Letter CCCXXXIII. To Cardinal G

(A.D. 1140.)

To his venerable friend G.. ., Cardinal-deacon under the title of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, BERNARD, Abbot of Clairvaux, wishes health and joy.¹²

It used to be your custom to rise before me as often as I entered the Curia, and I trust that you will do so now. Do not think thac I am merely in joke, for there is a serious matter to be decided. At this very moment I present myself before the Curia, if not in person, at least in the cause which is referred thither. As you were accustomed to rise to greet me, so rise to greet my cause, or rather, that of Christ; for it is His, and it is His truth which is in question. Rise, or rather start up in wrath, against the man who disputes about the faith in order to destroy the faith, and contradicts the law in words of the law; whose hand is against every man, and the hands of all against him. This is Peter Abaelard, who writes, dogmatizes, and dis putes, deciding exactly as he pleases, upon morals, upon the Sacraments, yea, concerning the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. After having disturbed and troubled the Church, he presents himself before the Curia, not to offer excuses for his errors, but to defend them. If you are a true son of the Church, defend her now who has borne you and nourished.