Gerardus

ON BLESSED GERARDUS,

BROTHER OF S. BERNARD, MONK OF CLAIRVAUX.

YEAR MCXXXVIII.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

On his cult, Life, & Burial.

Gerardus Monk, brother of S. Bernard of Clairvaux (Bl.)

G. H.

[1] Joannes Grothusius, the Westphalian,

of the Society of Jesus, a man of exceptional virtue,

charity, humility, & excellent

doctrine (as in the Library

of the Society of Jesus teaches Nathanael

Sotuellus page 457) among other monuments, The Life from a Ms. & printed Exordium of the Order.

which the one most devoted to our studies submitted,

in the year MDCXXXVII he described at Embrica, from a Ms. book

of the library of the Society of Jesus, the following Acts which we subjoin:

to which this title was prefixed by the transcriber: Life

of Blessed Gerardus, Brother of S. Bernard, & in Clairvaux

Cellarer, Religious of the Cistercian Order, written

by a certain Religious of Clairvaux &

placed in the book of the third selected History of the Cistercian Order

. We desiring to acquire this History entire,

with hope of drawing more such things from it,

several times to Embrica we wrote to our own; but the answer

was always, that it could no longer be found. When behold

from Gaul is brought the Library of the Cistercian Fathers,

in the monastery of Bonifons, in the year MDCLX & following

printed in eight volumes; of which the first, after

the Exordium of the Cistercian cenobium, exhibits the Great

Exordium of the Order; to which in the Fusniacensian Ms. is found

ascribed; This book composed, a certain

Abbot, by name Conrad, of the Everbacian cenobium

(this is in the diocese of Mainz) who was a Monk

of Clairvaux; & that, as the editor of the printing

shows Bertrand Tessier about the year MCLXXX, namely 40 years

after the death of Gerardus. Of this work Distinction

III, on certain brothers & disciples

of S. Bernard, & other Religious of Clairvaux, displays

in front Chap. I, on Lord Gerardus, brother

of S. Bernard, Cellarer of Clairvaux, the same word for word

as we had received described by Grothusius: hence we can

scarcely doubt, that all is held printed,

which before had lain hidden in manuscripts.

[2] Memory in fasti The chief virtues of Gerardus, in the sermon XXVI

on the Canticle of Canticles S. Bernard himself explained:

which sermon Aloysius Lipomanus published,

in volume one of the Saints of the early Fathers,

& following, under the title of the Life of Gerardus the monk: & by his

example we have the same Sermon inserted, on

this XIII day of June, in the second & third edition

of Surius. Gerardus himself on the said day was referred

by Molanus in the Auctarium of Usuard, Arnoldus Wion, Dorganius,

Menardus, Bucelinus in the Benedictine Fasti.

Chrysostom Henriquez, Chalemot, & the Author

of the Cistercian Calendar printed at Divion, as also Ferrarius

in the general Catalog. Lastly an illustrious memory

of him is preserved in the Life of S. Bernard, by author William

Abbot of S. Theodoricus; & in volume one of the Cistercian

Annals, edited by Angelo Manrique.

[3] He on the year MCXXXVIII (in which Gerardus

died was said) chap. 5 num. 6 asserts, the sacred

spoils of his body, as also of the brothers, today the same

tomb to illustrate, like a stone tabernacle

rising against the church, Sepulchral inscription, & on the marbles a hanging

tablet to indicate in this manner: Under this edifice, which

is opposite the church in the cemetery of the Abbots,

constructed of stone columns & arches, in the right

part of the present sarcophagus, are contained the bones of happy

memory of Brothers german to our Father

Bernard, & also of Galdrich of Tallion uncle

of him: who, despising the nobility of family, & worldly

power, in which they very much excelled, &

made Monks, founded Clairvaux in their blood,

& left an example of monastic perfection

to their posterity.

LIFE

From the Great Exordium of the Cistercian Order.

By author Conrad the monk of Clairvaux, afterwards Abbot of Everbach.

Gerardus the Monk, brother of S. Bernard of Clairvaux (Bl.)

FROM MSS.

