Burgundy: The Splendid Duchy

they sapped her own strength, laid her open to supercession by the devotees of an uncorrupted order. By the time of Pierre le Vénérable, that rival had already arisen. The Cistercian Order,

into the world." The child was baptized under the name of Robert. When he was grown up, and had heard the story of his mother's vision, he left his native home, and betook himself to Burgundy, there to consecrate a monastery to the cult of God and St. Mary. The spot he chose for the foundation, in the year

ay of Molême. They took with them no other provision for their travels than the vestments and sacred vessels for the celebration of the most holy mysteries, and a large breviary for the due performance of the divine office. Through wild and rugged paths, by mountain and forest, they journeyed on, chanting the divine praises, until, in the midst of the great plain of Burgundy, they came upon a vast solitude, the haunt of wil

whose it was, they raised their monastery, which was solemnly dedicated, on the 21st March, 1

overeign pontiff recalled him to Molême; but the new monastery continued

chanting matins, Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, resplendent in glory, appeared to them with the first rays of the dawn, and, in a moment, with a touch of her h

hite dress, as symbol of her-that flawless lily-of-the-valley-whose servant

The Cistercian habit bore about it another touch of grace, derived from long and holy association. In the black scapular, worn over the white tunic, broad about the shoulders, then falling in a narrow strip to the feet, they saw the form of the Lord's cross, and thus they loved to bear it about with them, even in their sleep.[101] And notwithstanding their coarser

were not above human strength, and to fear that God had willed the destruction of the new community. One day, when he, with his brothers, was seated at the bed-side of a dyin

, in so far as might be pe

t. Withdrawing himself from the others, he knelt down to pray, when the dead monk, ashine with heave

ay. Soon your children will be saying to you, 'Make room for us; the abode is too narrow; enlarge its boundaries.' Multitudes of men will come to range themselves beneath yo

he sound of the iron knocker, clanging upon the gate, summoned the porter, whose bell announced the arrival of strangers. The new-comers entered, prostrated themselves at the feet of Stephen, and begged to be admitted into the number of his monks. They were a notable comp

alth. His hair was of a light colour, and his complexion fair; but with all its pallor, there was a virgin bloom spread over the thin skin of his cheek; an angelic purity and a dove-like simplicity shone forth from

s descended in direct line from the Counts of Montbard, and through them was connected with the Dukes of Burgundy, in whose court, as counsellor of Eudes I. and Hugues II., Tescelin was high in favour. He was a man of honour, strong and firm of character; she, a girl of fifteen at the time of her marriage, was of gentle disposition, sorrowing often because God had seen fit to thwart her leanings towards the cloister life. As th

eep guard over the House of the Lord, and shall make his cry heard against the enemies of the faith. He shal

ls of Chatillon-sur-Seine, and later, when in spiritual solitude, at the chateau of Fontaines, he looked down upon the dead body of his mother. The world would not yield, without a struggle, so p

ed him, in his turn, to become the aggressor. One by one the brothers were won over, until, at last, all, save Gérard, were upon Bernard

coming, and it is not far off, when a lance shall pierce this body, an

ell, struck by a lance; and, covered with blood, was carried into the fortress prison. Th

a week in the guest house of the monastery. On the eighth day they were taken into the chapter house, where the Abbot a

" to which they

read to them the stricter points of the Ciste

l in you that which His

his labours with nourishment so poor that his body wasted and fever consumed him, until his life was despaired of. Devoting all his mind to the inward and spiritual, to answering well the question he was always asking himself, "Bernarde ad quid venisti?" (Bernard, wherefore art thou here?), he seems to have been almost un

ecessary to establish daughter abbeys. The first was La Ferté (Firmitas), so called to signify the strength and consistency that the Almighty had already bestowed upon the rising order. Then followed Pontigny, where Bernard's frien

age, hardly out of his novitiate, scarce able to support the exercise of his rule, and little fitted, as it se

od from the altar, he handed it, as the token of office, to the new Abbot. The latter received it in silence, kissed it, still without speaking, and left his stall, followed by twelve other monks, symbols of the Christ and apostles. All the brothers then ranged themselves in

x, the splendid and immovable column that sustains not the monastic order only, but the entire church," while Bernard himself, broken down by the weight of affairs pressing upon him, writes to Eugène III: "People are pretending everywhere that you are not pope, bu

never flattered, never betrayed the truth, never dissembled the sacred ardour that burned within him. Everywhere he was listened to with profound respect; his stern voice was heard in the cottages of the poor, and in the palaces of kings. Neither his enthusiasm, nor his ceaseless activities, caused him to lose lucidity nor precision of argument in debate. His repartee was gentle and penetrating; swift to disentangle truth

cially as to Cistercian rule, as compared wit

ecular clergy, whose influence was sometimes harmful. The Cistercian's first duty was the first duty of man-to reclaim the dark places of the earth from watery desolation to culture and fertility; just as, later on, the first duty of preaching friars wa

ir monasteries, so that the monks might be often ailing, and having

BURGUNDI

Vegetables were not to be served with fat or butter; meat was absolutely forbidden, unless sometimes to the sick; and fish, except herrings during Advent and Lent, was allowed only on rare occasions. When Pope Innocent II. visited Clairvaux in 1131, the monks had a hard task to find a si

