Letter CXLIX. To the Same
(A.D. 1138.)
Bernard advises him not to press on so eagerly the affair of the Abbey of Saint Bert in.
I think that you are well aware how unwilling I am ever to do anything which may be hostile to your Reverence. And having this confidence I do not hesitate to make sug gestions to you when necessary. With respect to the monastery of S. Bertin1 I could wish you to act less eagerly than you have done. For even if you could bring it to submit to you in peace and without any contention, I do not see how you would gain even then. For I should not suppose that you would find any pleasure in honour accom panied by such responsibilities. But now that you cannot obtain the submission of this monastery without great labour, nor hold it, they say, peacefully, you have a good excuse afforded you for retiring gracefully from the attempt, in the fear of causing trouble and strife.
Footnotes
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The monastery .of S. Bertin at S. Omer, otherwise Sittich, after having come to great want, was handed over by Abbot Lambert to Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, A.D. 1101, and then it became so prosperous in point of wealth, piety, and the number of its monks, that where twelve monks could before hardly live the number increased to 150, and from them many monasteries of Belgium and France received the regular discipline, as Hermann, the monk, says (Spicit. Vol. xii. p. 443), with whom Iperius agrees. On the death of Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, the monks of Sittich shook off the yoke and entered into a suit with their abbot without the knowledge of the Cluniacs. The quarrel was so kept up that at the instance of Peter the Venerable Innocent II. deposed two abbots, John and Simon; but at length Peter was persuaded by Bernard to yield his rights and give the monks of S. Berlin their independence. Cf. Apulog. (notes Vol.ii.). VOL. II. 31 ↩
Chapter 149 of 491