Letter CDLI. To the Brethren * *

Letter CDL in Eales's numbering.

Bernard exhorts them to give alms in that time of famine.

You are not ignorant, brethren, who has said Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (S. Matt, v.): and this, Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy (Ps. xli. i): and again, If thou seest the naked, cover him; and despise not thine own flesh (Is. lviii. 7) and in holy Job, Thou shalt visit thy habitation and shalt not sin (Job v. 24). The occasion of my recalling to you these texts, a few out of many such, from Scripture, is this: that it appears the poor and needy are in greater need than usual at this time¹ of famine.

Therefore if there is in you any bowels of mercies, any pity and compassion, these poor people are fitting objects for its exercise: inasmuch as they are humble and suffering, they are your bone and your flesh, and it is right they should know that you think thus respecting them: that they should know it, I say, if not by material benefits, at least by kind words; that you should I mean, direct your chaplain to urge and exhort the people with all earnestness publicly and privately, to be charitable to the poor.

Footnotes

1. [In the year 1146, as we learn from the short chronicle of Chalons in Labbe “ there was a severe famine in all lands, such as never had been before.” This famine, if we give credence to the Chronicon Lobiense, which was included in my Thesaurus Anecdotorum, Vol. iii, began in 1 143, and lasted seven years. (Martene’s Note)]. ↩