The Life of Blessed Bernard of Tiron life of Blessed Bernard of Tiron

Appendix A. Sermon

APPENDIX A Sermon According to Henskens, between 1290 and 1297 a monk at Tiron, Jean Pignore de Vallea, made a copy of Geoffrey's three-volume vita. Pignore de Vallea divided the work into 70 paragraphs introduced by a synopsis of verses written in Latin hexameters. About three centuries later, Pignore de Vallea's copy of the vita was transcribed into a codex prepared by Jean-Papire Masson (I544-I6n). The codex also contained a sermon as an epilogue to the vita. This sermon stressed Bernard's abandonment offamily in Abbeville [5], the number ofpeople who flocked to him and entered his monastery, the legal disputes he had to endure [6J, the violence of the original site ofTiron, infested with wild beasts and criminals [8], his preaching and conversion of the local inhabitants [IO], the combination of active and contemplative monks in his abbey [12], and his kindness, humility, and charity as an abbot [18]. The sermon expounded upon the meaning of the names ofJacob's wells and compared Bernard to the saints, prophets, and martyrs. It was published as chapter 63 in the Souchet edition. Sermon [IJ It would be unwise of me to put my hand to a work that I am unworthy to complete, but love, my commander, is compelling me through the heartfelt wishes of some simple brothers, who keep asking me to write something about the venerable and most holy Dom Bernard, our most glorious Father. They say that my writing would be edifying to themselves and many others. 143 [2J 0, how many times have I resisted? How often have I stayed my hand, which was about to write down what my soul was dictating , persuading, repeating, and urging. Yet shyness and presumption forced me to desist, shyness lest a sapphire be ruined by a bad cutter, presumption lest a night owl seem to be speaking of the sun. It is incorrect to serve wine in a clay cup and not a golden one. I acknowledge that I stand in need of correction. I fear no critics, for what can a critic do, when the writer accuses himself of virtually everything? Since for this reason also I am unworthy to order myself to say anything about our most venerable and admirable Father, nonetheless I will relate to you with such eloquence as I possess, not such as I desire , a matter about which I do not wish to remain silent. Great devotion makes a humble task an important one. The woman who put her offering in the treasury was praised by the Lord for her devotion (Mk 12:42-44, Lk 21:2-4). They are asking me to write it for their satisfaction and my own, not for the delights ofpoetry, but for the edification of their lives. Accordingly I must embark upon this vast ocean because of their wishes and love, and you must pray, dearly beloved, that I can reach port with that same author and governor, for He is my ruler and my helper, my hope and my salvation. Amen. [3J I would have felt far less trepidation and terror if I were to offend any of the holy fathers of the Old and New Testaments. For I had to consider carefully a man who was like them when I portrayed him in my description, because he embodied the virtues of all the fathers of the Old and New Testaments. I admit that I abandoned the work when I had scarcely begun it, but when I turned my mind upward to the Almighty from whom comes every good endowment, every perfect gift Gas 1:17), I grew stronger once again. I paid attention, and when He revealed secret things to me, I knew why the man we are discussing, the venerable and most holy Bernard, our most glorious Father, may rightfully be considered an equal to the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs. We believe that he was not inferior to them in mercy, compassion, gentleness, or humility; he was firm in faith, upright in hope, steadfast in love, and most persistent with regard to renunciation, poverty, and abasement. Whoever was so polite to the poor (Ecclus 4:8) or was so commiserating toward the weak (I Cor 9:22)? As I may say briefly, he was wholly devoted to all, rejoic144 APPENDIX A: SERMON ing with those who rejoice (Rom 12:15) and sympathizing with the sorrowful. [4...