84

RECENSIONES

serent les partlos demeurees intactes pour edifier une nouvelle eglise a une echelle plus reduite. Ils rermerent la moi lie occidentale du transept vers I' est par un mur, pour en faire un deambulatoire. La travee orientale de la nef fut arnenagee en sancluaire en obstruissant les arcades et en elevant a I'est un mur pleiu perce en haut d'une ouverture qui dominait le deambulatoire. Le plan de I'egIise de Paradyz, qui, sous Ja nouvelle forme fut consacree en 1'397, sinscrlvait des lors dans un simple reetangle. A cette epoque ce plan n'etait pas inconnu dans I'architecture de I'ordre, en particulier en Grande-Bretagne et dans les Pays germaniques, Au 18e siede I'cglise de Paradyz subit des transformations en style baroque. L'auteur acependant reussi adegager, sous ce revetement nouveau, des vestiges aneiennes dont Je caractere permet de les rattacher a I'architecture cistercienne : arcades de trace brtse, votes d'ogives quadripartites, piliers en pilastres engages, supports en encorbellement s'achevant sur des culots coniques. Une adoption plus caracterisee du style gothi.que apparatt dans la forme octogonale des culots et dans le decor des chapitaux et de defs de votes, ou des animaux symboliques apparaissent a cte dune variete de feuillages stylises, L'auteur soultgne que I'eglise de Paradyz ne possedait pas un caractere national. Elle setait insptree, toute comme les autres eglises de I'ordre en Pologne, des form es cisterciennes universelles de provenance frant;aise . L'etude tres nourrie de ]'VI. \;Yilinsld est appelee EI rendre de grands services aux historiens de I'art cistercien. H. V. Beuer-Szlechter. Rudolf

ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX AND FRIFNDSHIP

W. Union, Union

Community,

Presence.

Separation

and

Leuers.

S c h n y der, Die BauT<eramik und der mittelalterliche BacT~steinbau eies Zisterzienserklosters SI. Urban (Berner Schriften zur Kunst Bd viii). Bern. Benteli-Verlag 1958, 24 x 17 cm. 165 S. mit 197 Strichzeichnungen und 51 Kunstdruckabbildungen. Preis : 2,1 SF.

All the adivities and powers of love, as we have seen, tend to union. This is also the impltcation of other traditionaI terms that Bernard uses : to be bound, to adhere, the bond of peace, unanimity. His friends are his, he is theirs, they are Bernard' s own heart, half of himself, one spirit with hlm. one will, one heart and soul. He, too, like Jerome and Fortunatus, speaks of three friends that are as one; for the other two cannot exist without hirn (32).

Die Rolle des Zisterzienserordens bei der Verbreitung der Bachteinarch.lektur im Mittelalter ist allgemein bekannt. Die meisten Lnder Europas liefern hierfr Beispiele : die Niederlande, Norddeutschland, die Lombardei, usw. Das oben genannte Buch behandelt ausfhrlich und mustergltig ein einst blhendes Zentrum der Backsteinund Keramikherstellung, die Abtei St. Urban in der Schweiz. Nach einem einleitenden Abschnitt ber das Verfahren, wie es zur Verfertigung von Backsteinen in St. Urban blich war, ist es dem V. gelungen das noch erhaltene Material zeitlich zu bestimmen und zu Oldnen. Diese Industrie muss wohl zwischen 1250 und 1255 unter Abt Ulrich 11. e'rrichtet worden sein, whrend sie nach 1280, wohl in folge Mangel an (!eschulten Arheitskrtil" ten, erlosch. Unterdessen hatte St. Urban an zahlreiche Klster und Kirchen, weil in der Umgebung, Baumaterial geliefert, und zwar in Hauptsache seine verzierten Backsteine. Sie zeigen einen ungewhnlichen Reichtum an Motiven, anfnglich romarrisch, spter gotisch inspiriert. S. meint hier sogar Verbindungslinien mit der Spiritualitt des Ordens aufweisen zu knnen. Mit S. darf man aufmerken. dass gerade in diesen Jahren, in der Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts, im Orden, besonders in den Grenzgehieten, eifrig gebaut wurde und damals kam auch in den Niederlanden, Flandern und Norddeutschland der Backsteinbau stark auf. Das ungewhnliche Mass des St. Urbansteines wird seinen Grund wohl darin finden, weil er hauptschlich als Zierstein verwendet wurde. Das reich dOkumentierte Werk schhesst mit einem Verzeichnis der noch hekannten Ziersteine von SI. Urban, einem Katalog der Motive und einer prachtvollen Reihe von Lichtbildern. Edm. Mikkers.

See CUeaux 11. 1960, 5-26. (32) Eo. 1, 3 (CPS, p. 11) : totis adstrictus viseerihus; ep. 39, (CPS, 305) : ... hoc me maxime toto vobis affectu dileetionis Clstringit, quod eum seiam me veslram ... ; _ ep. 390 (PL 182, 596 b) : Dominus, inquam, in quo el pro quo

tanta nos deuotione eomplecteris,

tanta stringis affectione.

Adhaerere, Ep. 41 (CPS, 87) : utinam nune tamen ... tuo lateri adhaererem. _ ep. 11, 8 (CPS, 197) God : .. , adhaerens ei unus spiritus erit; ep. 142, 3 (PL 182, 298 b) : union of two monasteries .. , eui speeialius adhaesisti.s, ... ; of a dead friend : ep. 266 (PL 182, 471 c) : Non mihi perit, sed praeit, eujus animae mea adhaesit glutino quod non dissipabitur, el vinculo quod non

dirumpetur.
Vinculum 4 (CPS, 185). Unanimitas. paeis. Ep. 7, 1 (CPS, 107); ep. 7, 14 (CPS, 145); ep. 11, Ep. 7, 16 (CPS, 147): ... unanimitatis .. , vinculum, pacisfirmamentum ... _ Ep. 65, 2 (CPS, 39t) : Meus ergo erat rli/JUS, eus erit defunctns, m meum in patria recognoseam. Ep. 123 (PL 182, 268 b); -' ep. 357, 1 (PL 182, 558 d) : Confido enim quod testimonium perhiheat spiritui tuo spiritus quem habes a Deo, tuum esse modicum id quod sumus, .,. Cf. ep. 389 (PL 182, 595 c) : Salutat vos Beluaeensis electus, ut vester : vesler est enim. - Ep. 390, 2 (PL 182, 597 a) : ... Guilielmus tuus : tuus, inquam, et specialiter tuus in T1is-

ceribus /esu Christi.

Mea viscera. Ep, 143, 1 (PL 182, 299 a], to hts monks : Tot me necesse est affici curis, quot vos estis; .,. Duplex eonlrilio ista non me deseret, quo usque meis oisceribtis ego reddar : ... Here viscera seems to mean offspring, child. _ Ep. 384 (PL 182, 587 b) : Meum est, quidquid meis impenditur : mihi datur, quiquid infunditur in viseeribus meis. - Ep. 295 (PL 182, 499 h), :

86 Community

A. FISKE
Presence

ST. BERNARD

AND FRIENDSHIP

87

F riends therefore share all in common : Bernard bears the labors o] hls lrtends in his very body, and grieves w il h tlWrIl. more than lor his OW/l pain. He does not have to rnake these sorrow- hi- (IV, 11; he [inds that they are his own already, lor what touc hes hj~ friel,d, touches him. Only Christ understands how deeply he is Identilted iu l~ Irteuds sulfering. Christ who bore all our sorrows in his own body. The cornmunity between friends is a reflection of T rinity and lollows its law : ttll my things are thine and thine are mine (33).

