Bernard+of+Clairvaux

= Bernard of Clairvaux = toc = = = = || Named Abbot of the new house of Clairvaux in 1115 = = = = || Declared a Doctor of the Church by [|Pope Pius VIII] ,1830 = = ||
 * Born || c. 1090, [|Fontaine-les-Dijon], [|France]
 * Died || August 20 1153, [|Clairvaux], France ||
 * Career || Became a [|Cistercian] monk at [|Citeaux], France in 1112
 * Sainthood || Cannonized by [|Pope Alexander III], 1174.
 * Also known as || [|Doctor Mellifluus] ||

=Bernard of Clairvaux and the Second Crusade= Bernard was given the task of preaching the [|Second Crusade]in 1146 by his former pupil and fellow Cistercian, [|Pope Eugenius III]. Bernard's theology was an evocative interpretation of the relationship of the [|Roman Catholic Church]to God and the relevance of [|Jerusalem] to the Church, united by his distinctive doctrine of papal authority, which proved extremely effective.

=The Church as the Bride of Christ=

Bernard made effective use of the metaphor of the Church as the Bride of Christ, especially explored in his eighty-six sermon sequence on the [|Song of Songs]. In the sixty-eighth sermon, written between 1144 and 1148, Bernard said that the "one Church" is God's "only bride...'working salvation in the midst of the earth' ." In this marriage Christ and the soul become one spirit. This unity is so deep, Bernard wrote in a later sermon, that there is a "concurrence of wills," allowing the believer to say "I am in God and God is in me". The implication of this was that the Church, as Bride, must be protected and kept pure for her heavenly marriage and to this end Bernard wrote to the [|Holy Roman Emperor Lothar III], "I do say, without any hesitation, that it is the concern of a friend of the Church to save her". The Crusade was a time when the Church was specially in need of protection: "the Lord...is looking down on the children of men to see if there be any that...seek him and grieve over his plight" Bernard wrote to the eastern Franks and Bavarians in 1146. Thus Bernard presented the Crusade as a unique chance for a believer to form a personal relationship with God mutually protective and loving.

=Jerusalem=

Jerusalem, as the place where Christ was made manifest, was of supreme importance to Bernard of Clairvaux. While they are emotive, his letters to various peoples exhorting them to join the Crusade continually point to the importance of Jerusalem. He described it to the English as, "the land made glorious by his [Christ's] miracles, holy by his blood; the land in which the flowers of his resurrection first blossomed." Bernard underlined his point by castigating the Muslims as, "enemies of the Cross...[who] will overturn the arsenal of redemption". Here Bernard makes explicit the connection between salvation and Jerusalem: whilst the Christians did not possess Jerusalem their salvation was in doubt. Bernard did not waver in this conviction, for even after the failure of the Second Crusade, he wrote to Pope Eugenius in 1150, "I believe the time has come for...[the] defence of the Eastern Church," and wrote to [|Peter the Venerable], abbot of [|Cluny], "the lord of heaven is losing his land, the land where his feet have stood...the holy places are threatened".

=Papal Authority=

The final element of Bernard's theology of the Crusade was his conception of papal authority, which united the doctrine of the Church as Bride and the importance of Jerusalem. To Bernard, the pope was the direct successor of [|St Peter] and Christ's representative on earth, "the head of all men". Further, Bernard was well known for his interpretation of the 'two swords' doctrine: a lay ruler held the temporal sword, for keeping order in this world, whilst the Pope held the spiritual and could order the temporal, "the one must be drawn at his nod, the other by his hand, as often is as necessary" Bernard wrote to Eugenius. Bernard referred to the pope as //amicus sponsa,// friend of the Bride, the one on whom the onus of protecting the Bride fell. To Bernard the Pope was of paramount importance: it was first and foremost his responsibility to protect the Church and help believers to salvation.