The Cistercian abbot and mystic whose eloquence made him the most influential churchman of his age — preacher of the Second Crusade and shaper of medieval spirituality.
Life
Bernard (1090–1153) entered the reformed Cistercian order and founded the abbey of Clairvaux, from which his influence spread across Europe. A powerful preacher and writer, he intervened in papal schisms, preached the Second Crusade at the pope's request, and helped shape monastic devotion. He died in 1153.
Struggles & Trials
He drove himself and his monks to austere discipline, and later bore the anguish of the Second Crusade's catastrophic failure, which he had championed and for which he was widely blamed.
Teachings & Character
Bernard taught a warm, affective mysticism centered on the love of God and devotion to Christ and the Virgin Mary; his sermons on the Song of Songs deeply influenced medieval piety.
Mission & Conflicts
Bernard fought no war, but his preaching launched the Second Crusade (1147–1149); its failure damaged his prestige, and he wrestled publicly with its meaning afterward.
Contested & Debated
His preaching of the disastrous Second Crusade and his role in the condemnation of the philosopher Abelard are debated: zealous defender of orthodoxy or intolerant power-broker. The perspectives are noted.
Legacy
Bernard of Clairvaux shaped Cistercian monasticism and medieval spirituality, was declared a Doctor of the Church, and remained a towering moral authority of the twelfth-century church.