1
I

,jll

Sie tibi. quasi mihi seribo. et hoc quoiies tibi seribo. Vbi enim tu es. me esse eonFido. quippe quem tanquam me ipsum diligo. Ep. 1. 11 (CPS. 31); - ep. 160 (PL 182. 320 b) : dimidium animae meae. One Spirit : Ep. 53 (CPS. 351-353). His Iace, i.e. bodily presence, is partem modicum mei . His will. spirit and love are the greater part, and they are with hts friend. Ep. 86. 1 (CPS. 525) : .. , eum quo est mihi eommune verbum. ani~um non distare. - Ep. 53 (CPS. 353) : Cur enim unitatem hane inter diuersos non Faeiat eompago eharitatis in uno spiritu. si cornalis eopula elfieit ut sint duo in eame una? Also ep. 73. 2 (CPS. 447-449). One Will : Ep. 48. 3 (CPS. 337) : ... una utriusque voluntas ... : - ep. 86. 2 (CPS. 527) : Volo enim et ipse quod te velle de te iam olim non la!et me. Caeterum. mea atque tua aeque, ut aequum est. voluntate postposita. magis quod velle Deum de te puto. et mihi et tibi suadeam. tutum dueo; ... - ep. 53 (CPS. 353) : ... eadem voluntate et summa concordio. animorum. One Hear! : Eo, 53 (CPS. 351); - ep. 143. 2 (PL 182. 299 c] : Non quomodo ei praesens spiritu non sum, eum quo est mihi cor unum. et anima una? Three as One : Ep. 53 (CPS 351-353) : ... sed nune ipse qui loquebar. ecce adsum. Tres in duo bus eonspicitis. quoniam absque me esse non possunt. in quorum iugiter pecioribus requtesco, et quidem securius atque suavius quam in proprio. - Qui ergo videt eos, videt et me, etsi non in meo eorpore : et quod Ioquuruur, ego pariter loquor, sed eorum linguis. Corpore. [ateor, absum : sed haec est exigua portio mei ... Tribus ergo in corporious unum nos esse noverifis. non pari sanctitate. qua ambobus ego inFerior surn, sed eadem voluntal:e et summa concordia animorum ... quartum vos addi velim, si dignum iudieatis ct in eamdem eoneurrere unitatem dilectionis. (33) Ep. 4, 2 (CPS. 89) : tuo medullitus et labori. et perieulo eompatientem. - Ep. 80. (CPS. 495) : eondoleam ... ; - ep. 260 (PL 182. 467 c) : Satis superque aFflixit nos absentia tua. Rualene eharissime : sed longe magis eomperta tua tristitia turbati sumus .... pluris multo habentes tuum ineommodum. et longe aegrius ferentes. quam nos trum damnum. - Ep. 390. 1 (PL 182. 596 ab) : lnde est quod auditis tribulationibus vestris. eas non solum meas feei. sed et inveni : quia non possum te dolente non dorere. dulcissime pater. nee nisi molestus et anxius tuas molestias et anxietates audire. T angit et angit cor melJm quidquid tuum exasperat : et quidquid illud sit quod te persequitur. non solum te persequitur. sed me tecum. - Ep. 32. 1 (CPS 271) : Quanto affectu tibi eondoleam. seit ille qui nostros omnium dolores in eorpore suo tulit. - Ep. 117 (PL 182. 263 b) : Reeepi ... delicias eordis mei. paeem tui. Laetus sumo quia tu laeta nuntiaris; neque admodum animo reddit ineolumen tua innotescens aleteritas. - Ep. 32. 3 (CPS. 275) : Fraudulenter abi et non fideltter eonsulo. si

Bernard speaks with more originality of corporeal presence. It is, in his mind. a most powerful actual grace. He describes how he would act in Arnold' s presence to win hirn back. - he would fall down before hirn. pleading with face and eyes as weIl as words, he would hold his feet. embrace his knees, ding to his neck. and kiss that dearest head. For the living word is more acceptable than the written, the eyes testtly to the truth of the word. the face can express what a pen could not (34). Under more happy circumstances. presence is a joyful grace. T 0 visit the Carthusians would be a solace for his journey. relief for his labors and a remedy for his sins. The presence of a friend is holy, it is the one comfort for the weariness of beihg so long without Christ. The face of glory is still hidden. but Bernard can look upon the holy temple of God which is the friend he loves, and from his temple there is easy transition to that glorious one. Hence Bernard desires the presence of his friends. not for flesh and blood , but to receive spiritual help from them, or to give it. To look on Peter the Venerable could not but enrich Bernard; he would not return empty, heaving contemplated one who is an exemplar, a surnmary, a mirror of virtue, disctpline and holtness, learning from hirn. so meek and humble of heart, by the eyes of faith what he hitherto had not been able to learn even from Christ hirnself. Therefore he longs to see hirn he dares not say always, nor even often. but only once a year. Yet even this is impossible. T 0 live together as companions was never to be their lot (35). idipsum a meipso non exigo. - Ep. 192. ed. Jarnes (frorn C. H. Tal bot. New Doeuments in the Case oi St. William of Yor'k, Cambridge Historieal }ournallO. 1950) : who does not know that alI my friends are equally yours. :. - Ep. 267 (PI. 182. 472 a) : filius vester [roter Galeherius Factus est et no ster. secunduni regulam illam : Omnia mea tua sunt. et tua mea (Joan. 17. 10). Non sit minus Familiaris. quia eommunis : sed ... Familiarior atque aeeeptior, ut mihi, quia vester est; sie vobis. quia noster est. - Cf. ep. 434 (PL 182. 635 d) to the pope : Oportet uos esse amicum amicorum nostrorum. ... - Ep. 267 (PL 182. 472 a) : ... seeundum regulum illam : omnia mea tua sunt. et tua mea, (34) Ep. 4, 1 (CPS. 87) : ... cum et si pro eerto scirem. ubi te opportune invenissem. ipse potius venissem. quam has mississem. effeeturus fortasse per me ~psum. quod nullis litteris possum ... Quanta quae me mouent. adversum te. Jrusta nescio an {ructuose. iaeerem tibi in faciem; non solum verbis. sed et vultu et oeulis. Tuis deinde provolutus vestigiis. tenerem pedes; amplecterer genua; totusque a eollo pendens. illud mihi duleissimum caput Jeoseularer.... - Ep. 66 (CPS. 397) : Nam solet in talibus aceeptior esse sermo vivus quam scriptus. '" Geuli quippe loquentis Fidem faciunt dictis; nee ita potest affectum exprimere digitus. quomodo vultus. (35) Ep. 31 (CPS. 269) : iueunda praesentia. - Ep. 154 (pL 182, 313 c) : '" reuisere quos diligit an imam mea infineri meo solatium. laboribus lef1amen. peeeatis remedium postulare. - Ep. 265 (PL 182. 470 c). - Ep. 144. 1 (PL J82. 300 c) : Caeterum ... unum mihi remedium qualeeumque erat. el vere datum cksuper. pro vultu videlicet gloriae. qui abseonditus est usque adhue. videre

I'

