To the Monk Drogo
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was plotting against his own monastery?
I must tell you, so that you may not think the affection you have had for me hitherto has been misplaced, that I shall consider it my duty to continue to work for your interests as I see them as hard as I do for my own, or even harder, and this, not so that the harmony between us may be further strengthened, as I have done hitherto, but that it may not now be altogether broken. What more can
I say? Only that I could never have believed you capable of such an action as you, on the sole grounds of mere suspicion, attribute to me.
It remains for me to tell you that Count Theobald has now received the letter I wrote on behalf of Humbert, but has not yet replied to it. What more you can do about it your own pity will suggest if you consider the misery of a man who has been exiled unjustly.
[35] To the Monk Drogo This letter should be read with the tivo preceding. It is to the monk with whom those letters are concerned.
IT is now quite clear, my dearest Drogo, that my affection for you has not been misplaced. Even before this I saw that you were a very lovable person, and I perceived that there was something about you, I know not what, apart from what I saw and heard of you, entitling you to respect as well as to affection. Perhaps even then you had heard the voice of the Bridegroom, in whose pure arms you are now closely held, whispering to your soul, as to a shy dove:
'Fair in every part, my true love, no fault at all in thy fashioning'. Who would have believed what you have done! The whole city was talking of your holiness and exact observance, so that it was hard to be-
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lieve that there could be any improvement possible in you. And now you have left your monastery, as a secular would leave the world, and, although already bent under the burden of Christ, you have not considered it beneath you to submit yourself again to the observances of a new discipline. In you, brother, the truth of that saying of Scripture is proved once more:
'Reach thou to the end of thy reckoning, thou must needs begin again'. That you should have now begun again, is an indication that you had reached the end of your reckoning; that you should have considered you had not yet finished, indicates that you had already done so. No one is perfect who does not wish to be still more perfect; the more perfect a man is, the more he reaches out to an even higher perfection.
But, dearest friend, he whose envy brought death into the world is not asleep, even now 'his bow is bent in readiness'. He has no power within you because you have turned him out of your heart, but outside he rages as much as he can. To speak more clearly: do you not know that the Pharisees are scandalized at what you have done? But remember that there are some scandals that we do not need greatly to trouble about, according to the answer our Blessed Lord gave under similar circumstances: 'Let them be, they are blind leaders of the blind'. It is better that there should be scandal than that the truth should be denied. Remember who it was who was born for the rise and fall of many and do not wonder that for some you should be 'a life giving perfume' and for others 'a deadly fume'.
If they should threaten you w Tith curses, if they should hurl the darts of their anathemas at you, harken to Isaac answering them for you: 'A curse on those who curse, a blessing on those who bless thee'. And do you, protected by the impregnable wall of your conscience, answer them from within: 'Though a whole host were arrayed against me, my heart would be undaunted: though an armed onset should threaten me, still I would not lose confidence'. You will not be overcome if you answer them
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thus at the door.
I am confident in the Lord that if you stand up firmly to the first blows and do not give way either to threats or to blandishments, you will quickly crush satan under your feet, and 'honest men will rejoice to witness it, and malice will stand dumb with confusion'.
[5i] To Cardinal Haimeric, Chancellor of the Holy See It is clear from this very instructive letter that someone had been making mischief in Rome about St. Bernard. There is nothing neve or surprising in this. It was indeed inevitable that a man like St. Bernard should have been the victim of petty jealousy and even the quite sincere distrust of men with narrovo horizons. It is not alvcays wicked people who stone the prophets, more often it is the perfectly sincere formalists.
To the illustrious Haimeric, Chancellor of the Holy Roman See, salvation in eternity, from Brother Bernard, styled Abbot of Clairvaux.
CANNOT wretchedness escape envy?
Must truth breed hatred even for the poor and needy? Should I be glad or should I deplore that I am treated as an enemy?
Is it because I spoke the truth or because I did right? This is for your brothers in Curia to decide who 'speak evil of the deaf against the law and who, regardless of the Prophet's curse,
'call evil good and good evil'. What have I done that displeases them? Is it because at Chalons a man discredited on all sides was removed from his
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stewardship for squandering the goods of the Lord in the 1 Or beChurch of Verdun over which he had been placed? cause at Cambrai Fulbert, who was manifestly wrecking his monastery, was forced to withdraw in favour of Parvin whom everyone considered a wise and prudent servant? Or because at Laon his sanctuary was restored to the Lord after being a 2 For which of these things do you, I do not brothel of Venus? say stone me, for I would not set myself in the place of my
Lord, but tear me to pieces? This is what I might have answered you rightly and with pride if I could have claimed for myself any credit for these things. But why am I blamed for the actions of others? Or supposing they were mine, why am
I blamed for them as though they were evil? No one could be so imprudent as to doubt or so impudent as to deny that these things were well and justly done. You can choose between either denying or admitting that I am the author of them. If I am, then I am wrongfully rebuked and deserve praise for doing what was praiseworthy. If I am not, then I am no more worthy of blame than I am of praise. This is a new sort of detraction, not dissimilar to what Balaam did who covered the people with blessings when he had been summoned to curse them. For what could be more just and pleasing than that while intending to rebuke me you should have only commended me the more, so as to have
1. Henry, Bishop of Verdun, was suspected of corrupt administration of the funds of the Church. He consulted St. Bernard on the matter and St.
