Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Biography of the The Victorious Eight Wisdom Master
(Mellifluous Doctor of the Church, The Peacemaker)
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(Roxana C. the Life-Extension of the Wisdom Master Saint Bernard)
This biography of the Ascended Master Saint Bernard’s accomplishments appears excessive. Bear in mind that in the existence which these Ascended Masters call “Home,” such a description is considered “normal.” It is viewed as the credentials or résumé of a Divine Spiritual Champion. People are not used to looking at the activities of the enlightened in this way; therefore, the purpose behind such a presentation can be confusing. Information has been released about them, not so they would be deified by their followers in the new millennium movement, but because the public deserves to know that evolved beings exist and are working on their behalf. Immortality is a gift from God that some have already accepted. The presence of evolved or enlightened individuals is not unknown on our world; what is different today is that a group of their life extensions has appeared in form and has come together to bring forth something that will transform the consciousness of humankind. In this lifetime, she has taken a female body as a testament to her commitment to hold the balance within humankind, and today it is the feminine principle that must be strengthened. The life extension of Saint Bernard was the youngest in the grouping of The Victorious Eight, those who were the Masters involved in the final defeat of the Darkened Matrix distortion field that cloaked and restricted the collective Light in humankind. She had the youngest body and therefore, was the one with the least understanding of what was actually being done. Still, her heart resonated to the Truth of Light and Love, and she was able to succeed in her group responsibilities even when she had no clarity of what was happening. This is the validation of a true Spiritual Champion, for if the great Light of Love lives within you, then you can still be the Light anywhere regardless of circumstances. How these Wisdom Masters succeed in their work is usually a mystery, and what they achieve is usually not known or understood until the task is completed. They are often viewed as strange and paradoxical beings, and this is because we do not fully understand how they work.
Bernard’s motto is “Ad-ma-jo-rem Dei glo-ri-am (All for the greater Glory of God).”A French abbot and advisor to kings and popes, St. Bernard was the most commanding figure in the Catholic Church from 1125 to 1153 and the most powerful propagator of the Cistercian reform. Honored by the Cistercians because of the widespread activity which he gave to the Order of Cîteaux, he was the first Cistercian monk to be placed on the calendar of saints. Aptly described as "the last of the Fathers and not inferior to the earliest” because of the outstanding excellence of his life and works, his authority helped to end the papal division of 1130. (One of his interests and talents is working to remove conflict in groups that have become too contracted and full of disharmonious energy). In this lifetime, Bernard has taken a female form and is transitioning from a centering on Ray Six (Devotionalism) to Ray Seven (Realism). Most of this biography (souls in matter can appear as male or female and still be expressions of the same Spirit Light), reflects his previous experience and expertise with this Ray (Six) which is now passing away from directly influencing human beings.
He taught extensively in France, Italy, and Germany, and he founded, organized, and led the monastery at Clairvaux with over seven hundred monks, building one hundred and sixty-three monasteries in different parts of Europe and establishing, by the time of his death, three hundred and forty-three sacred houses honoring the Christ Light of Illuminated Love. He also set up numerous other monasteries, composed a number of works, and undertook many journeys for the honor of God. He is a dedicated master working along the way of the Divine enlightened and illuminated heart.
Known for his informative writing style and his poetic grace, as well as for the ease, fluency, artistry, and clarity with which he made the hidden sense flow from the text, Bernard was recognized for his ability to negotiate lasting compromises between parties in great conflict with unending patience and reason. How he achieved such continued patience with people and with situations in continual conflict is unknown. She or He has developed the great virtue of tenacity. Throughout his dealings with others, he was an untiring advocate for development of the Christ Light and a firm believer in the doctrines of Holy Grace and Unconditional Love. This unwavering focus on Divine Grace, Unconditional Love, and direct Divine Intervention formed the basis for all his endeavors. He wrote on a variety of subjects, great and small, and in addressing people of the most diverse positions and types, his works appealed as successfully to the uneducated as to the learned. Gentle, loyal, vigorous, and intelligent, and displaying a nobility of nature, a wise charity, tenderness, as well as a genuine humility, these qualities made him one of the most complete exponents of the Christian life, witnessed by the enduring quality of his influence. Even in this present lifetime, her humbleness and gentleness is pronounced. This “voice of conscience” who has her Spirit Ray identification under Ray Three (Active Creative Intelligence), is often called "the conscience of all Europe,” and considered to be the medieval spiritual champion for the doctrine of Divine Grace, is another fine example of the Ascended Host Family and a member of the Council of Light.
