Introduction

Biography

Bernard was the son of Te­ce­lin, a knight and vas­sal of the Duke of Bur­gu­ndy.

He was edu­cat­ed at Châ­til­lon, where he was dis­tin­guished by his stu­di­ous and me­di­ta­tive ha­bits. He en­tered the mo­na­ste­ry of Ci­teaux (the first Cis­ter­cian in­sti­tu­tion) in 1113. Two years lat­er, he was sent, with 12 oth­er monks, to found a daugh­ter mon­as­te­ry in the Val­ley of Worm­wood, about four miles from La Fer­té Ab­bey on the Aube.

He rose to em­in­ence in church po­li­tics, and be­came em­broiled in the pa­pal schisms of the 12th Cen­tu­ry. He was well known in Rome, and found­ed 163 mon­as­ter­ies through­out Eur­ope. The Ca­tho­lic En­cy­clo­pe­dia has a large ar­ti­cle on him.

Bernard was a man of ex­cep­tion­al pi­ety and spir­it­ual vi­tal­ity. Mar­tin Lu­ther, 400 years later, called him, the best monk that ev­er lived, whom I ad­mire be­yond all the rest put to­ge­ther.