Bernard advised him to resign, so as to avoid public scandal. His resignation was accepted by the Pope's Legate, Matthew, Bishop of Albano, at a Council held at Chalons-sur-Marne in 1 1 29.
2. The Abbey of St. John at Laon is referred to here. The lax and scandalous life of the nuns there had for long been a cause of grave anxiety to the bishop, Bartholomew le Vir. A council was held at Arras in 11 28, attended by the king (for the abbey was a royal foundation), the Archbishop of Rheims, the Bishops of Laon, Arras, and Soissons, as well as several abbots, including St. Bernard. The reform of the abbey was decreed and confirmed by the Pope through his Legate, Matthew, Bishop of Albano.
This time the king made no objections, probably, as Williams in his Life of St. Bernard says, because the state of affairs was too scandalous to admit of any doubt as to the correct procedure.
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used all unknowingly praises instead of insults; than that while intending to disparage me, you should have praised me unwittingly?
It is as if your brothers in Curia were reproaching me or rather crediting me with other people's good deeds, because they could not find any evil that I had done.
I am not disturbed by undeserved blame nor do I accept unmerited praise.
I am not greatly concerned about things for which I am not responsible. Let them praise, if they wish, or blame, if they dare, for the first my lord of Albano, for the second my lord of Rheims, and for the third the same archbishop together with the bishop of Laon, the king, and many other reverend persons. None of them will deny responsibility for these affairs or that they were the chief persons concerned. If they have done well it does not concern me any more than if they have done ill. Is it my whole and only fault that I was present on those occasions, I who am only fit to live hidden away, I who am my own judge, accuser, and witness of my life, to see that my actions become my profession and that the name I bear of monk is justified by my solitary existence?
I was present, I do not deny it. But I was summoned and dragged there. If this does not please my friends in Curia, it pleases me just as little.. I wish that I had not gone there, I w Tish that I need never go on similar occasions. I w Tish that I had not lately been where I saw with shame a violent tyrant armed against the Church by the Apostolic authority, as if he were not raging enough without such help. When a sudden load was placed upon my shoulders by the indisputable authority of the Apostolic rescript, then I felt, in the words of the Prophet, my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. 'I was dumb and patient so that I would not speak even to good purpose', when I saw the innocent suddenly covered with ignominy by that rescript and wicked men rejoice the more in their wickedness and delight exceedingly in their vile deeds, and my sorrow was renewed within me. The ungodly was shown mercy so that, according to the words of the
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Prophet, he should not learn his lesson. He who in the land of the righteous worked iniquity was freed of the most just interdict under which his domains were held.
3. For reasons of this sort, even were there no others, I am vexed at having been embroiled in these disputes, especially as I knew that I was not concerned personally in them. I am vexed, but I am dragged into them none the less. But by whom can I better hope to be relieved of all this than by you, the best of men? You do not lack the power to do this, and I see that you do not lack the will.
I am delighted to know that you are displeased that I should have been concerned in these affairs. It is most just and friendly of you. May it please you to bestir yourself in the matter, and because you understand that it is expedient for your friend and becoming for a monk, see that what we both want is speedily effected for the sake of justice and for the salvation of my soul. May it please you to bid the noisy and importunate frogs to keep their holes and remain contented with their ponds. See that they are heard no more in the councils of the mighty or seen in the palaces of the great, that no necessity and no authority may have the power to drag them into public affairs and embroil them in disputes. In this way perhaps your friend can avoid the stigma of presumption. Indeed I do not know how I was able to incur it, for I know that it was my purpose and determination never, except on the business of my Order, to leave my monastery unless the Legate of the Apostolic See or my own bishop bade me do so. As you know very well, a person in my humble state may not refuse the command of such authorities, except by the privilege of some higher authority. So if I can ever achieve this through your good offices, then without any doubt I shall have peace at home and leave others at peace. But I do not think that because
I am hidden away and keeping silent the troubles of the Church will cease so long as the Roman Curia continues to pass judgements to the prejudice of the absent in order to please those who are at hand. Farewell.