The Abbot of Clairvaux

My attention was first drawn to Saint Bernard by an eponymously named essay by René Guénon. In the essay Guénon outlines why the life of the Abbot of Clairvaux

“seems destined to show, by means of a brilliant example, that, in order to solve problems of an intellectual, and even of a practical order, there exist means quite other than those which we have become accustomed to”.[1]

As someone new to faith I found this notion intriguing and corresponding to a desire to know God. What do I mean by this? Firstly, that many of the preconceived notions that had built up in my mind to that point were based on empirical and Enlightenment principles divorced from the supernatural reality of man. Reading Friedrich Nietzsche had gone someway to demolishing the fragile walls of my adolescence but had also done damage to my mental state and the way I saw the world. Secondly, therefore, after having been freed from these errors I needed a higher power to devote myself to. Of course, back then I did not quite see it the way I do now. It was by the grace of God that I achieved all of this. Now I realise that it was by opening myself to Him who is Love that I was able see what I could not see before.

Moreover, it was St. Bernard’s words in his Sermons on the Song of Songs that perfectly answered the question I had been asking before I found him and God: Why am I not satisfied with my life? He writes,

“nothing created can satisfy the man who is made to the image of God, except the God who is love, who alone is above all created natures.”[2]

Recognising that God himself is love is the first step – “compunction of heart” – as St. Bernard calls it followed quickly by “fervour of spirit” and so on. Even though I did not read these words until much later, nor did I know that he would have such an influence on my life, looking back I am glad I chose St. Bernard as my confirmation saint.

I haven’t the time to do a full review of Guénon’s work but suffice to say it is worth reading. From it I was introduced to St. Bernard’s life, especially his devotion to “Our Lady” (as he called her), his links to the Knights Templar, and as a model of chivalry – a prototypical Sir Galahad. Other works by St. Bernard himself that I have read include, his Five Books on Consideration written to his disciple Pope Eugene III, his In Praise of the New Knighthood, an exhortation to the Knights, and perhaps most influentially, his On loving God. Since reading the latter I have recognised that I am at a point in my life where I can say with St. Bernard “whoever praises God for his essential goodness, and not merely because of the benefits he has bestowed, really loves God for God’s sake and not selfishly.”[3] This is to follow God’s commandment to love Him solely because He is God and not for ourselves.

N.B.

You can find much more about this “great figure of the Middle Ages” here, and please also see my other articles on him by using the tag function.

[1] René Guénon, “Saint Bernard” in Insights into Christian Esoterism, p 97.

[2] St. Bernard, Sermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 18 The Two Operations of the Holy Spirit, http://www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/c0s.htm.

[3] St. Bernard, On loving God (Vancouver, 2010), p. 63.