Today, we celebrate St Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the most important Church Fathers in the Middle Ages. He was an Abbot in the Cistercian monastic order from France in the 12th Century when monastery had a lot of influence in the Church and in society. Bernard became a monk at the age of 16, bringing along five of his brothers in a group that included more than 30 family and friends, all of them joining the monastery together. Bernard is considered the most influential theologian and Church leader from his era in Church history. In addition, he is considered by many theologians and Church historians as the last of the Church Fathers. His theological and spiritual influences are considered so significant that he was named as a Doctor of the Church in 1830 by Pope Pius VIII. Among him many contributions to the Church, Bernard founded many monasteries and he healed a schism that was forming in the Church in his day. In obedience to the pope, he was sent throughout Europe to gather support for the Second Crusade in the Holy Land. Through Bernard’s eloquent appeals, a massive European army was assembled, so success in this Crusade seem all but assured, but it ended in disaster. Of the order to which Bernard belonged, there was a break in 1892, with the Cistercians of the Strict Observance, known as the Trappists, forming a new order, and the Cistercians of the Common Observance remaining active as well.
Our Gospel today addresses the topic of salvation, about who will be saved. St Bernard and the monastic system of the Middle Ages and the Crusades in the Holy Land where all a part of attempts to address our salvation and the spread of Christianity throughout the world. It is easy for us to judge the Middle Ages from through the lens of history in a very critical way. However, let us give thanks for St Bernard of Clarivaux and the Church of the Middles Ages that helped Christianity survive and that helped pass down the faith to us.
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