To Arnold, Abbot of Morimond
ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX
[4] To Arnold, Abbot of Morimond Arnold was the first Abbot of Morimond, an abbey founded from Citeaux in the year 1 / / 5. He was the brother of Frederick,
Archbishop of Cologne, and Henry, later Abbot of Riddagshausen, a Cistercian house in Brunswick.
1 and was occasioned by a This letter belongs to the year 11 24 sad moral disaster to the Order. Arnold, tiring of the difficulties of his charge (apparently his lay -brothers were lazy, his monks disobedient, and his neighbours hostile), suddenly , and without consulting anyone, left his charge and with a handful of monks set out for the Holy Land 'where'\ says Bernard i?i another letter concerning the same subject,
'it is well known that soldiers to fight and not mo?iks to sing are what is wanted
. But
he died suddenly in Belgium the next year without having either accomplished his purpose or corrected his error.
As soon as the news of Arnold's death reached Bernard he set about trying to mitigate the ill-ejects of his behaviour. He immediately wrote letters to persuade the fugitive monks to return and had his own prior, Walter, appointed to succeed him.
From the dates, as well as from the evidence of the following letter, it is clear that Arnold and Bernard had bten at Citeaux together and were well known to each other. As Bernard knew the headstrong character of Arnold, so Arnold must have been fully aware of the persuasiveness of Bernard for, unwilling to be turned from his purpose, he was careful to keep out of Bernard's way.
Of some passages in this letter the late Watkin Williams has said: 'They are some of the few that have come down to us revealing the tumultuous emotionalism of the Saint, an emotionalism which with him is never the master, but always the servant,
1. See Statuta Capitulorum Generalium Ordinis Cistercienses, Ed. D. Josephus Canivez.
SELECTED LETTERS
deliberately controlled, disciplined to a purpose, directed to an end as the keenest of instruments in the hands of the kindest of surgeons. And real!
. Bernard could safely be severe because he loved so tenderly; and the more tenderly, the more robust'
(Journal of Theological Studies, Oct., 1939).
To the Lord Abbot Arnold, the spirit of compunction and counsel, from Brother Bernard of Clairvaux.
I WANT you to know first of all that our lord of Citeaux had not returned from Flanders where he had lately gone, passing by here, when your messenger arrived. So he has not received the letters you instructed to be given him and is still ignorant of this novel venture you have taken upon yourself. He is happy, even if it be for only a short time, to know nothing of the sad rumours that are going round. And by forbidding me to attempt your recall, saying it would be useless for me to try to dissuade you by letter from what you have, as it were, firmly settled with yourself, you have reduced me to despair. In this matter I probably ought not in reason to obey you and, I confess, in any case, for the very grief I feel I could not do so; although, were I to know how to find you, I would come in person rather than write to you, perhaps to achieve more by my presence than I could by letter. Confident in your own obstinacy and sure that no force, no prayers, no efforts whatsoever can turn you from your purpose, you probably smile at what you will consider my futile assurance. But I trust in the power of him who has said, 'To him who believes all f£ ^things axerjossible', and I do not hesitate to apply to myself the words 'Nomrng is beyond my power thanks to the strength
God gives me'. Although I know something of the obstinacy of your stony heart, yet I wish I were by your side to persuade you even if I could achieve nothing. Whether it would be of any avail I do not know, but I would lay before you the great reasons that compel me to oppose you, I would plead with you not only
4EIF dept
ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX
by my words but also by my tears and sorrow. I would throw myself at your feet, embrace your knees, hang upon your neck and kiss your dear head, that head which has been bowed with mine in a like purpose under the sweet yoke of Christ for so many years.
I would beg and implore you with tears, with all my might, in the name of the Lord Jesus first that you should spare his cross, the cross which redeemed those whom you are doing your utmost to destroy, the cross which gathered together those whom you are scattering.
I say advisedly destroy and scatter, for, whether they be those you are taking with you or those you are leaving behind, they are both in danger of an equal though different fate. And then that you should spare us your friends for whom, quite undeservedly, you have left only tears and sorrow. Were it onlv permitted me
I would bend you by affection, if I could not convince you by reason! That steely heart of yours, so far proof even against the fear of Christ,
I would soften with the touch of brotherly affection! But alas! even this opportunity you have taken from me.
2. Great support of our Order! listen, I beg you, even to an absent friend wholly opposed to your venture, yet sympathizing wholly with your difficulties and dangers. Great support of our Order, have you no fear at all that w ith your fall the collapse of the whole structure will soon follow? But, you say,
I have not fallen.
I know quite well what I am doing. My conscience is clear. Be it so; I believe what you tell me of yourself.
But what about us who already groan under the heavy burden of scandal caused by your departure and who fear more to come? Can it be that you know all this and yet pretend not to?
How can you suppose yourself to stand when you are causing the fall of so many? You were placed in a position of authority not for your own sake, but for the sake of others; not to promote your own interests, but to promote the interests of Jesus
Christ. How, I ask, can you possibly set forth with security when by so doing you deprive of all security the flock which has been entrusted to your care? Who will be there to keep
SELECTED LETTERS
away the prowling wolves? Who will be there to console the afflicted and counsel the tempted? Who will hold at bay the raging and roaring lion that goes about seeking whom it may devour? They will all be exposed, without any doubt, to the teeth of the evildoer who devours the children of God as if they were bread for the eating. Alas! what will happen to those new plan1 of Christ set by your own hand in 'the wilderness and tations fearful desert places'? Who will be there to dig them about and dung them? Who will build a hedge round about them and prune away their untoward growth? Either these still tender saplings will be easily uprooted by the first storms of trouble, or else for lack of anyone to clean the ground about them they will be choked by the weeds that grow up with them, so that they will bear no fruit.
3. Judge therefore for yourself what sort of good this can be which you are seeking, or whether, involving as it does so many evils, it can be a good at all. However great the fruit of repentance you hope to bring forth, will it not be choked for certain by these thistles? In fact, as the Scripture says, 'Even if you offer rightly, will you not sin if you divide not rightly'. What of this? Perhaps you will say that you have divided rightly because you have consulted the good of your own soul. But can you say this w rhile knowing that you have deprived of a father's care those sons whom you have left behind and left orphans?
Unhappy and wretched are they, and all the more so for being deprived of their father while he is still alive! You should have some doubts, to be sure, whether it is the good of your soul that you have consulted, seeing that you have presumed such an unheard-of thing without the advice of your brethren and brother abbots and without the licence of your father and master. What upsets many is that you should have taken with you only weak boys and inexperienced youths. Either they are strong and ex1. The foundations of Morimond referred to here are: Bellevaux in HauteSaone on March 22nd,
1120; La Creste, near Chaumont, on June 30th, 1121; Vieux-Camp, near Dusseldorf, on January 31st, 1123.