88 Separation

A. FISKE

ST. BERNARD

AND FRIENDSHIP

89

Most of the presence and absence antitheses repeat the conventional opposition of spirit and body, space and soul or virtue, word of mouth and letter, life and death, pleasant ease and hard work, sweelness and hitterness (36). Sometimes like Ansolm. Bernard prelers spiritual to hodily presence that reveals only the face, only part ol him, und that the least part; the will, spirit and love are the greater part, and they are with his absent friend. Because the body departs, can the soul withdraw? Can even death take it away? The body is bound by the necessities of place: should that conjine the liberty of souls that love each other? No distance, not even death, can separate those who live by the one spirit and are bound by one love. But Bernard' s real conviction seems to be that corporeal presence is far more desirable than this spiritual bond alone. For the latter is equivalent to the hidden manna of faith and desire by which God re-creates man to his Image in this life of darkness and longing. But presence is, like heaven where knowledge and love, the fruit of faith and desire, are arms by wh ich the soul ernbraces the eternal one, Love, wisdom, power (37). interim templum Dei sanctum, quod estis vos. Ex hoc templo facilis mihi videbatur transitus ad illud gloriosum, ... - Ep. 107, 2 (PL 182, 243 a) : Desideramus praesentiam tuam, quaerimus optatam, immo promissam exigimus. Cur tanto? Nil in ea sane expetimus de carne et sanguine. Aut profieere ex te eupimus, aut prodesse tibi. - Ep. 265 (PL 182, 470 c) : ... quodque minus usque adhue a Christo didieisse me [aieor, non ineassum fide oculata pereiperem. quam sis et tu mitis, et humilis corde. - Ib.: Quis mihi tribuat saneta et desiderata praesentia tua, non dieo semper, non dieo saepe sed vel semel in anno frui? - Ep. 147. 2 (PL 182, 305 b). There are rnany expressions of destre for presence that are merely or largelv conventional or officiaI. as in ep. 115, Ja rn es ed., p. 172 (Irom Hffer). (36) Ep. 116 (PL 182, 263 a) : Et nune quidem praesens surn spiritu, licet corpore absens; ... ; - Ep. 186 (PL 182, 348 d). - Ep. 397, 1 (PL 182, 606 a] ; ... et quod longe a vobis ab.mmus, sed locis, non animis. Ep. 1'43, 2 (PL lR2, 299 c) : ... huie etiam si corpore praesens essem, longe esset ab eo anima mea, eo quod ipse longe fecerit a se Deum, morum. non locorum distantia. Ep. 390 (PL 182, 596 c). Ep. 73, 2 (CPS, 447) : Nam quid opus est verbis superfluis mortuam chartam implere, ubi viva praesens loquilur? - Ep. 89, 1 (CPS, 561) : ... dum non quidem praesentes alterutrum dicere leviter valemus quae volumus, sed absentibus neeesse est nobis invieem diligenter dielare, ... Dum vero ab sens cogito, dictito, scriptito, mittoque quod praesens legas; rogo. ubi otium, ubi silen ti i quies? He is cornplaining that letters break the silence of Lent. Ep. 144, 1 (PL 182, 300 b) : Minime quidem deserit me, quocumque iero, dulcis memoria vestri : sed quanto memoria dulcior. tanto absentia molestior. - Ep. 363 (PL 182, 563 b) : Nam cum molesta esset amico amid TJOcatio el absentatio. cujus nimirum praesentia frui belectatur [sie] in Domino; .. , (37) Ep. 53 (CPS. 351). - Ep. 65, 2 (CPS, 391) : Sed numquid, qu;'a eorpore ad tempus reeessit, etiam anima recedere poluil? Aut forte vel ipsa mors eum mihi poterit au/erre? lIane localis corporalisve necessitas animorum sp.se amantium libertatem angustat? Cerlus sum quia nec locorum dislantia. nec

This eschatological concept is expressed also by an adaptation of the words of Christ in the garden to describe how he longs for the monks at Clairvaux and can find no consolation : my soul is sorrowful even until I return, and does not wish to be comforted save by you . For he suffers a double exile. The common exile is hard enough, that, while we are in the body, we are separated horn the Lord; but to this is added a special exi]e, that he can hardly bear, to be forced to live without them : long drawn-out is this pain and tedious the waiting . And as he paralleIs hts absence horn them with this life of exi]e, so. to be in their presence, is a foretaste of heaven (38). Moreover, Bernard' s complaints at separation horn his friends reveal the intensity of his affection. Both he and Rainald compjain of their separation. He begs Rainald not to tell hirn his troubles, for separation is enough pain, I am tormented enough and more than enough by being without you, by not seeing you, by not enjoying you, 0 my sweetest consolation . His heart, thus torn by Rainald' s absence, should not be futher wounded by hearing of his trials. Rainald then kept silence, and Bernard had to write again, to beg hirn please to tell him everything, for now that he knows nothing. he imagines infinitely more and worse suffering, and is endurlng real sorrow for imaginary evils , For he who is once fond of anyorie, is no longer master over hirnself. This is a pleasant window into Bernard' s heart. even though the letter ends prosaically : Please return as soon as you can those books of mine which you have borrowed (39). Bernard habitually uses superlatives to express the pain of separation : it affIicts him enough and more than enough, he can't express corporum vel mors vel absentia disiungere polerit quos unus spiritus vegetllt, unu charilas liga!. - Ep. 18, 2 (CPS. 223) : Si enim adhuc absenles initiat lides 91 desiderium, prnesentes profecto consummat intellectus el amor. ... Intellectus igilur es! {ructus /idei. perfecta eharitas desiderii. (38) Ep. 144, 1 (PL 182, 300 b-c) : Tristis est anima mea usque dum redeam, et non TJult consolari usque ad vos. . .. Est eommune exsilium ipsumque molestum saiis, quod quandiu. sumus in hoc corpore. peregrinamur a Domino. Huic accessit et speciole, quod pene impatientem me reddit, ut cogar vil1eTe sine vobis. (39) Ep. 72, 5 (CPS. 441) : Iam vero ut ad reliqua epistolae tuae responJeam, eamdem. quam tu de mei, possem et ego vicissim de tui absentia non immerito lacere querimoniam; ... Ep. 73, 1 (CPS, 443) : Safis namque et plusquam satis crucior te carendo, te non videndo. te. dulcissimo mihi solatio. non /ruendo; ... - lbid., 445 : ... tristWam super tristitiam ingeris et eruC'iatum cruciatibus addis; ... Quid enim necesse est satis sollicitum amplius sozc.icilare, et absentia filii saucia patris viscera gravioribus torquere doloribus? Ep. 74 (CPS, 449-451) : Sed ecce, unde meas mihi curas credidi levigari, indc. fatco, amplius gravari me sentio. Nam ante quidem sola, quae te innotescente perceperam, aut dolebam. aut metuebam; nune autem quid umquam mali evenire potest, quod ego non metuam? lmo juxta tuum Ovidium [Her., ep. 1. 111. Quando ego non timui graviora pericula veris? eo quippe suspectus omnia quo incertus de omnibus. TJeram saepe de falsis tristitiam eontruhere co gor. Mens siquidem quam semel affecerit charitas, sui juris esse non sinitur ).

90

A. FISKE

ST. BERNARD

AND

FRIENDSHIP

91

how much he longs to see his friend. he is greedy for him, angered at the occupations that keep him away (40). If the separation is caused by defection. Bernard' s grief is far greater. as the letter to hts relative Robert weIl illustrates. It is a most intensely personal appeal rerniniscent of Alcuin' s sorrowful warnings and entreaties to Dodo arid Cuculus. but with the wholly personal tone so streng in all that Bernard writes : I have waited long. I can no longer hide my sorrow, I have been wounded, spurned. smitten; it is I who must cast myself at your Feet, I shall overlook the past, I shall forget old injuries ... No doubt it may have been my fault that you left. I was too severe, too hard ... hut now I am sorry. There wil be nothing more to fear horn me. Now I am become gentle. I know your heart. more easiiy led by love than driven by fear. You have been taken horn my stde - can you be saved only at my cost? Co me back to the battle. Sirnilar are other appeals, as to Godfroy :

frorn his own body. - Gaufrid has beoken his promise to come to Clairvaux as a monk: his turning bacl( is to Bernard worse than tearing out his very heart; it pierces his soul with a sword. Robert does not tear frorn him merely the bone from his bone. the flesh. but the joy of his heart. the fruit of his spirit, the crown of his hope, and. as he actually feels. - the very half of hts soul. His heart cries out. too, at his separation frorn his monks : What shall I say? ... Behold this is the third time that my heart has been torn out of me ... 0 good Jesus, my Iife will wholly fail in sorrow, my years in groaning! It would be good for rne, Lord. to die rather than to live. unless I may live among my brothers. my family. my dearest ones. That indeed is more sweet, more human. more secure. They rnay miss hirn. but he is only one ; whereas he misses all of thern. May they pray that he may see thern agairr. live with thern and die among them ; I dictate this with tears and sighs as brother Baldwin. who is takirig it down. will testijy . To this very touching cry to the good .Iesus, to grant hirn what is sweeter, more human. more safe. Bernard adds ; not my will but thine be done . Separation was for Ium a partidpation in the agony of Christ (42). The cause of separation Bernard. like Alcuin. sornetirnes attributes to his sins, for which it is a punishment: often to the work of God: but never to his own negligence. Separation is hard. yet it is the doing of God. whose thoughts are thoughts of peace and not of afflietion. who says to the friend : What I do, you do not know now, but you shall know hereafter . It is love that separates. the same love that will unite the friends forever in a happy arid inseparable society in His divine love. There will be a day. there will be, when we are returned to each . other, when eaeh will rejoice fully in hirnself and in the other, present