[1] Prologue. Now indeed to the elders, who, under the most blessed Father

our Bernard & afterwards, in Clairvaux

shone, let us turn our stylus: men truly religious,

sublime in contempt of the world, fervent in emulation of the order,

shining with the grace of various charisms

as the stars of heaven, of holy contemplation

watching with study without weariness of mind;

who adorned the name & habit of Monk with holy morals

& best conversation: because, that this

which they were called they might truly be, with admirable insistence

of devotion they labored. Of whom the first, as it were

the first-born, which in the Law to the Lord is commanded

to be offered, not undeservedly we shall place Lord

Gerardus, formerly the Cellarer of Clairvaux, German

brother of our holy Father Bernard, & very much

beloved by him; who the more difficulty

at the beginnings of conversion to consent he seemed, the more

tenaciously afterwards in all his conversation he adhered

to the exercises of the same conversion. For when

the servant of God Bernard in adolescence, as

the most tender shoot of wood, being delicate,

prevented by the Holy Spirit, had proposed to put forth his hand

to strong things, & had vowed to the Lord the grace of conversion

conceived in mind; by the same Spirit also

he was gathering everywhere companions for conversion

inflamed.

[2] Gerardus, resisting S. Bernard, And when already his other brothers had given assent to the salutary

admonitions a, Gerardus the wholesome

counsel more reluctantly admitted; because being

of great prudence, exceptional benignity, &

who was loved by all; he had fixed the root of his heart deeper

in this world's pomps & vanities. And when

with obstinate mind he was repelling his brother's admonitions; Bernard,

now fiery in faith, & roused in a wonderful way

by the zeal of fraternal charity; I know, said he; I know,

vexation alone will give understanding to the hearing. from his presage And lo

presently in the side of his brother a lance was seen fixed,

in the place of the side, in which he alone saw the lance

, he said; A day will come; will come, when a lance

fixed in this side will make a way to thy heart

for the counsel of thy salvation, which thou despisest; & thou shalt fear

indeed, but in no way die. So said, so

it was done. wounded & captured, For a very few days having passed,

surrounded by enemies, he is taken & wounded,

according to the word of his brother; & drawing the lance fixed

into that same side & the same place, as had been foretold

; & dreading death as now present,

he was crying out; I am a Monk, I am a Monk

Cistercian. Nonetheless yet also

was shut in custody. Afterwards from the wound, beyond

hope, he quickly recovered; but the purpose or vow,

which he had vowed, he did not change. And when his brother

was laboring that he might be drawn out, but nothing he was profiting; Gerardus

more and more saddened, began to be anxious;

because he was prohibited from rendering the vow which he had vowed;

& because, when it had been free for him, by the love

of the world delighted, he had contemned to vow & render. But Bernard,

when he was not even permitted to speak to him,

approaching to the prison, cried: Know, brother Gerardus,

that we are going into this monastery soon, vows to enter the Order: & we shall enter:

but thou, since to go out is not permitted, here be a Monk;

knowing, that what thou willest, &

canst not, may be reckoned as done.

[3] Therefore for some time shut in prison

& bound with fetters, he learned, divinely freed, hard it is for him

to kick against the goad of God's grace. He learned,

I say, the gall-bitter sweetness of love of this world, with how many

calamities, how many bitternesses is filled.

At length when sufficiently & wholesomely for his obstinacy

he had been chastised by the Lord, on a certain

night he heard in dreams a voice, saying to him: Today

thou shalt be freed b. So on that same day about evening

his fetters were divinely broken, comes with his brothers to Cîteaux: the locks

even of the prison were of their own accord opened: & Gerardus going out

through the midst of those who had captured &

shut him in, free was walking: & so from the twofold captivity,

namely of body & soul, by the great mercy of God

freed (so that out of the sentence he could say,

Thy rod & thy staff, O Lord, themselves have consoled

me; Ps. 22, 4 with his brothers & the rest, who in

the same sacraments of spiritual warfare had sworn, to Cîteaux

came: about to render the vow

which he had vowed to the Lord so much more humbly & devoutly, the more from

divine grace alone & the will of vowing & of the same

vow the faculty of fulfilling, so manifest by miracle

instructed, he knew was in himself.

[4] But afterwards, when the most reverend Father

& his brothers with other religious men, sent

to build the house of Clairvaux, in Clairvaux is appointed Cellarer: & venerable

Bernard had set over the rest as

Abbot; Lord Gerardus in the same house

was constituted Cellarer. How vigorously

indeed, how prudently & humbly he administered the office entrusted to him

, we shall better explain with the words of B. Bernard himself

than with ours. When after his death

the same venerable Abbot, with that noble eloquence of his,

made a sermon full of most pious grief, in the assembly

of the Brothers, among other things he said thus.

[5] You know, O sons, how just my grief is, how

doleful my plague. Sermon 26 on the Canticle. You see indeed how faithful

watchful for care, how unfailing for work, how

sweet for morals. Who was so very necessary to me?

to whom was I equally beloved? He was brother by family, the chief helper of S. Bernard. but in religion

more truly germane. Grieve I pray for my place,

you to whom these things are known. I was weak in body, &

he carried me; little of heart, & he comforted me;

lazy I was & negligent, & he aroused me;

improvident & forgetful, & he reminded me. How

hast thou been torn from me? how hast thou been snatched from my hands,

unanimous man, man according to my heart?

