Saints' Discussion Forums

was yesterday, August 20. Happy belated feastday! :crucifix:

Happy belated feast day!

Here's a little in his honor:   :D

'I like to hear the voice of that teacher who seeks to gain of me, not applause, but tears.'

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

'St. Bernard says that poverty was not to be found in heaven, it existed only on earth; but that man, not knowing its value, did not seek after it. Therefore the Son of God came down from heaven to this earth, and chose it for his companion throughout his whole life, that by his example he might also render it precious and desirable to us: "Poverty was not found in heaven, but she was well known on earth, and men knew not her excellence. So the Son of God loved her, and came down from heaven to take her to himself, that we might learn to value her when we see how he regards her."'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

'St. Bernard's mother, worthy of such a son, was wont to take her new-born babes in her arms to offer them to Jesus Christ, thenceforward loving them with a reverential love, as a sacred deposit from God; and so entirely was her offering accepted, that all her seven children became Saints.'

St. Francis de Sales

'The saints understood how great an outrage sin is against God. Some of them passed their lives in weeping for their sins. St. Peter wept all his life; he was still weeping at his death. St. Bernard used to say, "Lord! Lord! it is I who fastened You to the Cross!"'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

'Woe to you who command others! If so many are damned by your fault, what will happen to you? If few out of those who are first in the Church of God are saved, what will happen to you? Take all states, both sexes, every condition: husbands, wives, widows, young women, young men, soldiers, merchants, craftsmen, rich and poor, noble and plebian. What are we to say about all these people who are living so badly? The following narrative from Saint Vincent Ferrer will show you what you may think about it. He relates that an archdeacon in Lyons gave up his charge and retreated into a desert place to do penance, and that he died the same day and hour as Saint Bernard. After his death, he appeared to his bishop and said to him, "Know, Monsignor, that at the very hour I passed away, thirty-three thousand people also died. Out of this number, Bernard and myself went up to heaven without delay, three went to purgatory, and all the others fell into Hell."'

St. Leonard of Port Maurice

'Bernard admonished Pope Eugene not to omit meditation on account of external affairs; and added, that he who gives up mental prayer may fall into hardness of heart, which will destroy all remorse for his faults, so that after having committed them he shall feel no hatred for them.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

'That Mary was a true martyr cannot be doubted, as Denis the Carthusian, Pelbart, Catharinus, and others prove; for it is an undoubted opinion that suffering sufficient to cause death is martyrdom, even though death does not ensue from it. Saint John the Evangelist is revered as a martyr, though he did not die in the caldron of boiling oil, but he came out more vigorous than he went in. Saint Thomas says, "that to have the glory of martyrdom, it is sufficient to exercise obedience in its highest degree, that is to say, to be obedient unto death." "Mary was a martyr," says Saint Bernard, "not by the sword of the executioner, but by bitter sorrow of heart." If her body was not wounded by the hand of the executioner, her blessed heart was transfixed by a sword of grief at the passion of her Son; grief which was sufficient to have caused her death, not once, but a thousand times. From this we shall see that Mary was not only a real martyr, but that her martyrdom surpassed all others; for it was longer than that of all others, and her whole life may be said to have been a prolonged death.

"The passion of Jesus," as Saint Bernard says, "commenced with His birth". So also did Mary, in all things like unto her Son, endure her martyrdom throughout her life.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Stellar, Shin. These are marvelous.

Did you know that St. Bernard is considered the last of the ancient Church fathers?

No I did not. :D The last of that era? How interesting! Well, it was about one thousand years later! A bridge mark!

       When Bernard founded the monastery on June 25, 1115, he named it Claire Vallee, which evolved into Clairvaux.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux, pray for us.

                   A quote of St. Bernard of Clairvaux: There are those who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge; that is Curiosity.

My Foley book refers to today as the Memorial of St Bernard, and I'm still hoping to understand the distinction of Solemnities, Memorials, Feasts, etc.  St Bernard, please pray for us, that we may strive as courageously as you did to confront the antiChrists of your day.

I should first correct my error in dates; St Bernard's Memorial was Aug 20, as noted in earlier posts.  October 20's celebration is for St Paul of the Cross, who isn't listed in my edition of Foley's Lives of the Saints.  St Paul please pray for us.  Foley comments very briefly on the classes of Liturgical celebrations, but does not describe the source or origin.  He says the highest class is the Solemnity, and there are seven; next are feasts, but mentions only 10 that he says are "included."  He concludes by saying about a third of memorials are obligatory, and the rest are optional.