Letter CCCXXIII. To Pope Innocent
(A.I). H39.)
Bernard defends the Archbishop of Treves against the Abbot of S. Maximin?1
1. How often have I experienced, my lord, your kindly feeling and affection towards me! And now I am in hopes of having a new proof of it under the present circumstances. By no means would I dare to request anything which I thought was contrary to the will of God and to your honour. But as I am persuaded that this petition which 1 am about to present to you is both reasonable and honourable, I have considerable confidence that my prayers will not return to2 me void, especially as my petition is to a father for his son, and to Innocent on behalf of an innocent person. It is not necessary that I should remind you in detail how faithfully the Archbishop of Treves has loved and upheld the honour of the Apostolic See and the peace of the Roman Church from his youth; how carefully and immoveably he has adhered to it in time of tribulation, and for it has borne the burden and heat of the day while others were sitting in the shade; and how steadily and courageously he has main tained before kings and princes the defence of his brethren; for all these things are certainly present to your mind. But furthermore, to speak of what I know, and testify what I have seen, how prudently and wisely has he extricated the goods and revenues of the Church out of the hands of strangers, how kindly and liberally has he imparted from his own means for the public good, and especially for that of the servants of God; with wrhat diligence and circumspection has he guarded his own reputation from lying lips and from the deceitful tongue!
2. What then, in him, has displeased your Paternity? Was it that he freed the Abbey of S. Maximin from the royal power and subjected it to that of the Church? or was it that he did not accept for Abbot that man who, as it is said, desired to be a general before he was a soldier; that is, to be an Abbot before he was a monk? But if it was this, or some other matter, that displeased you in him, it would have been not unworthy of a kindly Father to bear in mind the Archbishop's affection of long standing towards him, to excuse with kindness a fault, and to let the memory of many good services win indulgence for a man who is praiseworthy in many respects, if to be blamed in a few. But now, my lord, you have lifted up the right hand of those who oppress him, and made all his enemies to rejoice. It is a subject of wonder in the eyes of many on what reputation for virtue or goodness of life a man is placed in the position to rule over souls, who has given so little heed to his own. For how can he rule others who has not known how to be ruled himself? How can he venture to be in the position of a superior, who has not himself learned to submit, or to require the obedience from others, which he himself has not rendered to those above him? If any man has not known how to rule over his own house, says the Teacher of the Gentiles, how shall he be capable of taking care of the Church of God? (1 Tim. iii. 5)- More than this: such as is the father, such are also the sons; have they not had the cruelty, in fact, to lacerate their mother by their favouring of dissensions and schisms? and concerning their character and manner of life it is more decent to be silent than to say anything. But I do not make these statements as taking upon me to judge the servants of another, who stand or fall to their own loss; but because I know that if the wretched designs of those men should succeed, that young men averse to obedience will break off the yoke of discipline from their necks, so as to become wanderers and vagabonds upon the earth, according to the example given to them by these. And if their design does not wholly succeed they will be able, at least, to boast themselves that they have been able to maintain resistance to their prelates. Alas! how many persons, and those of consideration, who suppose that they have some ground to count on your protection, will find their hope and confidence altogether up rooted, if the first blast of the tempest which threatens a son once so beloved shall drive him from your heart, and from the consolation of your sympathy.
3. If, then, blessed father, there is any hearing for my entreaties with your Excellence, I respectfully beg of you, I whose affection is for yourself rather than for your favours, that you would not abandon, now when it is your day of prosperity, a man who has remained firm to you in your day of trial; and that you would not suffer his authority to be weakened in any respect; for he may reasonably hope that from you it will receive enlargement, not suffer decrease. Otherwise, if contrary to the general hope, and in spite of the merits of the man, it shall prove that strangers are allowed to rob him of the fruits of his labours, that his good deeds are repaid with evil, and his good will with hatred; he, indeed, alone, will receive a wound from a hand at which he did not expect it, but many will resent his persecution. May the Spirit of Truth, who proceedeth from the Father, teach you to separate the light from the darkness in all your actions, so that you may know how to reject the evil and to choose the good.
Footnotes
Chapter 323 of 491