We loved in life, how in death are we

separated? Most bitter separation, & which altogether

could not be effected except by death. For how

wouldst thou desert me living thee living? Altogether the work of death,

of our love would not have spared, except

death the enemy of all sweetness?

[6] To everything that has emerged, I look for Gerardus,

as I was wont; & he is not. Alas? then

I groan. Wretched I; a man without help. Whom

shall I consult in ambiguities? in whom in adverse things trust? who

shall bear burdens? who shall drive off dangers? Was not

everywhere before my steps the eyes of Gerardus going?

Did not, Gerardus, thy breast more closely know my care

than my own? more familiarly did they encounter?

more sharply did they press? Did not with that thy

placable & potent tongue most frequently me from the discourses of the world

didst thou claim, & restore me to friendly

silence? The Lord had given him a learned tongue, that he might know,

when he ought to bring forth speech. So at last,

in the prudence of his responses, & in the grace

given him from above, both to the domestics he satisfied & to the externals

, that through me no one sought, whom Gerardus might first chance

to meet: he was meeting moreover the coming, generous to others in helping, sparing to himself:

opposing himself, lest suddenly they should attack my leisure.

If however to some he could not satisfy through himself,

these he was leading to me; the rest he was sending away.

O admirable industry! O faithful friend? And to the friend

he was bearing the habit, & to the offices of charity he was not lacking.

Who departed empty-handed from him? if rich, counsel:

if poor, a subsidy from him he was carrying back. Nor

did he seek the things which were his own, he who was thrusting himself into the midst

of cares, that I might be free. For he hoped, as he was

most humble, greater fruit from our quietness,

than if he were free himself. Yet sometimes he was asking to be

absolved, & to give way to another, as one who could provide better:

but where would he be found? Nor with petulant mind,

as is usual, was he held in this office by affection, but by the sole

regard of charity. Indeed he labored more than all,

& took less than all; so that often,

when he ministered necessities to others, he himself lacked in many,

namely in food, drink, or garment.

[7] Thanks to thee, brother, for all the fruit of my

studies, if any there is, in the Lord. To thee I owe, if

I have advanced, if I have profited. Thou wast involved, & I by thy

benefit at rest sat with myself, or certainly

with more holy occupations of divine services, instructed in spiritual things: or to the doctrine of the sons

I more usefully attended. For why should I not be so secure,

when I knew thee acting outside as my right hand,

light of my eyes, my breast

& my tongue? But why did I say acting outside?

as if Gerardus was ignorant of internal things, &

was destitute of spiritual gifts? They know, who

know him spiritual, how his words breathed

the Spirit: the companions know, how his morals

& studies tasted not of the flesh, but glowed

with spirit. Who more rigid than he in the custody of discipline? who

more strict in chastising his body? who more suspended

in contemplating? more subtle in discoursing?

How often discoursing with him, did I learn the things which I knew not;

& I who had come to teach, departed more taught?

Nor wonder about me; since wiser men

themselves nonetheless testify the same thing has happened to them about him.

He did not know letters, but had the sense of the inventor of letters,

had also the illuminating Spirit;

nor in the greatest only, but in the least

was he greatest.

[8] What, for example's sake, in buildings, in fields, gardens,

waters, & finally in all arts or works of rustics,

what, I say, even in this kind of things

eluded the expertise of Gerardus? diligent in temporal administration. To masons, smiths,

farmers, gardeners, cobblers, & weavers

he was easily master: & though by the judgment of all,

he was wiser than all, alone in his own eyes he was not

wise. Would that many, even though less wise, were not touched

by that malediction! Woe to you who are wise in

your own eyes. To those knowing these things I speak: & still

more about him to those experienced & tested. I spare however,

because he is my flesh & my brother. helping in all things S. Bernard, This however securely

I add, that to me he was useful in all things & before all things.

Useful in small & great, in private & public,

without & within. Rightly on him I depended wholly,

who to me was everything; he had left to me almost only

the honor & name of provisor, for the work himself

he was doing. I was called Abbot, but he was presiding in

solicitude. Rightly my spirit rested on him,

through whom it was permitted to delight in the Lord, to preach

more freely, to pray more securely. Through thee, I say, my brother,

was to me a sober mind, grateful rest, more

effective speech, fatter prayer, more frequent reading, &

more fervent affection.