I grieve over you, my sori, I grieve over you - And with reason ... Return. I beseech you, return, before the' abvss swallows you up and the mouth of the pit closes on you. He does share of hirn and Part Bernard. that has
11, 11 11

not wish to conquer without him. nor does he envy his glory. Like the prodiga]' s father. he will joyfully run to meet ernbrace him (41). of hims elf is cut away, he is eviscerated : these are the irnages like Anselm, uses for separation. Robert is like an unborn child been vtolently cut out of hts body. He is wounded: he is torn

(40). Ep. 154 (PL 182. 313 b) : Dissimulare non valeo tristWarn cordis. mei, nec palior ultra latere te crueiatum quem patior. Bernarde charissime. . .. Nihilominus tamen vermis isie continue rodi! me, et dolor meus in conspeclu meo semper. Et quidem alius satis tribulor : sed. ut verum [oraar, in nullo aeque. Vinci! labores itineris. caloris incommodum, curarum anxietates. Ecce aperui rulnus amico : ... - Ep. 260 (PL 181. 467 c) : Satis superqua a{fixit (sie) nos absentia tun, Rualene charissime : ... - Ep. 324 (PI. 182. 530 a) : Et tarde notus, et cito es mihi sublatus. Roberte eharissime. Cf. also ep. 31 (CPS. 269). a more eonventional expression. Ep. 106. 3 (CPS. 647) : Quod vos videre. et ad quid desideremus. seifis; quantum uero, nee vos scire potestis. - Ep. 204 (PL 182. 377 b) : ... avidius suspiro praesentiam. - Ep. 117 (PL 182. 2f:i3 c) : ... iraseor oceupationibus. quibus frequenter impediri lJideor ne te t'ideam: ... (41) Ep. 1 (CPS. 3 H.). There are of eourse other suhjects than Bernard himself treated in the letter; the whole Iife story of Robert. the false friend who led him away. and. in the last section. an appeal to fight for Christ. But the emphasis on Bernard's own feelings is unlike Aleuin's doctrinal and moral appeal to his stray sons. - Ep. 112. 1-2 (Pl~ 182. 255 e - 256 a) : Doleo super te. fili mi Gaufride. doleo super te. Et mento ... Revertere. quaeso. revertere. priusquam te absorbeat profundum. et urgeat super te puteus os suum .... lbid. (256 ab) : Si vis. nolumus vincere sirre te. nec tuam tibi illvidemus gloriae portionem. Laeti oeeurremus tibi. laetis te reeipiemus amplexibus. . ..

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(42) Ep. I. 10 (CPS. 29) : Tu quoque de sinu mihi. et utero abseissus es. - Wo und. Ep. 154 (PL 182. 313 d); - Ep. 144, 1 (300 b). - Ep. 143,..1 (PL 182. 299 a) : ... quosque meis uisceribus ego reddar : ... - Ep. 108. 4 (PI. 182. 251 a) : ave r s i o , e v i see rat i O. Ep. 1, 11 (CPS. 31) : Nam, ut verum [aiear, non os de osstbus meis,' vel earnem de eame mea; sed tulemnt mihi gaudium cordis met, fruetum spiritus mei, eoronam spei mei. et (velut mihi sentire videor) animae meae dimidium. - Ep. 144. 2 (PL 182. 301 u) : Quid dieam? ... Ecce hoe tertio. nisi fallor. avulsa sunt a me viscera mea. . .. ltane, bone Jesu. tota de/iciet in dolore vita mea. et anni mei in gemitibus! Bo, Ttum mihi. Domine. magis mori quam vivere est. non tamen nisi inter fratres. inter domesticos. inter charissimos. 1d siquidem duleius. humanius. tutiusque esse constat. - Ep. 143. 1 (PL 182. 299 a) : Si vobis molesta est absentia men. nemo dubi!et mihi esse molestiorem. Non enim paris jacturae. nee e;usdem grauiminis est. me uno earere vos. meque ves/ra universitate desti!ui. .. (non mea lJoluntas. sed tua fiat). - Ep. 144. 4 (PL 192, 302 a) : Rogate ... ut iterum vos lJideamus. vobiseum e/ vivamus. et moriamur : et sie vivite, ut obtinealis. Infirmus in arcto temporis. certe eum lacrymis et singultibus ista dictavi. tesle eharissimo {ratre nostro Balduino. qui stylo ea exeepit : ...

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A. FISKE ST. BERNARD to each other. both sharing the portion of the other, never henceforth to be separated (43). .. Letters AND FRIENDSHIP 93

Bernard desires letters intensely with an insatiable desire of conversion with those he loves. It would be wrong not to ans wer a friend' s letters because one did not want to do so. or even Irom conternpt (44). Bernard' s last letter is a touching appeal for a friend' s prayers in his last illness with very factual description of his ailments: he ends : I have written Ihis with my own hand so that, when you see the farniliar writing. you may recognize how I love you. But I would have preferred to be answering one of your letters, rather than to have to be the first to write (45). Letters are to him not merely salutations but love itself, the very affection of the heart. He describes how he receives a letter from Peter with welcoming hands, reading it avidly, rereading it again and again. I have been busied with so many occupations, as you know . or should know. most loving father. Nevertheless when I saw your letter I tore myself away and escaped horn the ceaseless questions and petitions of everyone. and shut myself up with Nicholas. whorn your soul loves. J read and rerend the sweetness, the very great sweetness Ihat breathed horn your words (46).

Letters are a glory. a visitation. by which the friends are together, breathe the affection of a friend and increase Bernard' s own love, sparks setting his heart on fire, like sweet relreshment in the burning and aridtty of many affairs (47). Love compels him to write; Peter' s angel suggests a letter to hirn; God persuades him to write it. Bernard is often distressed that he cannot write a long letter. for he is hard-pressed by the evils of the day. Grieving. I grieve that such fullness of love must be told with so meagre a pen, that so brief a page must try to comprehend such breadth of love. He could hardly snatch a moment even to read the letters that came at lunch time. and furtively. like a robber, he squeezed in a few moments to write a little note. Again grieves : Peter' s letter moved him to such love, and yet he cannot write. There is a great crowd from almost every nation under heaven and because of his sins he has to be at their beck and call. Meanwhile he writes this little word to his own soul ; when he gets time. he will reveal more clearly the affection of one who loves. Another letter breaks off with the cry they like heat holv

I am carried off. No more now. The a crowd of visitors call me back. and break off the letter rather than end it. But although they can force me to write [ess, they can never force me to love less.
Brevity is no sign of lacI( of love. and he counts on his friend to understand. and not measure affection by pages, affection that no words, however long. could fully descibe. But he knows that this brevity is often a disappointement to others, and so is his dryness , which he attributes to his lack of devotion (48). scire potestis, amantissime pater. Abripui tamen me, et eripui votis et responsionibus omnium : el inclusi me cum Nicolao iUo. quem di.ligit anima vestra. Legi et relegi duleedinem. et magnam dulcedinem. quae de vestris litteris emanabat. (47) Ep. 312 (PL 182. 517 d) : Benedictus Deus. qui nos litterarum vestrarum dignatus est visitatione consolari. Et quidem potuimus litteris litteras uteumque reddere : sed quando huie gratiae sufficimus rependere vicem, qua nos a vobis benedictionibus dulcedinis tantae praeventos esse merito gloriamur. excitamur exhortationibus. salutationibus honoramur? Also Ep. 147. 1 (PL 182. 304 c) : En teneo. unde glorier apud extraneos. litteras tuas. et iUas litteras in quibus tuam mihi animam effudisti. This in a reminiscence of the Benedictus; cf. first sentence of ep. 312 above. Also in Bernard's letter to Peter the Venerable before they had met. ep. 147 (PL 182. 304 b) : Visitet te Griens ex ... alto. o bone vir. quia visitasti me in terra aliena ... - Ep. 201 (PL 182. 369 b) : Epistola quam misisti. alfeetum tuum redolet. movet meum. Also ep. 389 (PL 182. 595 b). Ep. 277 (PL 182. 483 a) : Et nune praesens sumo in litteris his OSsistens illi. - Ep. 11. 1 (CPS, 173). - Ep. 436 (PL 182. 636 b) : N. flamma legotiorum quae assidue Romae geruntur. /ere adustus. ex desiderabili et jueunda inspectione scriptorum vestrorum. utinam re{rigerari merear. (48) Ep. 397 (PL 182. 606 a) : Charitas. fratres. nos admonet scribere ad liOS et pro vobis. '" _ Ep. 147 (PL 182. 304 c) : Benedictus sanctus angelw

