BERNARD DE CLAIRVAUX, SAINT

born 1090, probably Fontaine-les-Dijon, near Dijon, Burgundy died Aug. 20, 1153, Clairvaux, Champagne; canonized Jan. 18, 1174; feast day August 20 Cistercian monk and mystic, the founder and abbot of the abbey of Clairvaux and one of the most influential churchmen of his time. Additional reading Works. The Works (of St. Bernard of Clairvaux), trans. by a Priest of Mount Melleray, 6 vol. (192025); and The Works of Bernard of Clairvaux, Cistercian Fathers Series (1970 ), two English-language collections; Sancti Bernardi Opera, ed. by J. Leclercq, C.H. Talbot, and H.M. Rochais, 6 vol. (1957 ), the best critical text. Works on St. Bernard. St. Bernard of Clairvaux: The Story of His Life As Recorded in the Vita Prima Bernardi . . . , trans. by G. Webb and Adrian Walker (1960), a chief biographical source by several contemporaries of Bernard, which therefore must be read with reserve as it presents a different type of historical biography; E. Vacandard, Vie de saint Bernard, abb de Clairvaux, 2 vol. (1895), was the definitive chronology and remains quite authoritative; I. Vallery-Radot, Bernard de Fontaines: Abb de Clairvaux, 2 vol. (196369), highly definitive as a chronological study as well as reviewing all contributions since the 19th century; Watkins Williams, St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1935), concentrates upon Bernard's political activity. E.C. Butler, Western Mysticism: The Teaching of Saints Augustine, Gregory and Bernard on Contemplation and the Contemplative Life (1922), on the mystical doctrine of Bernard; Henri Daniel-Rops, Saint Bernard et ses fils (1962; Bernard of Clairvaux, 1964), a popular biography and description of the historical development of the Cistercian order; tienne Gilson, La Thologie mystique de Saint Bernard (1934; The Mystical Theology of Saint Bernard, 1940), on the mystical doctrine of Bernard and his contemporaries; Bruno Scott James, St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1957), a personality study; Jean Leclercq, L'Amour des lettres et le dsir de Dieu (1957; The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture, 1961), indispensable for an adequate and appreciative understanding of the entire cultural context of Bernard; Denis Meadows, A Saint and a Half: A New Interpretation of Abelard and St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1963), a quite thorough and readable treatment of the controversy and personalities involved; Thomas Merton, The Last of the Fathers: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and the Encyclical Letter, Doctor Mellifluus (1954); and Albert Victor Murray, Abelard and St. Bernard: A Study in Twelfth-Century Modernism (1967), a technical and scholarly approach to the issue.