Letter CLV. To Pope Innocent, on Behalf of the Same Bernard When Elected Bishop.1

(Circa A.D. 1135.)

Bernard Dcsportcs, u'ho is destined for a Bishopric in Lombard)', though well worthy of that honour, is not altogether Jit for such a place, and would be better reserved for a Jitter ph lace.

I have heard, reverend Father, that Bernard Desportes, a man beloved of God and men, is by your irresistible call to undertake the office and work of a Bishop. It is probably true, for it well becomes your Apostleship to bring into the light a light that was hidden; lest he who is capable of drawing others to the Life should live for himself alone. For how long is one that can give light to others to lie concealed and only burn? Let it be placed, if you see good, on a candlestick, that it may be a burning and a shining light; but at the same time let it not be in a place where the force of the storms is great, lest it be perchance extinguished. Who is there that does not know of the evil-living and turbulence of the Lombards? Who knows them better than yourself? You know better than I how weakened is the episcopal power there, how rebellious a house it is. What am I to think is likely to be done by a man whose health is shattered, and who has been accustomed to a hermit's quiet, in the midst of a barbarous, riotous, and passionate populace? When are such holiness and such iniquity likely to agree? or when will such simplicity and such hypocrisy live in concord? Let him be reserved, if you see good, for a more congenial sphere, and for another flock, that he may profit that over which he presides; and let not hasty action destroy the fruit which in due time he will be able to bring forth.