Alas. I am pulled away, evils of the day drall' me away,

(43) Ep. 144 (PL 182. 313c): ... et eulpis meis exigentibus [actus est, non ut n.ollem. sed ut non possem. Poenam siquidem. hoc agnoseo culoarum, non eulpam. -Jhid. : Certus sis, homo Dei. mini me prorsus amici fuisse incuriam. non piqritirtnt, non negligentiam: sed causam obstitisse plane non negligendam. et causam Dei. Ep. 362 (PL 182. 563 b) : Nam cum molesta esset amico amici voeatio et ahsentatio. cujus nimirum praesentia frui beleetatur rsic] in Dumino; jam tune, ut manifeste video, cogitabat ipse eogitationes pacis, I't non af{licLionis, er clicebat : Quod ego [acto, tu neseis modo, scies autem postea. Cf. [oon .. n. 7_ Ep. 111. 3 (PL 182. 255 c) : ... qui ejus amore hoc modico tempore ah invicem separamur. in alio saeculo simul feEici et inseparahili sodetate. in ejus amore vivamus per omnia saeculo: saeculorum, Amen. Also ep. 324 (PL 182. 530 b) - Ep. 11, 1 (CPS, 173) : Erit. erii, quando reddemur nobis, quando et quisque de se, et uierqua de invieem plene gaudebimus. praesentes nobis in utrcquc portione nostri. in neutra deinceps ab alterutro dividendi. (44) Ep. 11. 1 (CPS, 173) : ... tam laetus accepi. quam avidus et olim desideraveram. - lbid., 10 (p. 201) : Longum quidem adhue texere sermonem insatiabili eolloquendi ad vos desiderio pulsor ... - Ep. 228 (PL 182, 396 c 397 a). (45) Ep. 110 in Migne; in James' edition it is no. 469. the last letter, but not dated. - Ep. 310 (PL 182. 514 c) : Haee ipse dictavi. sie me habens. ut per notam vobis man um agnoscatis affectum. Verumtamen reseripsisse. quam seripsisse maluerim. - Ep. 105 (CPS 639). - Ep. 390 (PL 182. 596 a). Ep. 228. 2. (PL 182. 397 b). (46) Ep. 389 (PL 182. 595 b) : Vidi lUteras vestras parvo momento. sed non parvo affectu. Gceupatus eram tanta oeeupatione. quantum vel vos scitis, veZ

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In a letter to Oger, a canon, Bernard has to laugh at himsel], and beg Oger not to laugh at htm. For he began : I feel you rnay be annoyed or at least surprised that I answer your long letter with only a short note . But then he talks on at great Iength alI about silence in Lent, and how distracting it is to write, and that he is not capabIe of teaching Oger anything, unti] he realizes what he is doing, pulls himseIf up : What am I doingT It's a miracle if you are not laughing at me because I'm damning loquacity so eloquently that I've almest talked your ear off, and recommending silence to you by brealdng it myself with a great lot of talk (49). He defends charge of writing hirnseIf strenuously with elaborate excuses frorn the unkindly to hts friends; such was never his intention:

Believe the word of your lover. ne ver did anything arise in my heart nor eome Irom my lips that could dlsplease you. The whole trouble is that I have too much to do, so that when mv seeretaries don't get my idea very weIl and make the style too eutting, I cant check to see if they have written what I told them to write ... In the future. whatever they may write to others, I'Il go over the letters to you, and put no trust save in my own eyes and ears (50). Iv. Spiritual Presence and Mystical Experience

Dulcedo and Image Spiritual Presence

Bernard also, as we have seen, speaks of spiritual presence. It is noticeabIe that. exactly the opposite to Anseim, he extols it over corporeal presence when writing to those who are not really very elose or dear to hirn. This presence, he says to a nobleman who wishes to see htm, is indeed a praiseworthy good. yet not a perfect good. F or corporeal vision is brief, and we share it with the anirna]s. Therefore we should sigh after the joylu] vision of the eternal society, and press on in good works that we may attain it (51). One is suspicious of such littIe sermons, when one has seen how desperately he longs for his real friends. and how vividIy he expresses this longing. Spiritual presence is sweet, although he aIways prefers the actuaI presence of his friends : sweeter far it is to see and in thy presence rest . V/hen he writes that nothing can separate hirn frorn Peter the Venerable, that he is present with him as he goes to Rorne, Bernard is speaking of a reallty that survives separation, a presence independent (50) Ep. 387 (PL 182. 591 c d) : Haec dico, quia Nicolaus meus, imo ct vester, in spiritu vehementi commotus, commovit me, asserens se vidisse epistolam nostram directam ad vos, in qua voces amarudinis claudebantur. Credite amari, quia nec in corde meo ortum esi, nec ab ore meo exlortum est, quod aures vestrae Beatitudinis exasperaret. Multitudo negotiorum in culpo: est. quia dum scriptores nostri non bene retinent sensum nos trum ultra modum acuunt slilum suum, nec videre possum quae seribi praecepi. Parcite hac vice : quia quidquid de aliis sit, oesiras videbo, et non credam nisi oculis et auribus meis. This casts a eertain ambiguity on aIl of Bernard's statements about friendship; are they his. or inserted by secretaries of more amiable disposition than those mentioned above? Probably the eonventionaI expressions eoncerning the mutual obligations of friendship are eommonplace and conventional for that reason. They are omitted from this study, in any ease. as they teIl nothing of Bernard. Speaking of his secretaries. Bernard writes to Pope Innnocent, after expressing adesire to he ar frorn hirn : Sed proh dolor! ud opus seroi vestri in tota Clara-Valle scriptores non possunt reperire, satis dictum est a {ilio patri. (SI) Ep. 409 (PL 182, 618 a b) : ... mihi quoque jucunda foret tua praesentia. Sed licet hoc in nos humanae pietatis bonum laudabile sit, non tamen p~rfectum. Nam haec corporalis quidem est visio, et brevis, et nobis cum caeteani~antibus communis. Magis ergo ud illam aeternae societatis jucundissam tel VlSlOnem suspirare debemus, ...

tuus, quid pio pectori tuo id [to write to Bernardl suggessU : benedictus Deus noster, qui persuasit. See also ep. 390 (PL 182, 596 b c). - Ep. 96 (CPS, 593) : Dolens doleo, quod urgente diei malitia, et nuntio },estinante, plenum af{ectum exili cogor design are stilo et brevi chartula latam comoreherulere eharUatem. Note that affectus is paraIlel to eharitas here. - Ep. 88, 1 (CPS, 553) : Sed et nune quoque ita me novissimae tuae lteroe oeeupatissimum invenerw).t, ut ipsas etiam oceupationum eausas pro mei exeusatione longum fuerit mihi seribere tibi. Vix quippe illas tuas inter prandendum (nam illa hora mihi primum reddUae sur} perlegere potui. Vix has meas quantulaseumque furtim, raptim, anticipatis horis, breviter succincieque rescripsi. Quarum quidem brel'ita/em an aequo animo feras, tu videris. - Ep. 389 (PL 182, 595) : Redolehant illae litteme a/Fectum vestrum movebant meum. Dolebam, quia sicut afficiebar, non valebam I'escribere. Nempe multa die i malitia evoeabat. Convenerat enim multitudo magna [ere ex omni natione, quae sub caelo est. Ne oportebat omnibus resporulere : quia, peccatis meis exigentibus, in hoc natus sum in mundum, ut multis et multiplicibus sollieiludinibus conlundor, et urar. Hoc tantillum interim scribo animae meae : sed eum aecepero tempus, ego aeeuratius dictabo ~pistolam, quae lucidius aperiat diligentis affectum. - Ep. 390. 2 (PI. lR2, 597 a] : Heu avellor, abripior! non lieet ultra. Auocat diei malitia, revoeat tnrba supervenientium et epistolam poHus rumpunt, quam finiunt. Sed numquid quia faciunt ut pauds seribam fac~re poterunt ut parum diligam? - Ep. 201 (PL 182, 369 b) : Epistola quam misisti, affectum tuum redolet movet meum. Et doleo quod prout moveor non possum rescribere. Nec immoror in excusandis excusationibus, sciens quod seienti me loquor. Nosti, inquam, sub qua sarcina gemo : et gemi.tus meus a te non est absconditus. Tu vel'o pro schedulae brevitate affectum non aestimes, quem nulla sui prolixitate explicare posset oratio. Ep -122 (PL 182, 629 c - 630 a) : Non ignoro quidem quod in nostris litteris ad pos missis et brevitas et siceitas soleat esse molesta. Sed brcvem me faeit multa oceupatio, et modica devotio siecum. Indulgete mihi; ct nunc urgente diei malUia, ... (49) Ep. 89. 3 (CPS, 565) : Sed quid ego faeio? Mirum si non rides, quod ego, qui multiloquium tantopere damnare videor, in tam multa verba tam loquaeiter iam progredior; et dum eupio tibi commendare silen/ium. contra silentium per multiloquium pugno.