[9] grieving over his death, Alas! thou hast been taken away, & all these things at once. With thee

equally have departed all my delights & joys.

Now cares have rushed in, now troubles strike me,

& straits everywhere have found me alone, alone

to me with thee departing have remained: alone under the burden I groan:

either to put down or to be crushed is necessary, because thou

hast withdrawn thy shoulders. Who shall grant to me quickly

to die after thee? for in place of thee I would not, nor to defraud thee of thy

glory. Moreover to outlive thee is labor & sorrow.

Go forth tears, long ago wishing to go forth: go forth,

because he who had obstructed your passage Gerardus,

mine plainly (Is he not mine, who is brother in blood

was, son by profession, father by solicitude, partner

in spirit, intimate in affection?) he has departed from me. I feel,

I am wounded, & gravely. Forgive, sons, nay,

if sons, grieve a father's place. I grieve over thee,

dearest Gerardus, not because to be grieved for, but because

taken away; & therefore perhaps to me rather

over me, who drink the cup of bitterness. & weeping for the common good. Where is

thy victory, O death? where is thy sting, O death?

Gerardus does not fear thee, masked effigy: Gerardus

through the middle of thy jaws passes to his country, not

only secure, but also rejoicing & praising. I lament

therefore first over my own plague, & this house's

loss. I lament next over the necessities of the poor

, of whom Gerardus was father. I lament

certainly also over the state of our whole Order, & of our

profession; which from thy, Gerardus, zeal,

counsel & example, was taking no mediocre strength.

I lament lastly, even if not over thee, yet for thy sake.

Hence indeed, hence I am affected gravely, because

vehemently I love.

[10] This is the testimony, which about the life & conversation

of his beloved brother Gerardus the Most Reverend

Father Bernard gave, The deceased's abstinence is praised, which we excerpting from his long

sermon in various places, to

show the virtues of so great a man, have placed continuously.

We know moreover that the deceit of flattery from such a Father

of ours, in words & senses, was far removed; nor

was drawn by affection of blood, that he would praise by even one word

more than him, whom mere truth required

to be praised. Therefore, if it is true; nay, because

his testimony is true; it is clear that the servant of the Lord Gerardus

was perfect in virtues,

to whom by the great gift of God for the observance

of true religion the administration of externals nothing was harmful,

which is wont to turn so many from the path of cloistral discipline,

& to plunge into the gulf of secular conversation

. But who can sufficiently admire

the proclamation of such great praise? he who laboring more than all, who laboring more than others, received less,

was taking less than all; who was held by no petulant

affection in his office (which indeed

in our times is most rare) but only by the regard

of charity; who, while he was ministering necessaries to the others,

was himself in need of many things. Indeed to prove,

how rigid he was in observance of discipline,

& how strict a chastiser of his body;

we shall set one of his praiseworthy deeds as example,

so that those who study to search out the virtues of holy Fathers for

their advancement, if fervent in

religion, may have what they ought to imitate; if

however remiss or infirm, may have whence to grieve over themselves.

[11] The servant of the Lord Gerardus was wont, going around

the granges from the duty of his office, [& on account of infirmity ordered to drink wine, he poured it into the water set out for all.] to be content with the common table

& food of the Brothers, drinking water with

them himself; nor easily did he allow anything else besides the common

dishes to be set before him. It happened

on a certain occasion, that going to a grange he fell ill:

which the Brother knowing who was to go with him

, approached the Prior, & suggested that the Cellarer was sick;

saying he feared, that if he drank water in

the grange, as he was wont, the weight of his illness

would increase. So by the Prior's order a small vessel

full of wine he took with him, the Cellarer entirely

ignorant of this; which also to him sitting with the Brothers

at table he offered, making the sign (as is the custom) from

the Prior, that on account of his infirmity that little

wine he alone should use. When indeed that most fervent emulator

of poverty & common life,

would consent in this, that, with all others drinking water

, he alone should be delighted with a cup of wine? But

there was a vessel full of water placed in the middle, whence

the Brothers should drink. Briefly therefore within himself,

what he should do, deliberating; continually

he arose, & taking the little vessel of wine, with all

seeing, poured the wine into the urn which held the water;

making the sign that all should drink in common:

for he preferred his body to be endangered by infirmity,

than in such a little remission of abstinence

to give a stain to his conscience. About this

so religious deed of his the Brothers cheered together & edified,

drank more delightfully that water, than if most

precious wine had been offered them. They were reading

doubtless in the life & morals of their best Cellarer,

how to be despised is the enticement of the flesh, who not even

for preserving or recovering his body's health acquiesced to take

of scandal he would seem to have given.