Born in 1090 in Burgundy, France, in the castle of Fontaines near Dijon to Tescelin, Lord of Fontaines, and Aleth of Montbard, both of noble parentage, he was the third of a family of seven children. He was educated with particular care, and at the age of nine years, he was sent to a much renowned school at Chatillon-sur-Seine. Bernard's great desire was to excel in literature in order to take up the study of Sacred Scripture and theology, and he devoted himself for some time to poetry. His success in his studies won the admiration of his masters, while his piety and spirit of recollection soon became evident. Much of his youth was spent in times of solitude and prayer. Upon the death of his mother at nineteen years of age, he decided to become a monk at Citeaux, the Cistercian protomonastery, and he embraced the newly established institute of the Cistercian Order. He convinced his brothers, his uncle, and several other noblemen to take the same step, and through him, he helped with its rapid growth during the 12th century. (Family, whether it was physical or spiritual, has always had a tremendous impact on him).
In 1113, when Saint Stephen became third Abbot of Cîteaux, Bernard sought admission into the order. On June 25, 1115, St. Stephen sent him to start a new monastery at Vallée d'Absinthe, or Valley of Bitterness, in the Diocese of Langres, which he subsequently named Claire Vallée of Clairvaux. Bernard also has close ties with Lady Claire. Bernard was appointed Abbot there by Bishop William of Champeaux, a professor of theology at Notre Dame of Paris. Clairvaux soon became a model of strict observance. Convinced of the superiority of the Cisterician life for the practice of Christian perfection, Bernard rallied against the alleged disciplinary decadence of the Cluniacs who observed a modified version of the rule of St. Benedict. Bernard was passionate in his understanding that those bringing forth a higher Light accept the seriousness of their mission. He attracted thousands to the cloistered, contemplative life. As a young abbot, he published a series of sermons on the Annunciation. These marked him not only as a most gifted spiritual writer, but also as the "cithara of Mary," and he became especially noted for his development of Mary's role as mediator and intercessor. In so doing, he verified his relationship with the Holy Mother Cosmic Flame of Life that was to be raised up in Aquarius and become so important.
Bernard began an active life in the Order, and the monastery soon made rapid progress. His spiritual writing as well as his extraordinary personal magnetism began to attract many to Clairvaux and the other Cistercian monasteries. Disciples flocked to it in great numbers, and many desired to come under the direction of Bernard. His father and all his brothers also entered Clairvaux, and it soon became too small for the religious who crowded there. New houses needed to be set up, and in 1118, the Monastery of the Three Fountains (a veiled attempt to anchored some substance in matter that was aligned to the Three-Fold Flame in the core of the center heart chakra), was created in the Diocese of Châlons; in 1119, Fontenay in the Diocese of Auton (now Dijon) was opened; and in 1121, Foigny, near Vervins, in the Diocese of Laon (now Soissons) began.
Bernard's dynamism (sustained proactivity) soon reached far beyond monastic circles, and he was sought as an advisor and mediator by the ruling powers of his age. His talent of reducing, refocusing, or simply removing conflict under difficult circumstances was known by many. Drawn into the controversy developing between the new monastic movement which he preeminently represented and the established Cluniac Order, a branch of the Benedictines, he wrote one of his most controversial and most popular works, his Apologia. In 1119, Bernard was present at the first general chapter of the Order. Focusing upon the revival of the spirit and fervor in monastic orders, he was listened to with the greatest attention and respect. Endorsing its constitution, the regulations of the "Charter of Charity" was later confirmed by Pope Callixtus 11 on 23 December, 1119.
Before long, the abbot, who had intended to devote his life to the work of his monastery, was drawn into the affairs of the outside world. When in 1124 Pope Honorius 11 was elected, Bernard was already recognized among the greatest of French churchmen, and he shared in the most important ecclesiastical discussions, while papal legates sought his counsel. In 1129, he was invited by Cardinal Matthew of Albano to the synod of Troyes where he was instrumental in obtaining the recognition of the new order of Knights Templar, the rules of which he is said to have drawn up, and at the same time, he helped increase its wealth. This soon became the ideal of the French nobility, something which he praises in his "De Laudibus Novae Militiae". The influence of the Abbot of Clairvaux was soon felt in provincial affairs where he defended the rights of the Church against the infringements of kings and princes. In 1130, at the synod of Châlons-sur-Marne, he ended the crisis arising out of certain charges brought against Henry, Archbishop of Sens, and Stephen de Senlis, Bishop of Paris by recalling their duties. At the same time, he labored over eight years for peace and reconciliation between the nobility in England and France as well as among many lesser nobles.
