Letter CXCVIII. To Pope Innocent

(A.D. 1141.)

Bernard requests that lie will avenge the violence and unjust aggression which Abbot Guy has suffered.

1. In the cause which is brought before you by our dear brother Guy, Abbot of Charlieu, I have no doubt that you see plainly enough the injury of the assailant, the innocence of the sufferer, and the carelessness of the judge. The poor man, disregarding the toil of the journey,, the expense and the dangers of the time, has been forced to appeal to you in person by the violence of the accuser,, and by the denial of justice. He, a lover of quiet, has. joined hands with death that he should not live in turmoil. I beseech you look favourably on his need and poverty, and listen to his complaint with a father's sympathy, so that his. toil and sorrow may not be productive of but small results. Before this I have testified to you by my letter once and again that the man who is now attacking the Abbot is both untrue to his monastic vows and a squanderer of the means-of the monastery.¹ But now I tell you, even weeping, that he is an enemy of the cross of Christ, a most violent oppressor of the saints who are- in his neighbourhood, and a defrauder of the poor. Since he has hardly anything of his own to waste, he seizes violently, after the fashion of a tyrant, on his neighbours' goods on every side. A monk in habit, though a false one, a robber in fact, he shows, himself altogether heedless of the Rules of his Order, he despises the laws and canons. He has a brazen forehead, knows no scruples, is void of godliness, is easily provoked, ready to dare any crime, and to inflict any injustice. And I wonder how the Abbot of Chaise-Dieu, a man full of religion, can either be ignorant of or conceal such vices, and such glaring vices, in his own monk.

2. But what is this to me? Let him see to it. To his own master he standeth or falleth. It is enough for me to be set free from his hands. I most earnestly implore this from you, which has been in vain attempted in other ways. 1 looked round and there was none to help. We now have recourse to the refuge of all, we fly to him by whom we hope to be set free. You have the power, may you have the will. And, indeed, it is one of the privileges of the apostolic see that men should in the last resource look most for help to your supreme authority and plenary power. But among the other ornaments of your sole primacy, this one thing more specially and more gloriously ennobles and makes your Apostolate famous, viz., the rescue of the poor man from the hands of those who artstronger than he. In my judgment, there is no more precious jewel in your crown than the zealous care with which you are wont to strive for the oppressed, and to prevent the rod of the sinners from coming upon the lot of the righteous. Doubtless because of that which follows— that the righteous stretch not out their hands to iniquity (Ps. cxxv. 3); or else because of that which is said else where: When the ungodly is exalted the poor man is put to rebuke (Ps. ix. 23, VuLG.). And what tortures the body of the one destroys the soul of the other more grievously.

3. There is also a monastery of our Order near this place, which, in a similar way, is grievously harassed by the attacks of evil men, and there is no one to redeem it, or save it. And for this also your son does not shrink from stirring your fatherly compassion with his tears and prayers. Who the men are, and the occasion of their oppression, the Abbot who brings this letter will tell you by word of mouth, and truly. May Almighty God preserve you to us for a long time, to protect us all, who are passing a life in poverty, and in the habit and purpose of repentance, in order that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear (S. Luke i. 74.)

Footnotes

1. This monastery seems to be identical with the Abbey of S. Mary of Favernay, which Anseric, Archbishop of Besaion, gave, A.D. 1133, to Stephen of Mercceur, then Abbot of Chaise-Dieu. Bernard rightly calls this Stephen, a man full ofreligion, since he is said to have been well-known for his miracles ;. he died the 2Qth March, A.U. 1 146. See Letter 391. ↩