Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/594

574 or from fear as some say, Abélard did not justify himself before the council, and his default was pronounced, with his sentence as a heretic. His death, during the journey which he was making to Rome, saved his adversary from the annoyance of further controversy. In this and subsequent years Bernard's life was embittered by misunderstandings with the pope, who preferred the good will of the secular powers to the friendship of the monk who had placed him on the papal throne. His influence at Rome, however, was soon regained. After the short reigns of Celestine II. and Lucius II., one of his own spiritual children, another Bernard of Clairvaux, was called to the chair of St. Peter as Eugenius III. The new pope soon intrusted to Bernard the duty of preaching a fresh crusade. Bernard passed through France and Germany, arousing indifference, inflaming piety, opening the coffers of the rich, and calling all to the holy war. His success was instant and wonderful. More than once his robe was torn to shreds in furnishing crosses to the eager volunteers. He writes to Eugenius that the cities and castles are deserted, that the wives are becoming widows, and that there is hardly one man to seven women. Soon he had to moderate the excitement and check the excesses of the host which he had gathered. He strove especially to prevent the persecution of the Jews, which was the first sign of the new Christian fury. In 1147 the two great expeditions set out. Confusion marked their way, and disaster followed them. The Greek emperor suffered the German forces to be cut to pieces by the Moslems. The French expedition was equally unfortunate, and, though a fragment reached Syria and laid siege to Damascus, the climate and vices of that region finished the destruction which the fortunes of war had begun. The weight of the blame was thrown upon the advisers of the expedition, and Bernard, who had protested against the blunders of the campaign, was cursed for its fatal result. His fame, however tarnished by this disaster abroad, was retrieved by his successful warfare with new heresy at home. He cleansed Languedoc from the scandal which Henry of Lausanne and Peter de Bruis, the Cathari or Purist leaders, had brought upon that province. At the council of Rheims, in 1148, he refuted the Sabellian bishop, Gilbert of Poitiers. It was proposed to engage him in a new crusade, but he refused. His last five years were passed in comparative retirement, varied only by literary occupations and the visits of distinguished friends. Gurnard, king of Sardinia, and Pope Eugenius, were at different times his guests. The "burning and shining light of the Irish church," Malachi, saint and bishop, died on a visit to Clairvaux, and Bernard wrote his life. The abbess Hildegard found in Bernard a friend who vindicated her at Rome, and believed that her gift of prophecy was real. In these last years the most remarkable of Bernard's compositions were written. His body was buried in the church at Clairvaux, and in 1165 his name was set in the calendar of the church by Pope Alexander, though it was not openly proclaimed among the saints till 1174. Bernard founded 35 monasteries in France, 11 in Spain, 10 in England and Ireland, 11 in Flanders, 4 in Italy, 2 in Germany, 2 in Sweden, 1 in Hungary, and 1 in Denmark. At Clairvaux at the time of his death there were 700 brethren. His treatises, authoritative as they still are, have been superseded by the works of Aquinas and Bellarmin, and his sermons do not justify his singular fame for pulpit eloquence. It needs nice discrimination to separate his genuine writings from those which have been falsely attributed to him. The former comprise epistles, sermons, and moral and theological treatises. Of the epistles 480 are contained in the collections of Mabillon and Martene, 439 of which were the work of Bernard himself, the remainder being either addressed to him or drawn up by his secretary. The general characteristics of his letters are earnestness, energy, clearness of expression, and a fierce sincerity. The style is unequal, in most instances rugged and harsh. The sermons include 86 on the Canticles of Solomon, 86 on the events of the ecclesiastical year, 43 on the saints and the Virgin, and 125 miscellaneous. They are cold, ethical, sometimes even obscure. The other works of St. Bernard include treatises on "The Love of God;" "Grace and Free Will;" "Twelve Degrees of Humility and Pride;" baptism and the incarnation, in a letter to Hugo of St. Victor; " Conversion," addressed to the clergy; an "Apology" for his order, in reply to the censure of certain Benedictines; "Exhortations to the Knights Templar;" "Errors of Abéard ; " "Precepts and Dispensations;" and a work on " Consideration," suggested by the visit of Pope Eugenius to his monastery, and dedicated to that pontiff. The standard edition of his writings is that of Mabillon (2 vols. fol., 1690). This contains valuable notes, in addition to the edition of 1667. A new edition appeared in 1719 and in 1726. Another less valuable but more convenient edition, by the same famous Benedictine, is in 9 vols. 8vo. The most accessible biographies are those of Keander (Berlin, 1841), Montalembert, Daunon in vol. xiii. of "French Literary History," Abel Desjardins (Dijon, 1845), the abbé Ratisbonne (2 vols., Paris, 1846), and J. C. Morison (London, 1863).

BERNARD, Clande, a French physiologist, born at Saint Julien, department of the Rhone, July 12, 1813. He studied in Paris, and became in 1854 incumbent of the newly established chair of general physiology in the faculty of sciences, and member of the academy ; in 1855 professor of experimental physiology at the college de France; and in 1868 professor of general physiology at the museum. He established his reputation by his Recherches sur les usages du pancréas, to which the academy awarded a prize in 1846, and which was published in 1856