Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/370

 334 Readings in European History 129. St. Bernard blamed because of the disas- trous out- come of the crusade. That St. Bernard was preaching the word of God is proved by many miracles. St. Bernard's secretary, Geoffrey of Clairvaux, who wrote a life of his revered master, thus defends him from the criticisms of those who would blame him for the sad outcome of the Second Crusade : We ought not to conceal the fact that certain men, through ignorance or malignity, took offense because Bernard had by his preaching stimulated the expedition for the deliver- ance of Jerusalem, which had such an unfortunate issue. Nevertheless we can confidently affirm that he was not the first mover in the matter. Even after the report of the unfortunate situation had already deeply stirred the souls of many, and he had been repeatedly urged by the king of France, and had also been pressed by apostolic letters, he still refused to speak or to give his advice in the matter until the sovereign pontiff himself, in a general letter to all the faithful, had commanded him, as the natural interpreter of the Roman Church, to set forth to the peoples and their rulers the necessity of the crusade. The tenor of this letter was that both people and princes should, for the purpose of penance and the remission of their sins, betake themselves to Jerusalem, where they would either deliver their brethren or sacrifice their lives for them. Bernard accordingly preached the expedition in the most convincing manner, with the aid of the Lord, who confirmed the truth of his servant's words by miracles. So many were the miracles, and so great, that it would be difficult to enu- merate, still more to narrate, them. At one time an effort was made to write them out, but the number of the prodigies to report exceeded the strength of the writer, and the grandeur of the subject, the faculties of him who had undertaken to treat it. In short, as many as twenty sick folk, and even more, were cured of divers ills in a single day, and hardly a day passed that similar miracles were not performed. In a word, at this time Christ permitted his servant, by his touch and his prayers, to restore sight to men who had been blind from their birth,