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of space and time, in fact the very union of the friends and the experience of that union with all its intensity, sweetness and fire . For friends cannot exist without each other : What shall separate us T Nor the height of the Alps nor the cold of the snow; nor the length of the journey, now I am present ... and with hirn. Nowhere can he be without me . This presence depends on both friends. T 0 Ermengarde, Iormer countess of Brittany, who had entered a monastery, he wrote : Y ou must see that you keep me with you; as for me, I confess that I am never without you, and never leave you (52). It is in the heart that a friend abides. T 0 become a lrtend is to be received into the he art. It is in the lriend' s heart that Bernard rests, more securely and more sweetly than in hts own. When Oger' s letters came to Bernard' s hands, they found Oger already in Bernard' s heart. The love of his friend is written in his heart by the finger of God, imprinted on hts inner being by the Spirit of God (53). There in the heart is the sweet memory - dulcis memoria - which never leaves htm, Ior it is the memory of love. Love itself brings hts friend to him especially when he is praying: because his friend, living or dead, is in the hand of God, nothing can take him away, for it is in God, whom they have with them, that they are present together (5,1).

Mystical experience
The presence of one s friend is experienced within, It is the experience of love; for not in extern al signs is love experienced. Bernard does not call this experience knowledge, but feeling, and he contrasts them : God lmours, I !eel that I love you. God knows, because He has given the love, it is His working in the heart. T 0 understand the strength of love. the power of friendship. one must have experienced them, feIt thern, not been ignorant of them. But this knowledge is obscure, shadowed, for the thoughts of the heart are hidden: one does not see, although one may taste (55). Speaking of the love of God. Bernard says that the soul learns to believe in His love because it feels that it loves Hirn; this is a pledge, a proof. ol areturn ol love :
Already, 0 good Father, this worm, vtle as it is, trusts that it is loved, for it feels that it loves : indeed, because it feeTs it is loved, it is not ashamed to love in return ... No one doubts that he is loved, if he himself loves.

(52) Ep, 277 (PL 182, 482 d - 483 a) : Quis nos separabit! Nee aItituJo Alpium. nee nivium frigora. nee Iongitudo itineris. Et nune praesens sum, in Zitteris his assistens illi. Sine me poterit esse nusquam. - Ep. 116 (PL 182, 263 b) : Tu ergo videris quomodo me tecum retinucris : ego ut verum {atear, nusqunm abs te absque te reeedo. (53) Ep. 11, 2 (CPS, 179) : ... per quem factum esi ut in eordibus vestris ego reciperer. Ep. 53 (CrS, 351) : Tres in duobus eonspicitis, quoniam obsque me esse non possunt, in quorum iugiter pectoribus requiesco, et quidem securius atque ~uavius quam in proprio. - Ep. 90, 1 (CPS, .567) : Cum tuae litterae in manus nostras venerunt, te in corde nostro qui eas miseras, inr'enerunt. Has quoque nostras nec me sine /e seribere certus sum, nec te sine me eon{ido lee turum. - Ep. 116 (PL 182, 263 a) : si legere posses in eorde meo, quod ibi de amore tuo, suo digito Deus scribere dignatus est! Cer te agnosceres quam nulla lingua vel penna sufficiat exprimere quod in intimis mihi medullis Dei spiritus imprimere potuit. (54) Ep. 144, 1 (PL 182, 300 b) : Minime quidem deserit me, quoeunque iero, Julcis memoria vestri : ... - Ep. 143, 3 (PI 182, 300 a) : Ipsa [charitas] vos mihi inseparabiliter jungat, ipsa me vobis jugiter repraesentet, horis maxime quibus oratis, ... - Ep. 390, 2 (PL 182, 597 a) : Actum excludunt a me non af/ectum. Ille semper tecum est, qui sui juris est; et teeum erit quamdiu {uel'il, ... This is translated by James : lt can control my actions but not my heart. This is all yours to command as you wish for as long as I am alive ... Ep. 143, 2 (PL 182, 299 c) : Nam quomodo ei praesens spirItu non sum, eum quo est mihi eor unum, ct anima una? Also ep. 65, 2 (CPS 391) : Meus ergo erat vivus, meus erit defunctus, me um in patria reeognoseam. Si quis est qui de! manu Dei possit emere, et a me illum separare valebit. - Ep. 143, 2 (PL 18~, 299 bc) : Propterea bono animo simus, Deum haben/es nobiseum, in quo et vobis praesentes sumus, quantislibet terrarum spatiis divisi a uobis videamur.

This is very like Anse1m' s conscius amor, although Ansclm did not ernphasize the obscrurity of love-knowledge. Some passages are almest Anselmian. Enter into your heart, and look into mine, and grant me as much love for you as you feel to be in you for me. Bernard' s own conscience is the witness to him that he loves. So he teIls his dearest brethren to learn from themselves what he suffers at their separation (56). (55) Ep. 108. 4 (PL 182, 251 a) : Crede ergo experto, emde amanti : ... Also Ep. 106.2 (CPS. 647). - Ep. 85,2 (CPS. 517) : Quod vero monimentum quod amoris experimentum a nobis requiris? Bernard. however, on the level (jf polittcal friendship, speak of experiencing the love of a friend in the help he provieles. cf. ep. 54 (CPS. 353) : ut ... {amiliaris amieus. amieum vos ... in suo negotio experiatur, - Ep. 28, 2 (CPS, 261) : In his [his brethren] expcriemur quanta vobis de nobis eura sit. And, in fact, in the letter to William of St.Thierry he gives as the only possible external proof of love, the help he has always given in time of need. Ep, 85, 2 (CPS. 517-519) : 0 serutans renes .ct corda Deus! ... quod diligam illum ex dono tuo et suo merilo, tu scis, et ego sentio : ... Tu. inquam, Domine. qui dedisti. scis quantum dedisti vel illi me, oVelmihi illum amare. - Ep. 53 (CPS. 351) : Mentiri videor. sed ei qui amici.tiae vim numquam sensit. qui virtutem eharitatis ignorat. qui non eredit mutitudinis credentium fuisse eor unum. et an imam unam. - Ep. 85. 3 (CPS, 519) : '" sentio quidem de munere tuo quod eum diligam; sed needum video in lumine tuo. si vel satis Jiligam. - Ep. 11, 8 (CPS. 195) : ... et sie gustato quam
-

1,1

Suavis est Dominus ... (56) Ep. 107. 7 (PL 182. 246 b, d) : Jam se. 0 bone Pater, vermis vilissimus '" tamen eon/idit amari. quoniam se sentil amare : imo quia se amari praescntit, non redamare confunditur. ... Nemo itaque se amari Jif{idat. qui jam amat. Ep. 116 (PL 182, 263 a) : Intra ergo eor tuum, et inspice meum, et vel lantum mihi tribue amoris erga te. quantum tibi erga me inesse senUs; ... -

