Letter CXLII. To the Monks of the Abbey in the Alps

(A.D. 1138.)

These monks of the Abbey in the Alps had associated tiiemselves with Clairvaux under the Cistercian Order. Bernard praises and consoles them for the loss of their Abbot, who has been called to a higher rank, and instructs them respecting the election of another.¹

1. Your good father and mine, by the will of God, has been promoted to a higher place. Let us, therefore, dearly beloved, do what the prophet speaks of when he says, The sun was raised up, and the moon stood still in her order (Habak. iii. n, VULG.). He is the sun by which your congregation in the Alps is made everywhere illustrious, just as the moon receives her light from the sun. And as He has been raised up let us stand still in our order, we who have chosen to be doorkeepers in the house of our God, rather than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness. Our Order is lowliness, humility, voluntary poverty, obedience, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Our Order is to be under a teacher, under an Abbot, under rule and discipline. Our Order is to seek to be silent, to train ourselves by fastings, watchings, and prayers, and manual labours, and above all things to hold the more excellent way of charity; nay, more, to be progressing from day to day, and persevering in these things until our life's end. And this I trust that you are carefully doing.

2. But you have done one work, and all men marvel. Although you were holy, you thought your holiness to be nothing; you sought to share in that of others, that you might be the more holy. Fulfilled is that which is written in the Gospel, When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say, We are unprofitable ser vants (S. Luke xvii.';io). You count yourselves unprofitable, and you have been found to be humble. To do what is right, and to think one's self unprofitable, is found amongst very few, and therefore many wonder at it when found. This, I repeat, is what makes you more famous than those who are famed, more saintly than the saints. And wherever this rumour of you has spread, it has filled all places with the sweetness of its odour. This grace, in my judgment, is to be preferred to protracted facts and anticipated vigils, and to every kind of bodily discipline; but godliness is profitable unto all things. How joyfully has the whole Cistercian Order opened its arms to you! w7ith what smiling faces have the angel hosts looked down upon you! They know well that, above all things, Almighty God is pleased with brotherly fellowship and union, for He says by the Prophet, It is a good thing to be joined together (Is. xli. 6, VULG.); and by another, Behold how good and joyful a thing it is, brethren, to dwell together in unity (Ps. cxxxiii. i); and again, If brother helpeth brother both shall be comforted (Prov. xviii. 19, VuLG.).

3. Moreover, this that you have done tends to foster humility. And how acceptable this is to the Divine Majesty is taught us by him who says: God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble (S. James iv. 6). It is shown, too, by the Master of humility, who says: Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart (S. Luke xi. 29). What need I say, of the special welcome of love given you by our little flock of Clairvaux, to which you have more specially affiliated yourselves? No words can express the mutual charity that exists between us, and which works in a mar vellous way by the pouring forth of the Spirit. It only re mains, brethren, that, after invoking the Holy Spirit, you hasten to elect an abbot. For if you were to wait for me, I am afraid that my arrival may be long postponed, and that delay would be fraught with danger. But call to your side my dear brother, Godfrey, Prior of Clairvaux, to fill my place in this and any other matters; and then, according to his advice, or the advice of those he may send, in case he cannot come to you himself, as well as of your father Guerin, choose such an abbot as may be able to labour for the honour of God and for your salvation. Forget me not, brethren.

Footnotes

1. This monastery was in Savoy, in the Diocese of Geneva, and is now called Annecy. It was founded by Humbert II., Count of Savoy. Its first Abbot was Guerin, who was afterwards made Bishop of Sion, and this was the occasion of this Letter being written, in which Bernard consoles the Alpine monks for the loss of their Abbot. Caspar Jongelinus (Notit. Albat. Cister.) refers the foundation of this monastery to the year 1 136, but that it was founded before this and that the monks had not embraced from the beginning the Cistercian habit, but had after some time affiliated themselves, is evident from this epistle, especially from the words, " How joyfully has the whole Cistercian Order opened its arms to you! " It is evident, too, from what S. Bernard goes on to say, that they had attached themselves specially to Clairvaux. Cf. also Ep. 253 to the same Guerin, and Manrique (Annals A.D. 1136), where bespeaks of the incorporation as having taken place. Also the Life of S. Bernard (lib i. n. 67). ↩