St. Bernard Dies after 38 Years as Abbot of Clairvaux: August 20, 1153

This text comes from our book, Light to the Nations, Part I.

Perhaps no one man has had such great influence on his age as St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), a monk of the Cistercian Order. Bernard’s preaching and example gave religious direction to the French nation and all of Western Christendom.

The sons of a Burgundian lord, Bernard and his five brothers had been well educated in Latin, verse making, and feats of arms. But Bernard abandoned the life of the nobility. In 1113, he entered the monastery at Cîteaux only a few years after it was founded. He even persuaded four of his brothers and an uncle to join him. In all, Bernard persuaded 31 friends to follow him to Cîteaux.

After Bernard had been at Cîteaux three years, the abbot ordered him and 12 monks to found a new house in a place called the Valley of Wormwood, a wilderness surrounded by forest. The 13 young monks scratched a meager living out of the hostile and poor soil. The monks lived a life of hardship, but the reputation of the house and of the holiness of its young abbot soon grew so great that 130 monks joined the initial 13.

Portrait of St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard changed the valley’s name from Wormwood to Clairvaux (Clara Vallis, meaning “Bright Valley”), because it looked directly at the dawning sun.

Bernard was a monk, a man dedicated to God alone; yet he was the leader of Christendom in the 12th century. So influential was he that when, in 1130, two men—Anacletus and Innocent III—each claimed to be pope, Bernard backed Innocent and convinced most of Europe to support him as well.

Bernard showed his leadership by arousing Europe to fight the Second Crusade. Bernard convinced whole nations—the Saxons, Danes, and Moravians—to aid the crusading armies. Moreover, he was able to bring an unwilling Emperor Conrad II into the ranks of the crusading host.

Bernard was the counselor for cardinals, archbishops, bishops, abbots, and popes. He wrote letters of praise or admonishment to lay rulers as well. Whether churchmen or laymen, Bernard told them they were to lead lives of Christian virtue and to rule as Christian leaders.

Bernard died on August 20, 1153, at the age of 63. He had been abbot of Clairvaux for 38 years.