TODAY'S SAINT: SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX

St. Bernard of Clairvaux
ABBOT, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
Feast Day:
August 20
Born:
1090, Fontaines, France


Died:
August 20, 1153, Clairvaux, France
Canonized:
January 18, 1174, Rome by Pope Alexander III
Major Shrine:
Ville-sous-la-Ferté
Patron of:
Cistercians, Burgundy, beekeepers, candlemakers, climbers
Born in 1090, at Fontaines, near Dijon. France; died at Clairvaux, 21 August, 1153. His parents were Tescelin, lord of Fontaines, and Aleth of Montbard, both belonging to the highest nobility of Burgundy. Bernard, the third of a family of seven children, six of whom were sons, was educated with particular care, because, while yet unborn, a devout man had foretold his great destiny.

He became a Cistercian at age 22. His father, the aged Tescelin, and all his brothers entered Clairvaux as religious, leaving only Humbeline, his sister, in the world and she, with the consent of her husband, soon took the veil in the Benedictine Convent of Jully.

Bernard died in the sixty-third year of his age, after forty years spent in the cloister. He founded one hundred and sixty-three monasteries in different parts of Europe; at his death they numbered three hundred and forty-three. Pope Pius VIII bestowed on him the title of Doctor of the Church. (Edited from http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/B/stbernardofclairvaux.asp

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