The European importance of Bernard, however, began with the death of Pope Honorius in 1130 and the disputed election that followed. In the conclave, Anacletus II was elected by a narrow margin, but many influential cardinals favored the contender, Pope Innocent II, a disciple of Bernard and the Cistercian reforms. King Louis le Gros convened a national council of the French bishops at Etampes, and Bernard, summoned by consent of the bishops, was chosen to judge between the rival popes. He decided in favor of Innocent II, and from that moment became Innocent's most influential supporter. While Rome was held by the faction that supported Anacletus, France, England, Spain, and Germany favored Innocent, who, though banished from Rome, was accepted by the world. Recognized by all the great Catholic powers, Bernard travelled with the Pope to Rome in 1133, successfully resisting the proposal to reopen negotiations with Anacletus, and upon his return to France, he continued the work of peacemaking which he began in 1130, calming the troubles that agitated the country and reconciling Pisa with Genoa and Milan with the Pope. He also went with the Pope to discuss peace terms with Lothair II, Holy Roman Emperor.
Later in the year, Bernard was again at the Council of Reims at the side of Innocent II, whose oracle he was. Toward the end of 1134, he made a second journey into Aquitaine where William X was engaging once more in acts of division. Inviting William to the Mass, he begged him not to despise God. William yielded, and he was able to successfully detach the Count of Poitiers from the cause of Anacletus. In the spring of 1135, he was at Bamberg where he persuaded Frederick Hohenstaufen to submit to the emperor. In June of that year, he was back in Italy taking a leading part in the council of Pisa, by which Anacletus had been extradited.
The effect of his personality and his preaching was immense. He recalled the city of Milan to obedience, he rejected the Archbishopric of Milan, and upon returning to Clairvaux, he devoted himself with renewed vigor to the composition of those pious and learned works which have won for him the title of "Doctor of the Church." He wrote at that time his sermons on the "Canticle of Canticles." Milan itself surrendered to his eloquence, submitted to Lothar and to Innocent, and tried to force Bernard against his will into the vacant see.
In 1137, he was again forced to leave his solitude by order of the pope to put an end to the quarrel between Lothaire and Roger of Sicily. At the conference held at Palermo, Bernard succeeded in convincing Roger of the rights of Innocent II and in silencing Peter of Pisa who sustained Anacletus.
When Anacletus died on January 25, 1138 and the cardinal Gregory was elected his successor, assuming the name of Victor IV, Bernard's crowning triumph in the long contest was the abdication of the new antipope Victor. The division of the church was finally healed, and the abbot of Clairvaux was free to return to the peace of his monastery. Upon returning, he occupied himself in sending bands of monks from his too-crowded monastery into Germany, Sweden, England, Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland, and Italy. Some of these, at the command of Innocent II, took possession of Three Fountains Abbey, near the Salvian Waters in Rome, from which Pope Eugenius III was chosen. Bernard resumed his commentary on the "Canticle of Canticles," and in 1139, he assisted at the Second General Lateran Council and the Tenth Oecumenical in which the surviving adherents of the division were definitively condemned. About the same time, Bernard was visited at Clairvaux by St. Malachi, metropolitan of the Church in Ireland, and a very close friendship was formed between them.
Clairvaux itself had meanwhile been transformed outwardly into a more suitable seat for an influence that overshadowed that of Rome itself in spite of Bernard’s reluctance who preferred the rough simplicity of the original buildings.
The nature of Bernard’s influence is shown even further in his ability to combat heresy (against the highest Light of Truth). Languedoc, a former province of France, had become a heretic hotbed, and at that time, the lecturing of Henry of Lausanne was drawing thousands from the orthodox faith. In June 1145, at the invitation of Cardinal Alberic of Ostia, Bernard traveled to the south of France. He was accompanied by his secretary, who in turn, related various miracles (done by Bernard) to which he was an eyewitness. Also, his preaching, aided by his emaciated ascetic's looks and simple attire, did something to stem the flood for a while. In addition, the outcome of his contest with Peter Abelard is further evidence of his importance. Abelard, an ardent and powerful adherent of the new schools of philosophy and theology which had introduced itself into political and religious areas with no other motive other than that of ambition, and a spokesperson for the new rationalism, as well as for the free exercise of human reason represented by Anselm, was being tried by Bernard over scriptural heresies concerning the nature of the Trinity and God's mercy. Bernard, who was a defender of traditional authority and of "faith not as an opinion but as a certitude," and who viewed the liberal arts as preparation for the priesthood, was the prosecutor in his trial. Though no match for Abelard in terms of intellectual and dialectical power, Bernard succeeded in denouncing him to the pope. In 1141, at a council at Sens, Abelard was formally charged with heresy on a number of counts. In calling for a public discussion with Bernard, Abelard was shown the error of his ways with such clearness and force of logic that he was obliged, after being condemned, to retire. The pope confirmed the judgment of the council, Abelard submitted without resistance, and he retired to Cluny.
