Author Topic: St Bernard of Clairvaux (Read 633 times)

poche · « **on:** August 20, 2013, 03:02:23 AM »

Bernard, the second founder of the Cistercians, the Mellifluous Doctor, the apostle of the Crusades, the miracle-worker, the reconciler of kings, the leader of peoples, the counselor of popes! His sermons, from which there are many excerpts in the Breviary, are conspicuous for genuine emotion and spiritual unction. The celebrated Memorare is ascribed to him.

Bernard was born in 1090, the third son of an illustrious Burgundian family. At the age of twenty-two he entered the monastery of Citeaux (where the Cistercian Order had its beginning) and persuaded thirty other youths of noble rank to follow his example. Made abbot of Clairvaux (1115), he erected numerous abbeys where his spirit flourished. To his disciple, Bernard of Pisa, who later became Pope Eugene III, he dedicated his work De Consideratione. Bernard's influence upon the princes, the clergy, and the people of his age was most remarkable. By penitential practices he so exhausted his body that it could hardly sustain his soul, ever eager to praise and honor God.

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2013-08-20

magdalena · « **Reply #1 on:** August 20, 2013, 05:19:43 AM »

http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/St.%20Bernard.html

Litany of St. Bernard

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, have mercy on us.
God the Holy ghost, have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.*
Queen, conceived without sin,*
St. Bernard,*
St. Bernard, who, in giving thyself to God, drew many souls to him,*
St. Bernard, prodigy of the eleventh age,*
St. Bernard, ornament of the clergy,*
St. Bernard, terror of heretics,*
St. Bernard, oracle of the Church,*
St. Bernard, light of bishops,*
St. Bernard, most humble,*
St. Bernard, burning with zeal for the glory of God,*
St. Bernard, most ardent for the honor of Mary,*
St. Bernard, most beloved son of the queen of angels,*
St. Bernard, most pure in body and mind,*
St. Bernard, perfect model of poverty and mortification,*
St. Bernard, most ardent in charity to all,*
St. Bernard, who feared God and not earthly powers,*
St. Bernard, whose whole exterior breathed holiness,*
St. Bernard, whose very look spoke of God,*
St. Bernard, flower of religious,*
St. Bernard, who never lost sight of the presence of God,*
St. Bernard, angel of Claravallis,*
St. Bernard, always absorbed in God,*

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.

Let us pray:

O great saint! who, from the very dawn of life, turned all the powers of thy soul, and the noble affections of thy pure and loving heart, towards thy creator; angel clothed in mortal flesh, who appeared in this valley of tears as a bright lily of purity, to shed around thee the good odor of Christ, to show to all the beauty of virtue, and to point out to thousands the way to heaven--O pray for us, that, truly despising all terrene objects, we may live to God alone. Amen

poche · « **Reply #2 on:** August 20, 2013, 05:42:49 AM »

He is credited with adding the last line of the Hail Holy Queen, Oh Clement, Oh Loving, Oh Sweet, Virgin Mary.

Hobbledehoy · « **Reply #3 on:** August 21, 2013, 12:20:20 PM »

From Kyrie Eleison: Two Hundred Litanies with Historico-Liturgical Introduction and Notes by Rev. Fr. Benjamin Francis Musser, O.F.M. (Westminster, MD: The Newman Bookshop, 1944):

Hobbledehoy · « **Reply #4 on:** August 21, 2013, 12:21:50 PM »