Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux lived between 1091 and 1153. He was the Abbot of Clairvaux - a monastery founded by him and founder of Cisterian orders. The reformer of monasticism and restorer of the papacy to its power and dignity. Bernard was considered one of the greatest Christian leaders, but made many mistakes, being a champion of intolerance. In 1112, along with 30 companions inspired by his example, he entered the Cisterian Order. Because of the austerity and zeal which he showed, he was sent to found other monasteries of the order. Cisterian monasteries were great corporations, thoroughly tied into the increasingly complex web of economic life.

Believing in a direct religious experience, Bernard clearly makes love greater than faith. He played the leading role in the development of the Virgin Cult. Bernard thought that the plague of the church is inward, and it is incurable. Bernard fought for the primacy of the heart while Abelard fought for the primacy of reason, the controversy is an abyss and still continues. He dominated Church and state from his Cisterian monastery and became the advisor of popes and kings and arbiter of the peace of Europe. Upbraided clergymen for their lax roles, he criticizes the monks of Cluny as men "whose cowl is cut from the same piece of cloth as the dress of the knight.” He criticizes the abuses of the Roman court, and he has no eye for the successor of Peter adorned with silk.

Bernard criticizes the abuses in the lives of the clerics, and he cries out to their teachers: "Woe betide you who hold the keys not only of knowledge but also of power. He criticized Abelard and summoned him to an ecclesiastical council. He urged men and women alike to crowd into the monasteries and encouraged the rising of the Templars, that military order whose members were at once monks and warriors. He dreams of molding all society after the plan of an ascetic ideal. He helped to organize a crusade to the Holy Land. Bernard, considered the holiest man of his century, cried out: "The din of arms, the dangers, the labors, the fatigues of war, are the penances that God now imposes upon you. Hasten then to expiate your sins by victories over the infidels.. Cursed be he who does not stain his sword with blood.
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