In 1143, Innocent II died. His two successors, Celestin II and Lucius reigned for a short period of time. One of Bernard’s disciples, Bernard of Pisa, Abbott of Three Fountains, and known thereafter as Eugenius III, was raised to the Chair of St. Peter. Bernard sent him, at his own request, various instructions which compose the "Book of Consideration," the predominating idea of which is that the reformation of the Church ought to commence with the sanctity of the head through actions preceded by principles of piety, meditation, or consideration. This book was greatly esteemed by the sovereign pontiffs, many of whom used it for their ordinary reading, and it contains a most beautiful page on the papacy.
On Christmas Day, 1144, the Seljuk Turks captured Edessa, chief city of one of the Christian principalities set up by the First Crusade. Appeals for help went at once to Europe. King Louis VII of France announced his intention of leading a new crusade, and Pope Eugene III commissioned Bernard to preach the Holy War. Bernard began at Vezelay on March 21, 1146. After his sermon, King Louis VII, Queen, Eleanor, as well as princes and lords who were present, were the first to take up the cross. They were followed by such a throng that the supply of cloth badges was exhausted, and Bernard used portions of his habit to make additional crosses to satisfy the zeal and ardor of the multitude who wished to take part in the Crusade. Having roused France, he wrote to the rulers and people of England, Italy, Sicily, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Moravia, Bohemia, and Bavaria, and he traveled through France and Germany arousing immense enthusiasm for the holy war. Whilst in Germany, he had to deal with a half-crazy monk, who, in his name, was inciting the massacre of Jews. As a result of his eloquent preaching, he persuaded the people that the Jews were not to be killed "but scattered" as according to the will of God. He also preached in Flanders and the Rhine provinces. At Speyer, in May, 1147, Emperor Conrad III, King of the Romans, joined the crusade, while Louis of France soon followed.
This Second Crusade was a miserable failure. Conrad's army was cut to pieces crossing the mountains of Asia Minor. Louis was diverted to the East, and his forces were exhausted by a futile siege of Damascus. The chief reason for the collapse of the great enterprise lay within the crusaders themselves. Many were led by sordid motives; they committed every kind of lawless act on their march. Bernard, because he had seemed to promise success, was bitterly criticized. The disastrous outcome of the crusade was a blow to Bernard who found it difficult to understand why God would move in this way, but ascribed it to the sins of the crusaders. The news of the defeats of the crusading host first reached Bernard at Clairvaux, where Pope Eugene III, driven from Rome by the revolution of Arnold of Brescia, was his guest. Bernard had in March and April 1148 accompanied the pope to the council of Reims, where he led the attack on certain propositions of the scholastic theologian Gilbert de la Porrée. Bernard's influence, previously a danger to those suspected of heresy, on this occasion had little effect.
With the news of this disaster, an effort was made to retrieve it by organizing another expedition. At the invitation of Suger, abbot of St Denis, now the virtual ruler of France, Bernard attended the meeting at Chartres in 1150 convened for this purpose, where he himself was elected to conduct the new crusade. An important religious figure of the time, Peter the Venerable, had been invited to this meeting but had declined to attend, and the meeting was perceived by some as a bad idea in light of Bernard's age and frailty, and the theological issues raised by having an aged abbot lead a fighting army. Eugene III held back from fully endorsing this project, and Bernard himself wrote to Eugene making clear his unsuitability for the task and apologizing to the pope. Describing the nature of papal power in his last work, the "Book of Consideration,” he explained in the second part how, with the crusaders, their sins (mistakes) were the cause of their misfortune and miseries.
In the spring of 1153, the archbishop of Trier implored him to go to Metz to try to make peace between the citizens of Metz and the Duke of Lorraine, who had subjugated them. Forgetting his frailty, Bernard set out for Lorraine and enticed both sides to lay down their arms and to accept the treaty he drew up for them. He returned to Clairvaux, where after performing his final work of mediation, his health failed rapidly. With his spiritual sons gathered round him, he received the Last Sacraments.