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St. Bernard. also like St. Anselm, although Iess frequently. ernploys. the terms I am certain , I do not doubt . He is certain that his friend loves him: he does not doubt that he is loved even as he Ioves. Where there is any doubt. love is not sincere. He is certain, too, of the presence of his friend with him, and that nothing can separate them, not even bodily absence or death itseIf. With some Iriends. however. he 1001<s for proof. not. he assures them, that he doubts. but lest he should doubt; or again, not to remove doubt. but to give certitude, somewhat tenuous distinctions (57). But chiefIy Bernard ernphasizes the darkness of this knowledge as far as another is concerned. A man does know hirnself. Bernard is certain that he knows himseIf better than anyone else can. What he says of himseIf is from experience not from guess work . He knows that he is not wh at others say, and can affirm this securely because he experiences it very surely (58). No one lmows what is in a man but the spirit of the man hirnself. This sell-knowledge is, as it were, the refIection of God' s look into the soul, under his tremendous glance ; it is the souls eloseness to itseIf. the closer, the better known . Y et even he does not know hirnself wholly. Only God beholds the heart. T 0 try to weigh and dtstingutsh the relative intensity of mutual love is therefore rash: one can hardly be sure of oneself. still less of another. Perhaps. he says, it may be true that you love me more than I love YOU. but centainjy I am certain that you are not certain about H. This seems to contradict what Bernard as weIl as Anselm said of mutual consciousness of mutual love. Bernard hims elf feels that he loves, but has no idea how much he loves : 0 God ... that I love him by your gift and for his own merit, you know, and I Ep. 33 (CPS. 291-293) : Si quidem de integritate fidei. credo vestrae coniessioni; {amae et opinioni. de sanctitale; de af/ectu. quem erga vos me habere protestalus sum, propriae conscientiae. - Ep. 143, 1 (PL 182, 299) : Ex vobis perpendite quid patiar ego. (57) Ep. 420 (pL 182. 626 c] : Certus sum enim quod me diligifis; ... Ep. 143. 1 (PL 182. 299 a) : ... quod quidera et vos sentire pro me non ambiguo; ... - Ep. 178. 1 (PL 182. 340 a) : Fidenter loquor. quia fideliter amo. Nec enim sincerus est amor. ubi dubietatis scrupulus suspicionis faecem retinet. Ep. 154 (PL 182. 313 c) : Certus sis. homo Dei. minime prorsus amiei fuisse incuriam. non pigritiam. non negligentiam : ... - Ep. 90, 1 (CPS, 567) : Has quoque nostras [litteras] nec me sine te scribere certus sumo nec te sine me confido lecturum. - Certus is parallel here to con/ido. - Ep. 65, 2 (CPS. 391) : Cerlus sum quia nec locorum distantia. nec corporum vel mors vel absentia disiungere polerit quos unus spiritus vegetat. una charitas ligat. - Ep. 160, (PL 182, 320 b) : Quod dico. non quia de sanctitate dilectionis vestrae dubitem. sed ne contingat ut dubilem. - Ep. 420 (PL 182. 626 c) : In amieitia veteri novum quaerimus argumenlum non quod dubietatem tollal. sed quod certitudinem faciat. (58) Ep. 85. 1 (CPS. 515) : ... certe certus sumo cerIum non esse tibi. Ep. 18 (CPS. 219) : cerlissime seio ... - Ep. 11, 10 (CPS. '201) : ... cerlus experior ... - Ep, 87, 1 (CPS. 529) : Certum est quod eo ipse mihi nolior swn quam tibi.

fee!; but how much I love, you know. I don't . Since he himseIf cannot know it, he cannot express it, nor can his friend Imow it (59). Even if a friend does know it, God lmows it better. He who knows aIl our [oves, and who sends into us those that are good. He who alone enters the depths of the human heart. Therefore it is God. the Spirit of Truth. who gives to the friends His testimony of which there is no doubt but on ly certainty. the testimony of how sincerely they love and are loved. For he is the Spirit through whom that very love is poured out in their hearts. This, too, is the cause of love' s darkness; it is hidden like God Hirnself. deep in God' s own mystery. Moreover. it is measured by purity of heart. by perlection ; who can dare to elaim a perfect love, or even that he loves more than another does (60)7 There can be only the certainty of love, that is a blind faith in love. F aith is a term that has different meanings in Bernard' s letters. It has the usual meaning of faithful Irtend , with its impltcattons of trust. The union of faith and love is also not new, as, for example. it is repeated three times in one sentence in a letter that could have been written by anyone horn the ninth century on. But in his thought, faith and love are on two different planes. As we saw above, faith and desire go together, expressing our relation to God in this life; they are absence . Understanding and love. the fruit of faith and desire, are

(59) Ep, 87. 1 (CPS. 529-531) : Tu enim vides in [acie, Deus autem in corde : sub cuius tremendo aspectu si sollicite me circumspieio, certum est quod eo ipse mihi nolior sum quam tibi, quo propinquior. Ideo magis credo mihi de me videnti me, quam tibi opinanti de me quod non vides in me. - Ep. 85. 1 (CPS, 515) : Si nemo seit quae sunt in homine, nisi spiritus hominis qui ipse est; si sola in faeie videl homo, quia solus Deus intuetur cor, miror. nec safis mirari possum, quomodo quave ratione sie tuam atque meam ad invi.cem dilectionem pensare et distinguere potuisti. quatenus non solum de proprio. sad et de alieno senten/iam corde proferres ... Forte verum est quod dicis, ... sed certe certus sumo certum non esse tibi. Also ep. 11. 10 (CPS, 201-203). Ep. 85, 2 (CPS. 519) : [Deus] ... quod diligam illum eC\' duno tuo et suo merito, tu seis, et ego sentio : quatenus autem Jiligam. tu seis, ego neseio. Ep. 106, 3 (CPS. 647) : ... quantum vero. nec nos dicere. nec vos seire potesfis. (60) Ep. 271 (PL 182. 475) : Seitis quia diligo uos : sed quantum. novit Deus melior quam uos. - Ep. 80 (CPS. 495) : ... novit a/fectuum Deus omnium cognitor. bonorum immissor. - Ep. 382, 1 (PL 182, 585 b) : ... quantum diligam. ipse nouit, qui plus profunditatem humani cordis ingreditur. - Ep. 362 (PL 182, 563 ab) : ... quoniam quidem utrique nostrum indubUabile nisi fallor. testimonium perhibet Spiritus verilalis. quam sincere et diligamus vos et diligamur a vobis.; ille. inquam. Spiritus. per quem el diffunditur charitas ista in corrlibus nostris. _ Ep. 85, 3 (CPS. 519) : Neque enim seio si iam pervenerim ud illam. qua nemo maiorem habeI. dilectionem. ut animam suam ponat qui.s P:o amicis suis. Nam quis gloriabitur castum se habere cor. nedum perfectus? Ep. 116 (PL 182, 263 a) : ... neo si nos quidem minus. te vero amplius. amare PTaesumpseris. eo te nobis praeferre puteris. quo et uincere nos charitate putaveris. ( 0 Countess Ennengard).

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their eonsummation; they are presenee . The eyes of faith express a paradox in his thought. for faith is not seeing . Only the one who loves, knows, i.e. sees . wh ether it be God, who alone knows oue love beeause He alone gives it, or man, who knows, somewhat, hts own love. Another ean only believe in the dark - believe in one who loves hirn the one whom he loves must be his eyes . This is the one thing we can really know, the one in whom we believe : I know in whom I believe and I am sure; I know because you love me not in word and in tongue but in deed and in truth (61). The experience that gives this certainty is as intense as aburn. Love is a fire that the words of Guigo the Carthusian burn into Bernard' s breast, making hls heart grow hot within hirn, as though Irom the fire that the Lord has cast on the earth. These words are sparks from the fire that burns in the Carthusian' s meditations, so that his very words are burning and kindling. The context indicates that these words are of the love of Guigo for Bernard, - it is like the fire of the Lord, it is as the words were God' s. The friendship of Bernard and WiIIiam of St. Thierry is also a burning fire of love. whose intensity could be gaged only in the light of divine truth. For Bernard does not ever separate friendship love lrom the love of God. When, even in an earthly, worldly heart there can be enkindled some tiny spark, it is a heavenly love, and a divine gift (62). At times he speaks of the fire of lriendshtp as one that can grow cold, even die out, If any littIe spark of our old love still lives in you ... He even writes once, to Peter the Venerable, that their friendship

has grown cold, and that Bernard remains a realist.

he rejoices

it is to be again

enkindled

(63).

