Biographical note

Born near Dijon, at the age of twenty-two Bernard joined the recently-founded abbey of Citeaux and persuaded thirty other young noblemen to follow him there. Scarcely had he finished his novitiate when he was sent as abbot-founder to Clairvaux, and as such became the effective founder of the Cistercians. During his lifetime, he established sixty-eight Cicstercian houses, was the adviser of popes, kings, and councils, and the preacher of the second crusade. In the theological field, he confuted Abelard, wrote profusely on the love of God, commented for his monks on the Song of Songs, sent a noble treatise, De consideratione, to his former monk, Pope Eugene III, and produced many other works. Canonized in 1174 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1830.

(paraphrased from The Book of Saints : A Dictionary of Persons Canonized or Beatified by the Catholic Church. 5th edition. New York: Crowell, 1966.)

Alternate names

Bernardus Claraevallensis