[12] in the company of S. Bernard, sick at Viterbo, When, for ending the schism of Peter Leon,

the holy Father Bernard for the third time, called

by Lord Pope Innocent, had entered Italy d, &

was shining everywhere with great signs & miracles, Lord

Gerardus his Cellarer, as the

most faithful helper & most prudent counsellor,

through all things he had with him. It happened

when they were at Viterbo, that the same Lord Gerardus,

seized with most grave illness, lay on the bed;

& rendered venerable Abbot greatly disturbed

& consternated. And when manifest

signs announced an exit of death to threaten; the servant

of the Lord Bernard most distressed, the companion of pilgrimage,

& that companion, in a foreign land to leave,

nor to render up to those who had committed him to him

(since he was loved by all, as he was very loveable

) with weeping & groaning turned to the Lord;

Wait, said he, Lord, wait until

the return: restored to friends, take him if thou wilt, &

I shall not delay. But how should the pious & merciful

Lord look down on his most humble servant, praying with such

contrition of heart in his own cause; by his prayer he recovers.

whom with such facility, as with benignity

in foreign causes he was wont continually to hear? Indeed

beyond the hope of all, as if from the gates

of death recalled to life, Gerardus quickly recovered:

& the businesses perfected, the peace of the holy Roman

Church restored, the Leonine rage utterly extinguished,

they returned to their country, with rejoicing of the whole

land, bringing back the sheaves of peace.

[13] afflicted by his last illness, But not much time after this elapsed e,

as if the Lord had now satisfied the vows & desires

of his faithful servant Bernard; again Gerardus began

suddenly to be destitute of the strengths of body, & gradually

to approach the exit: he who indeed had patiently borne the occupation of

Martha for the office enjoined on him,

but had embraced the leisure of Mary with the whole effort of mind.

So feeling most certainly

himself about to depart, & from the laborious cares of this world

to the kingdom of eternal blessedness to pass;

where beginning to be free, he might taste & see, how

sweet is the Lord; & might confirm, that in no way

he had been held in his office by any carnal or worldly desire

; with eyes lifted to heaven, God,

said he, thou knowest, that as much as was in me, I always

desired rest, to be intent on myself, free for thee; but

involved held me thy love & the study of obeying,

above all however the german love of the Abbot

& my brother. About the middle of the night, which

was the last he passed with wretched mortals, in a wonderful way

with cheered face, in a voice of exultation suddenly

he burst into that Davidic, with those standing by stupefied:

Praise the Lord from the heavens, before death joyful he sings: praise him in

the heights, for now to this blessed man at midnight

it was already becoming day, & his last night was being illumined as the day. Ps. 148,

Truly that night, his illumination, in

the delights of the eternal light, which is Christ the Lord.

For how do shadows not turn into

light, where a man dies singing, & singing dying

? Thou art usurped, O enemy death, for gladness,

though thou art of grief: thou art usurped for glory, adversary of glory:

thou art usurped for the entrance of the kingdom, gate of hell:

thou art usurped pit of perdition, for the discovery of salvation.

The Brothers therefore who were present, astonished at the novelty of so great

S. Bernard, the man, exulting in death & insulting

death, announcing; who when weak &

infirm hastening had come; the last parts of the Psalm,

which he was singing, with him hearing he completed in a clear voice. & saying Father into hands &c.

And looking up to heaven he said; Father, into thy

hands I commend my spirit. And repeating the same

speech & frequently doubling, Father,

Father; turned to the holy Abbot & his brother

, with cheered face, How great, said he, is the dignation

of God, to be a father to men! how great glory of men,

to be sons of God, to be heirs of God! So that holy

soul, joyful dies: in jubilation & exultation of spiritual joy,

loosed from the flesh, & mingled with the hymn-singing

choirs of Angels, with so much freer flight sought

the sidereal mansions, the more his own nothing in it the host

of malign spirits could find. S. Bernard celebrates the funeral. To his funeral

the holy Abbot & his brother the due office of commendation

& funeral rites, with the sweetest

affection of mind, devoutly paid: yet with others weeping

he wept not, but the tears longing to break forth

with great constancy of faith chastised; lest as if

he should seem to lament & weep for him as dead, whom

from his death into eternal life & eternal glory he doubted

not to be born.

NOTES BY D. P.

The Acts of S. Stephen the Abbot we illustrated on day 17 April; & we said, the Abbot created in the year 1109, & we said S. Bernard with 30 companions to have been received in the year 1113. He moreover sent him to Clairvaux in the year 1115.

d In the year 1137.

e In the year 1138.