Letter CCCXLVI. To the Lord Pope Innocent

(Circa A.D. 1141.)

He urges the Pope not to favour the cause of the Arch bishop of York, as it was unjust.¹

To his very dear lord and father, INNOCENT, by the grace of God supreme Pontiff, BERNARD, called Abbot of Clairvaux, sends his humble duty.

Since there are many called, but few chosen (S. Matt, xx. 1 6), it is no great reason for putting faith in a doubtful matter, or thinking it praiseworthy, that it is praised by many people. The Archbishop of York, concerning whom I have often written to your Holiness, has come to you. He is a man who has not taken God for his helper, but has put his hope in the multitude of his riches. His cause is a weak and even a bad one, and, as I learn from persons worthy of belief, from the sole of its foot even to its head there is no soundness in it. What then? What does a man who is without a just cause expect to gain from him who watches over justice and protects equity? Does he suppose that he will be able to swallow up justice in the Curia, as he has done in England? He has swallowed up an ordinary stream and made nothing of it; and now flatters himself that he can take the river of Jordan also into his mouth. He has come accompanied by many, whom he has gained over by money or by entreaties. One alone has escaped to bring you word; one alone, at the peril of his life, stood fast as a wall for the house of Israel, nor did he worship the idol at the command of the King. He is alone, except that his righteousness bears him company; which escaped, as an honoured mother, with her son (Ecclus. xv. 2). What, then, will the Vicar of Peter do in this matter? Surely what Peter did with the man who thought that the gifts of God might be purchased with money (Acts viii. 20). If the Church has been founded upon a rock, the gates of hell shall not prevail against her (S. Matt. xvi. 18). I do not speak thus on my own account alone, but on the testimony •of those who are moved by the Spirit of God.

Footnotes

1. Formerly No. 377; the former No. 346 is now No. 405. ↩