(Latin: Bernardus Claraevallensis; 1090 – 20 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templar,[a] and a major leader in the reform of the Benedictines through the nascent Cistercian Order.

In the year 1128, Bernard attended the Council of Troyes, at which he traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar, which soon became an ideal of Christian nobility.

In 1098, a group led by Robert of Molesme had founded Cîteaux Abbey, near Dijon, with the purpose of living according to a literal interpretation of the Rule of St. Benedict.

Three years after entering, Bernard was sent with a group of twelve monks to found a new house at Vallée d'Absinthe, in the Diocese of Langres.

[7] When his brother Gerard died, Bernard was devastated, and his deep mourning was the inspiration for one of his most moving sermons.

[13] Although acknowledged as "a difficult saint,"[14] Bernard has remained influential in the centuries since his death and was named a Doctor of the Church in 1830.

"[15] In opposition to the rational approach to understanding God used by the scholastics, Bernard preached in a poetic manner, using appeals to affect and conversion to nurture a more immediate faith experience.

As a mariologist, Bernard insisted on Mary's central role in Christian theology and preached effectively on Marian devotions.

[18] Bernard made a self-confident impression and had an undeniable charisma in the eyes of his contemporaries; "his first and greatest miracle," wrote the historian Holdsworth, "was himself.

Pope Innocent, however, insisted on Bernard's company when he met with Lothair II, Holy Roman Emperor.

In 1132, Bernard accompanied Innocent II into Italy, and at Cluny, the pope abolished the dues which Clairvaux used to pay to that abbey.

Bernard went again to Italy, where Roger II of Sicily was endeavouring to withdraw the Pisans from their allegiance to Innocent.

Believing himself at last secure in his cloister, Bernard devoted himself to the composition of the works which won him the title of "Doctor of the Church".

[b] In 1137, he was again forced to leave the abbey by order of the pope to put an end to the quarrel between Lothair and Roger of Sicily.

At the conference held at Palermo, Bernard succeeded in convincing Roger of the rights of Innocent II.

About the same time, Bernard was visited at Clairvaux by Malachy, Primate of All Ireland, and a very close friendship formed between them.

Abelard continued to press for a public debate, and made his challenge widely known, making it hard for Bernard to decline.

The next day, after Bernard made his opening statement, Abelard decided to retire without attempting to answer.

Abelard submitted without resistance, and he retired to Cluny to live under the protection of Peter the Venerable, where he died two years later.

Bernard had occupied himself in sending bands of monks from his overcrowded monastery into Germany, Sweden, England, Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland, and Italy.

In a letter to the people of Toulouse, undoubtedly written at the end of 1146, Bernard calls upon them to extirpate the last remnants of the heresy.

This offended the various cardinals in attendance, who then proceeded to insist that they were the only persons who could judge the case, and no verdict of heresy was placed against Gilbert.

As abbot, Bernard often addressed his community, but he also spoke to other monastics and, in one particularly famous case, to students of Theology in Paris.

Bernard found it expedient to dwell upon taking the cross as a potent means of gaining absolution for sin and attaining grace.

On 31 March, with King Louis VII of France present, he preached to an enormous crowd in a field at Vézelay, making "the speech of his life".

[29][30] Unlike the First Crusade, the new venture attracted royalty, such as the French queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and scores of high aristocrats and bishops.

King Conrad III of Germany and his nephew Frederick Barbarossa, received the cross from the hand of Bernard.

[32] The last years of Bernard's life were saddened by the failure of the Second Crusade he had preached, and the entire responsibility which was thrown upon him.

[36] John Calvin and Martin Luther quoted Bernard several times[37] in support of the doctrine of Sola Fide.

[41] The Couvent et Basilique Saint-Bernard, a collection of buildings dating from the 12th, 17th, and 19th centuries, is dedicated to Bernard and stands in his birthplace of Fontaine-lès-Dijon.