MEMORIAL OF SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, ABBOT AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH AND SAINT BERNARD TOLOMEI, PRIEST ~ FEAST DAY – AUGUST 20TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor of the Church and Saint Bernardo Tolomei, Priest. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed and we pray for those who mourn. We pray for the poor and needy and for peace, love, and unity in our marriages, our families and our world. We pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, the Bishops, the Clergy, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted Christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏
SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, ABBOT AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH: St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) was a theologian, poet, orator, and writer and was the second founder of the Cistercians, the Mellifluous Doctor, the apostle of the Crusades, the miracle-worker, the reconciler of kings, the leader of peoples, the counselor of popes! St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a Doctor of the Church thanks to his writings and sermons which greatly influenced Europe during the 12th century, and his numerous efforts which helped to avoid a schism in the Church in 1130. His sermons, from which there are many excerpts in the Breviary, are conspicuous for genuine emotion and spiritual unction. The celebrated “Memorare” prayer is ascribed to him. He is one of the last Church Fathers. In August 2008, Pope Benedict spoke of the saint during his weekly general audience. He recalled that Pope Pius VIII labeled the “Honey-Sweet Doctor” for his eloquence and that he traveled throughout Europe defending the Christian faith. Pope Benedict XVI added, “He was also remembered as a Doctor of Mariology, not because he wrote extensively on Our Lady, but because he understood her essential role in the Church, presenting her as the perfect model of the monastic life and of every other form of the Christian life.”
St. Bernard of Clairvaux was the third son of seven children born to a noble, illustrious Burgundian family in Burgundy, France in 1090, near Dijon. All seven children, six sons and one daughter, were offered to the service of God by their devout mother. Before St. Bernard was born, a holy man foretold of his great sanctity. As a child Bernard was given an excellent education. He excelled at his studies, and also possessed a personal charm that attracted many people to him. He prayed about his vocation, and at the age of twenty-two left his worldly wealth to become a Cistercian monk. He entered the monastery of Citeaux (where the Cistercian Order had its beginning) and persuaded thirty other youths of noble rank to follow his example. Four of his brothers joined him at the monastery in Citeaux, along with many others belonging to the Burgundian nobility. He later founded and became abbot of the Abbey of Clairvaux (1115), which rapidly grew to over 700 monks and 160 daughter-houses. As abbot of Clairvaux, he erected numerous abbeys where his spirit flourished. To his disciple, Bernard of Pisa, who later became Pope Eugene III, he dedicated his work De Consideratione. St. Bernard’s influence upon the princes, the clergy, and the people of his age was most remarkable. The monastic rule which he perfected at Clairvaux became the model for 163 monasteries of the Cistercian reform.
St. Bernard, with his natural charisma, was also a skilled arbiter and counselor who proved to be instrumental in the support of the true pope of Rome against the schism of a rival anti-pope. Bernard’s reputation for holiness and piety was widely known. He traveled throughout Europe as a preacher and became one of the most famous and influential men of his century. He was a man of reform, and was effective in opposing the appointment of unworthy men to episcopal offices, while others reformed themselves at his censure. St. Bernard composed many theological works and wrote tenderly on devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. By penitential practices he so exhausted his body that it could hardly sustain his soul, ever eager to praise and honor God. He died on August 20, 1153 (aged 62-63) at Clairvaux Abbey, Clairvaux (modern day part of Ville-sous-la-Ferté), Champagne, Kingdom of France. St. Bernard was canonized just 21 years after his death on January 18, 1174 by Pope Alexander III. In 1830 Pope Pius VIII declared him a Doctor of the Church. He’s the Patron Saint of beekeepers; bees; candlemakers; chandlers; wax-melters; wax refiners; Gibraltar; Queens College, Cambridge. His feast day is August 20th.
PRAYER: God, You blessed Your Church with St. Bernard, a man full of zeal for Your house, radiating brightness and ardent love. Through his intercession, grant that we may be animated by the same spirit and always walk as children of light. Amen 🙏
SAINT BERNARD TOLOMEI, PRIEST: St. Bernard Tolomei (1272-1348), was an Italian Roman Catholic theologian, Mystic, Hermit, Lawyer, Soldier, Politician, government official and the founder of the Archabbey of the Congregation of the Blessed Virgin of Monte Oliveto, Maggiore, Italy (Olivetan Congregation of Benedictines). St Bernardo Tolomei was born on May 10, 1272 at Siena, Tuscany as Giovanni Tolomei. Giovannni early changed his name to Bernard from admiration for Bernard of Clairvaux. He was educated by his Dominican uncle. Educated as a nobleman of the Tolomei family and had a distinguished career as a lawyer. His father prevented St. Bernard from entering religious life. Struck blind, St. Bernard recovered his sight through the intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary, after which he gave up worldly life to become a hermit. At around the age of forty, he felt called to a radical living out of his Christian vocation. With some companions, he retired to a remote place to the Southeast of Siena, known as the “Desert of Accona”. The first monks lived an eremetical lifestyle in the caves of the hillside. Gradually they evolved into a more organised community. When later a monastery was founded on the site, it was given the name of Saint Mary of Monte Oliveto (Benedictine Congregation of the Blessed Virgin of Monte Oliveto; Olivetan Congregation; Olivetans). According to the tradition, “one day, while Bernard was praying in the place where the church was later to be built, he saw a silver stairway rising eastwards, to Heaven.Jesus Christ and his Holy Mother, dressed in white, were standing at the top. A group of monks, all dressed in white, were climbing the stairs helped by angels.” (Chron. by Antonio da Barga). St. Bernard and his companions received the Benedictine habit and the Rule of the Father of western monasticism. Since the time of their founder Olivetans have been clothed in white. A special characteristic of the Olivetan reform is its emphasis upon the spirit of communion uniting all its houses, called to form unum corpus – one body. Accused of heresy, St. Bernard soon cleared his name.
When, in 1348, the plague was spreading in Siena, St. Bernard returned to the town to care for his fellow monks at the monastery of St Benedict. During the bout of the plague, St. Bernard and his monks cared for any who needed it; none of the brothers became sick. According to tradition, St. Bernard died – a victim of the plague on the 20th of August, 1348 – among his spiritual sons. (However, according to legend, St. Bernard died on August 20, 1348 in Siena, Italy of natural causes). He was subsequently venerated as a Saint. He was Beatified on November 24, 1644 by Pope Innocent X (cultus confirmed) and Canonised on April 26, 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI. He’s the Patron Saint of the Order he founded, the Congregation of the Blessed Virgin of Monte Oliveto, known as the Olivetans. His Feast Day: August 19th (Benedictines); August 20th
To foster the monastic movement which spontaneously developed around the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Clement VI canonically erected the Benedictine Congregation of St. Mary of Monte Oliveto on January 21, 1344. Although it was confined to Italy, the Congregation quickly developed and flourished particularly during the 14th and 17th centuries. Suppression began in the late 18th century. However, the Congregation did not disappear. It developed again in the late 19th century (1875), in a small monastery at Settignano (Florence). At present, the Congregation has a variety of abbeys and prioral churches in Italy, France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Israel, Korea, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil.
Saint Bernard Tolomei, Priest ~ Pray for us 🙏