disputes, and to defend the integrity of the faith against error. His eloquence in the pulpit and in his writings earned him the title of the “Mellifluous Doctor,” the doctor whose words flow like honey; for his teaching joined depth of doctrine to a burning love of God.
Devotion to our Lord and his Mother
The writings of Saint Bernard breathe a tender devotion to the sacred humanity of our Lord, to his Passion, and to the Holy Name of Jesus, and a deep filial love of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom he praised and invoked with surpassing sweetness. He is venerated as one of the great heralds of Marian devotion, and the Church has long associated his name with the loving confidence that flies to Mary’s protection.
Worn out by his many labours, Saint Bernard died at Clairvaux on the twentieth of August in the year 1153. He was canonised within a generation, and was afterward declared a Doctor of the Church. The collect of his feast prays that we who keep his festival may be taught by his example and helped by his intercession. In him the Church honours a monk who loved silence yet served the whole Church, and whose words still draw souls to the love of God.
The Collect
O God, who didst give blessed Bernard to thy people to be a minister of eternal salvation: grant, we beseech thee; that we who have had him for a teacher of life on earth may deserve to have him for an intercessor in heaven.
Deus, qui pópulo tuo ætérnæ salútis beátum Bernárdum minístrum tribuísti: præsta, quæsumus; ut, quem Doctórem vitæ habúimus in terris, intercessórem habére mereámur in cælis.
Patronage
He is venerated as the “Mellifluous Doctor” and is honoured as a patron of the Cistercian Order, of beekeepers and candlemakers, and is invoked for devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux?
His feast is kept on 20 August in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Third Class feast. The modern calendar likewise observes him on 20 August, as a memorial.
Who was Saint Bernard of Clairvaux?
He was a twelfth-century French monk who became abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Clairvaux and a leading figure in the reform and spread of his Order. Renowned for his preaching, his writings, and his devotion to our Lord and his Mother, he is honoured as a Doctor of the Church. He died in 1153.
Why is he called the ‘Mellifluous Doctor’?
The title means the “honey-flowing” doctor, and reflects the sweetness and warmth of his preaching and writing, which joined sound doctrine to a fervent love of God. His sermons and treatises, especially on the love of God and on the Blessed Virgin Mary, have been treasured by the Church ever since.
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