Bernard took his Ascension (Fifth Initiation) into God’s Heart on August 20, 1153 at the age of sixty-three. He was buried in his Monastery of Clairvaux where his tomb remains a shrine for the Faithful. On 18 January 1174, twenty-one years after his death, he was canonized by Alexander III. In 1830, Pope Pius VIII bestowed on him the title of “Doctor of the Church.”
According to one historian, Saint Bernard had "carried the twelfth century on his shoulders." Almost every historian writing of the 11th and 12th Centuries includes his name and accomplishments, both ecclesiastical and political, where he played a part in all of the leading events of his century, in many cases, the leading role, and where he was a bitter and relentless critic of the Cluniac Style, epitomizing religious splendor. His gifts as a theologian were called upon to respond to the dangerous teachings of Peter Abelard, of Gilbert de la Porree, and of Arnold of Brescia. He was instrumental in securing the election of Innocent II to the papacy in preference to the antipope, Analectus II, and he influenced the papacy when one of his disciples became Pope Eugene III in 1145.
The age saw him as the embodiment of its spiritual idealism (Ray Six): that of medieval monasticism at its highest development. Bernard was preeminently a monk whose theology aimed at a clear, intelligent, affective exposition of the faith in order to expose a person to prayer and contemplation on God. He was the main voice of conservatism during the intellectual revival of Western Europe called the Renaissance of the 12th Century and the main opponent of rising scholastic theology. He placed the knowing of the higher understanding squarely in the context of the ascent of the soul to God, and he wrote of the deepest experiences of the mystical life in ways that became normal for all succeeding writers. He trusted wholly to Scripture, and he drew his inspiration from the Bible where he readily soaked in its language and its Spiritual energy, and where he accepted the teaching of the church with enormous reverence. He laid out a solid foundation for the spiritual life in his works on divine grace and free will, humility, and love. Those who knew him were enlightened by his great simplicity, his holiness, his absence of egotism, and his whole-hearted service.
By the new constitution of the Cistercians, Clairvaux became the chief monastery of the five branches into which the order was divided under the supreme direction of the abbot of Cîteaux. Though nominally subject to Cîteaux, Clairvaux soon became the most important Cistercian house owing to the fame and influence of Bernard. This was a triumph for the order, but to the world it was a triumph for Bernard, the gentle and noble Doctor who, during his life of prodigious and ceaseless activity, undertook sensitive missions for popes and kings, and who was the counselor of prelates and the reformer of disciplines.
Recognized as an outstanding preacher and orator, his works fall into three categories, many of which have been preserved and excerpted in Holy Liturgy: Letters, Treatises, and Books.
Saint Bernard amassed so much spiritual power in that lifetime that it also granted him great material power. This was very unusual because in that age of Pisces, a dual sign, those who had spiritual power rarely had material power while those with material power rarely had spiritual power. Material power is not only viewed as the accumulation of possessions but as the influence towards good that one has stimulated within others. In our current Age of Aquarius, also a dual sign, the presence of spiritual power and material power exist in partnership with the emphasis placed on spiritual power as determining the amount of material power one has. This is a completely different mindset with entirely different energetic patterns affecting this age, and everything on Earth is reacting, being conditioned, and responding to this new set of circumstances. The shift in consciousness will be so massive that many people will feel as if the “shift” is actually a “flip,” and huge groupings of people will find it difficult to think at all as the frequencies of Light continue to increase in humankind. These sets of conditions will expand substantially as humanity begins the actual transformation of the collective consciousness in the event known as “Critical Mass.” This event is very soon to be upon all of humankind as we are drawing closer to the year 2012. This year is the one designated by the One Absolute Creator of All That IS to be the time wherein a moment of The Eternal Now occurs. It will suspend time and space as you know it and bring forth the beauty of God’s Will.
“Beloved Divine Children of the God Most High. Souls of Light, hear my word that thee may take this opportunity, this precious time before the great change, to increase your Light, to build within yourselves the mantle of a spiritual champion. Stand up now and rise to the occasion, for you are needed to increase the Light of Earth!!! Become involved and become helpers in the great organizations of mercy, compassion, and assistance for humankind, for the plant kingdom, for the animal kingdom, and for the physical body of the world. Use any and all methods known by the souls of Light to build more Light within yourselves and within this world, and know the Truth that spiritual service to others is one of the fastest ways known on this world to increase your quotient of Light. Always revere the sanctity of Life, for it is as precious as the rarest jewel. We are here and we will not leave you and we stand with you as the great change occurs. Open your hearts Beloved Souls of Light and together, let us prepare for what lies ahead. Let us all Love this world into greater Life!!!”
