Editing Bernard of Clairvaux (section)

==Abbot of Clairvaux==
[[File:Jorg Breu Sr St Bernhard Zwettl.jpg|thumb|Bernard exorcising a possession, altarpiece by [[Jörg Breu the Elder]], {{circa|1500}}]]
[[File:Marcello Baschenis, San Bernardo e Satana, 1885.jpg|thumb|Bernard holding a demon at his feet, oil on canvas by [[Marcello Baschenis]], {{circa|1885}}]]
The little community of reformed [[Benedictines]] at [[Cîteaux]] grew rapidly. 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]]. This Bernard named ''Claire Vallée'', or ''Clairvaux'', on 25 June 1115, and the names of Bernard and Clairvaux soon became inseparable. Bernard was made [[abbot]] by [[William of Champeaux]], [[Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne]]. From then on a strong friendship grew between the abbot and the bishop, who was professor of theology at [[Notre Dame of Paris]] and the founder of [[Abbey of St. Victor, Paris|St. Victor Abbey in Paris]].{{sfn|Gildas|1907}}

The beginnings of [[Clairvaux Abbey]] were austere and Bernard even more so. He had often been ill since his noviciate, due to extreme fasting. Nonetheless, candidates for the monastic life flocked to him in great numbers. Clairvaux soon started founding new communities.<ref name="EiA" /> In 1118 [[Trois-Fontaines Abbey]] was founded in the [[diocese of Châlons]]; in 1119 [[Fontenay Abbey]] in the [[Diocese of Autun]]; and in 1121 [[Foigny Abbey]] near [[Vervins]]. In Bernard's lifetime, more than sixty abbeys followed, though some were not new foundations but transferrals to the Cistercians.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Berman |first=Constance Hoffman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FWIu1Yk8W-EC&dq=savigny+cistercian+order&pg=PA147 |title=The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth-Century Europe |date=2010 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-0079-9 |pages=147 |language=en}}</ref>

Bernard spent extended time outside of the abbey as a preacher and a diplomat in the service of the pope. Described by [[Jean-Baptiste Chautard]] as "the most contemplative and yet at the same time the most active man of his age,"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chautard |first=Jean-Baptiste |title=The Soul of the Apostolate |location=Trappist, Ky. |publication-date=1946 |pages=59}}</ref> Bernard described the disparate parts of his personality when he called himself the "[[Chimera (mythology)|chimera]] of his age."<ref>{{Citation |last=Sullivan |first=Karen |title=Chapter One. Bernard of Clairvaux: The Chimera of His Age |date=2011-03-15 |pages=30–52 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7208/9780226781662-003/html |access-date=2024-10-14 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |language=en |doi=10.7208/9780226781662-003 |doi-broken-date=4 November 2024 |isbn=978-0-226-78166-2}}</ref>

In addition to successes, Bernard also had his trials. Once, when he was absent from Clairvaux, the prior of the rival [[Abbey of Cluny]] went to Clairvaux and convinced Bernard's cousin, [[Robert of Châtillon]], to become a Benedictine. This was the occasion of the longest and most emotional of Bernard's letters.{{sfn|Gildas|1907}} When his brother Gerard died, Bernard was devastated, and his deep mourning was the inspiration for one of his most moving sermons.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Voigts |first1=Michael |title="Exeat Sane ad Oculos Filiorum: The Holiness of Grief and Vulnerability in Sermon 26 of the Sermones super Cantica Canticorum of Bernard of Clairvaux," |journal=Wesleyan Theological Journal |date=Fall 2023 |volume=60 |pages=75–91}}</ref>

[[File:Dehio 212 Cluny.jpg|thumb|left|The abbey of Cluny as it would have looked in Bernard's time]]
The Cluny Benedictines were unhappy to see Cîteaux gain such prominence so quickly, particularly since many Benedictines were becoming Cistercians. They criticized the Cistercian way of life. At the solicitation of [[William of St-Thierry|William of St.-Thierry]], Bernard defended the Cistercians with his ''Apology''. [[Peter the Venerable]], abbot of Cluny, answered Bernard and assured him of his admiration and friendship. In the meantime, Cluny launched a reform and Bernard befriended [[Abbot Suger]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Van Engen |first=John |date=1986 |title=The "Crisis of Cenobitism" Reconsidered: Benedictine Monasticism in the Years 1050-1150 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/2854041 |journal=Speculum |language=en |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=269–304 |doi=10.2307/2854041 |jstor=2854041 |issn=0038-7134}}</ref>