its architecture and to its art. Already, at the time of the coming of St. Bernard, the Clunisians were beginning to lighten with sculpture the splendid severity of their

ht show only a cross in bas-relief, sometimes surmounted by the Lamb of God. Any sculpture in the interior must be confined to simple flowers and foliage on the capitals, with perhaps a claw at the base of the pillars; the apse and chapels were to be square, not polygonal nor semi-circular, as in the work of the

hants that rang down the aisles of Cluny. The manuscripts showed the same scorn of art. Cluny bound their parchments beautifully in gold and silver,

ression in words, as well as deeds. Bernard protests vehemently against luxe. His co

s gold in the sanctuary? Other than this should be the conduct of the bishops, other than this that of the monks. The bishops, as we know, extend their solicitude to the foolish as well as to the wise. That they should seek to arouse by exterior ornament the devotion of a carnal people insensible to the ornaments of the soul, we can well understand; but we who have com

ith the will to give, rather than with the will to pray. I do not know what this penchant may be, that bids us give more willingly to him that already has much. Eyes are dazzled by reliquaries covered with gold, and the sight of them opens every purse. The more the chasse shines in beauty, the more sacred are the relics held to be. We hasten to kiss them, and we feel ourselves drawn on into giving; we admire

poor that we seek to flatter the eye of the rich. The curious find wherewithal to charm them; the unfortunate seek in vain their daily bread. Do we not abuse our veneration of the images of the saints, until they are ready to rise from the paving-stones? Here one is spitting in an angel's mouth; there

e fighting soldiers, those huntsmen who sound the horn? On one side, I see many heads on a single body; on the other, many bodies with a single head; here a beast with a serpent's tail; there a fish with an animal's head. Half a horse ends in half a goat; a horned animal bears a horse's croup. Everywhere appea

e glorious days of the early middle ages, could live, for long, up to that standard; and as the order established itself all over Europe, almost, the diffusion of its forces resulted necessarily in a swift falling away, and loss of prestige. That change, though, perhaps, a disaster for the Christian c

Pope Eugène III., who presided over the chapter general, in 1148; Louis VI

foot in the attitude of prayer. The prelates, the abbots who were there, and the monks, to the number of five hundred, came forth in procession to welcome the monarch visiting them for the first time. Louis IX. and Queen Blanche

e church, decided to employ the not unwilling Cistercians to preach a new crusade. A great army of "Crusaders," under the command of Eudes III., Duke of Burgundy, crossed the Rh?ne at Avignon, and passing through Montpellier, came to Béziers, where they proceeded to indulge in "the greatest massacre ever committed

tell you that, because the country here is flat, and the old monastery almost entirely destroyed, Citeaux is not worthy of a visit. I find it hard to understand how anyone possessing a spark of historic imagination, can thus deprive himself of the pleasure of seeing

trees-that has some interesting historical associations, and there is a Romanesque church accessible, I remember, by a somewhat unique bridge,

fir trees, reflected on its broken surface the drifting, gray clouds. A dismal lake it was, marged with red and green rushes, dappled with broad-leaved water plants, and spotted with splashing drops. No human note broke the silence; no sound but the harsh cry of wild fowl, the croaking of frogs, the monotonous swish of falling rain. At my feet were growing thistles and deadly night-shade; through the reeds I caught a glimpse of a pink sow snouting in the mud. A feeling of inten

nd punctuating her remarks with an occasional sweep of the back of her hand across her mouth, held forth upon the history of the Abbey. Learning from her that the buildings could be visited, I determined to see what was to be seen. Cycling boldly up to the gate of the monastery, and ignoring utterly a mighty hound, who nearly strangled himself in hi

qu'à sonner

e to the gate, another little, square-headed, white-robed monk, who, sm

d annually in September, had departed only the day before my visit. On the walls of the assembly room were plans of the four daughter abbeys of Citeaux-La Ferté, Pontigny, Clairvaux, and Morimond; "Une mère bien féconde," as my guide said-and the signed letter of Pope Leo XIII., restoring Citeaux to the Cistercian order. The chapter table, round which ran the names of the abbeys represented,

s, all ready for the next meal. The abbot sits, as of old, at the head of his twenty-five monks, and in the middle is a table with three "couverts," where the same vegetarian repast is served to three souls in purgatory, the remains being given to the poor. Thence, I was taken to see the little cloister, the staircase tower and library, probably of the fo

uin of the building, of the decay of the order. There

ike the sun; they traver

side," I added. A smile lit

se again on t

e at t

" I said, thoughtlessly. "She woul

inkled almost. Here was an

to pass the gate." It was my turn to smile, and to a

, "we meet no more in t

t-fall of St. Bernard, I felt, more strongly than ever before, how close is the rapport existing between the ascetic mysticism of that time-symbolising the soul of things in saint and hermit-and the wider transcendentalism of to-day, that,

tno

refers to the many pools, overgrown with b

at the immediate historical cause of the adoption of the white habit is somewhat mysterious. I venture to think that the legendary cause was also the historical one, seei

ercian Saints" quoted in "A Concise Hi

e v., p. 1650, quoted in "Hist

speaks also of a boy face, and a white forehead; and adds that his bearing would have appeared proud bu

. 1, n. 2. Quoted Chevalier's

's "Life of St.

s "St. Bernard,"

de St. Bernard," Chev

"Cluny," Tome i

Histoire des D