St. Bernard of Clairvaux: His Theological and Spiritual Legacy

The writings of St. Bernard (1091-1153) represent a peak in monastic theology and spirituality. As the founder and abbot of Clairvaux, Bernard was centrally responsible for the early expansion of the Cistercian Order throughout Europe ; tens of thousands heard his powerful preaching, and he personally attracted and helped many hundreds of men to follow a call to monastic life.

Austere and yet supportive of many of his age’s cultural aspirations, Bernard represented an early version of medieval humanism, one in which the individual’s needs of personal conversion, human community, and experience of God all received simultaneous emphasis. This quintessential Christian humanism is expressed in a variety of ways in his many writings. His first book, On the Steps of Humility and Pride (De Gradibus Humilitatis et Superbiae), ingeniously expands on the teaching of St. Benedict's Rule about humility and communal living. In his treatise On Loving God (De Diligendo Deo) he describes man's spiritual ascent to the love of God through the love of self and of neighbor. On Consideration (De Consideratione), written to Blessed Eugene III (r. 1145-1151), the first Cistercian Pope and a former student of Bernard’s, presents a balanced view about combining the contemplative spirit with care and responsibility for ministry in the Church. Bernard was also called upon to travel extensively, and left behind hundreds of letters which reveal his energetic participation in all the important issues of his day, both religious and secular. He was especially renowned for the wisdom and eloquence of his preaching; in particular, his eighty-six Sermons on the Song of Songs represent the finest flower of 12th century literary style, as well as the zenith of a patristic tradition that reaches back to Gregory the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Origen. Similarly, one of his shortest and earliest works, a collection of four homilies about the Annunciation (Super "Missus Est"), had an immense influence on the Church’s Marian devotion, one that continues up to the present day.

Canonized in 1174 by Pope Alexander VIII and made doctor of the church by Pope Pius VIII in 1826, St. Bernard stands as one of the giants of the Christian spiritual and theological heritage. An avid reader of the early church fathers (especially Origen, Ambrose, Augustine and Gregory the Great) and a brilliant interpreter of the scriptures, Bernard’s thought impacted theological thinkers as varied as St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Blaise Pascal, Henry Bremond, and Hans Urs von Balthasar. Although in late 19th century his writings were often classified as merely devotional or rhetorical, the 20th century re-discovered him as the outstanding figure of “monastic theology,” a special brand of medieval thought centered on holiness and the needs of spiritual life, rather than on abstract argumentation. Many of the most outstanding theologians of Vatican II – Henri de Lubac, Yves Congar, Jean Danielou, and others – have contributed significantly to the contemporary renewal of interest in St. Bernard, leading to numerous conferences, studies, and translations over the last 50 years.