Dulcedo
Sweetness. like presence, is of the very nature of friendship. A friend' s words emanate sweetness, and great sweetness, the friend hirns elf is most sweet; he prevents Bernard with blessings of sweetness. His esteem is a sweet cup that Bernard would love to drink, if he deserved it. And the very thought of him is a most sweet memory. Other similar words express the same quality : gladness, glory. joy, delight. Serenity and tranquilltty give the tonaltry of this sweetness (64). Part of the sweetness of friendship for Bernard seems to have been the pleasentries exchanged. Are you joking? ... dorit make fun of me . Bernard likes Peter' s way of joking, however, arid, in return, send hirn puns on beatitude. T 0 another friend he writes :
I am sending you a boy to eat your bread and test your avarice. If tbis makes you sad, don't groan, he really has a smaH appetite, and wants little. I will be gratefuI to you if he comes back fatter in learning than in body (65).

if

---(63) Ep. 415 (PL 182. 623 c] : Si qua nostri antiqui amoris adhuc in te scintilla vivit. - Ep. 228 (PL 182. 397 ab) : Gaudeo quod recaluistis priscae amicitiae recordari, ... Si forte intepueram, ut arguitis, haud dubium quin oeloeUer recolescam, fotus vestrae viseeribus eharitatis. (64) Ep, 389 (PL 182, 595 b) : Legi et relegi dulcedinem. et magnam dulcedtnem, quae de vestris litteris emanabat. - Ep. 75 (CPS, 451) : dulcissimo amico; also ep. 406 (PL 182, 616 b); - ep. 4, 1 (CPS, 87) : dulcissimum caput. - Ep. 148 (PL 182, 305 d) : ... laetatus sum ... quod tantillum videlicet tantus in benedictionibus dulcedinis praevenire curastis. - Ep. 265 (PL 182, 470 b) : ... dulcem ... bucellam ... -. Dulcissima memoria : ep. 86. 3 (CPS, 557); ep. 104, 1 (CPS, 631); ep. 105 (CPS, 639); ep. 144, 1 (PL 182, 300 b); ep. 266 (PL 182. 471 c): etc. Memory can also be sad : ep. 415 (PL 182, 623 b); a sword in his he art, ep. 108, 4 (pL 182, 251 a] . Laetitia : ep. 1, 1 (CPS p. 3). Gloria, gloriari, gaudium. deliciae : ep. 11, 2 (CPS, 179) : Haee iam gloria mea, hoc gaudium meum, hae deliciae cordis mei, ... - Ep. 147, 1 (PL 182. 304 c) : three times he teIls Peter the Venerable that he glories in hirn : En teneo unde glorier ... litteras tuas ... Gloriar quod habeas me ... in memoria '" in gratia ... Glorior privilegio amoris tui, ... Also Refectus sum de abundantia suavitatis pectoris tui. Serenitas : Ep. 397, 1 (PL 182, 606 b), : ... tantae serenitatis participium. - Ep. 204 (PL 182, 372 a) : ... ipsa tamen serenissima recordatio tui ... in ea libenter immorer et suaviter requiescam. Cf. also ep. 65, 2 (CPS. 389) : Tune de purissimo placidi pectoris fonte talium credo limpidissimi eogitationurp rivuli ebullierunt ... (65) Ep. 228 (PL 182, 396 c) : ltane jocari libet? ... sed si ita luditis ut non illudatis. - Ep. 265 (PL 182, 470 b), - puns; ep. 402 (PL 182. 614 b)
to Baldwin about a scholar.

(61) Fa i t h : ep. 7, 20 (CPS. 159) : eum omni fidueia ... ; ep. 11, 2 (CPS, 177); - ep. 4, 3 (CPS, 93) : ... in fine et in fide tibi pollieeor.... Ep. 435 (PL 182, 636 a] : Frigeseente charitate, pauei hodie inveniunlur fideles. et quia omne eharum preliosum, fidelitas et amor domini N. qui fidelissime vestra negolia apud nos gessit. aretioribus vineulis gratiae e( benevolentiae debet astringi. Prosit autem ei, quoniam nos ipsum ... fidelen virum spirituali eharitate diligimus. (to the Pope). - Ep, 18, 2 (CPS. 223) : Si enim adhue absenles initiat fides et desiderium. praesentes prolecto eonsummat intellectus et amor. ... Intelleetus igitur est [ructus fidei. periecia eharitas desiderii. - Ep. 383 (PL 182, 587 a] : fides oeulata. - Ep. 387 (PL 182, 591 c) : eredite amanti. Ep. 361 (PL 182. 562 c) : ... hoc didiei ... a filus meis... quarum. verbis credo. sieut erederem oculie meis. - Ep. 384 (pL 182, 587 b) : Seio eui credult, et eertus. sum : seiD quia diligitis nos. non verbo et lingua, sed opere et veritate. (62) Ep. 11, 1 (CPS. 173-175) : Legi eas [litte ras] , et quas volvebam in ore IUteras. scintillas sentiebam in peetore : quibus et eonealuit cor meum intra me, tamquam ex illo igne, quem Dominus misU in terram. 0 quantus in illis meditationibus exardeseit ignis, e quibus huiusmodi evolant scintillae! Vestra illa sueeensa et sueeendens salutatio sie mihi. ut verum fatear, aeeepta fuit, et est quasi non ab homine. sed eertissime ab illo qui mandat salutes Iaeob, deseendere videretur. Cf. ep. 389 (PL 182, 595 cl. - Ep. 85. 2 (CPS. 519) : ... nisi forte qui iam in lumine tuo videat lumen suum. id est, in lumine tuae verUatis agnoseat quanta ardeat igne eharitatis? - Ep. 120 (PL 182. 265 b) :
minima scintiIIula. ccelestis amor. divinum munus.

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The Image
Behind aII that Bernard thinb of the love of friendship, although not often made explictt, is the doctrine of the image. His concept of person derives horn this doctrine. The ascent of love from the fIesh to the spirit. horn the animal to the spiritual. is an accent also of image-likeness. It is first necessary to bear the image of the earthly, and then of the heavenly. The heavenly image is in the soul, which moves, rules, gives life; hence it comes horn above, marked with the image of a higher nature (66). But the soul that is held by love of the world and of the fIesh - that which is moved. is ruled, receives life, and is earth from earth, - bears the image of the earthly man. lying prostrate in earthly things, thmking nothing of heavenly things. Man must therefore be transformed into the likeness of the Father in heaven with whom there is no alteration nor shadow of change : May you, my brethren, be transformed into that same Image horn glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. Evil is false love. dissimilitude. separation; which is uriion, vision, by which each knows love. true love. is likencss. the other in himseIf :

he would receive that Iikeness which as yet he has failed to receive horn Christ (68). Moreover. the image-concept i.s the ultimate basis of aII we have scen above of the union of Iriends, their mutual presence to each other. And the last text given above explains, perhaps, why presence meant so rauch to Bernard. His friend is to hirn a visible presence of God. a human manifestation of what Is hidden in mystery. But certatnly the friend himseH does not evaporate before the mystery he reveals, he is essential to it as its epiphany, as in turn it is the basis of his dignity as a person : he is the very face of glory and will be so forever. St. Bernard. then makes friendship a form of the spiritual life. its platonistic elements transfused with affective mysticism. But Bernard is too complex and too great to warrant a claim to give here a definitive interpretation of his concept of friendship. The fact that he did value friendship. however, is unmistakab]e and significant, and so too the fact that to hirn friendship can be caritas without losing any of its human particularity and openness to joy arid pain, just as the majesty of his doctrine of the Incarnate Word takes away nothing of his render love of the dulcis [esu. In this reconciliatton of opposites he is arealist. A. Fiske

When. then iniquity hast been removed. which forms that unlikewhich is in part. there will be union of sptrit, mutual vislon, mutual love.
ness

It is of God that Bernard is speaking, and of achaste and consummared love that is itseIf Iull lmowledge, manifest vision, lasting tmion, undivided society. perfect likeness. Love is the vision, love is the likeness

, j

(67).
The same terms are used of love of man. In a letter to Peter the Venerable. Bernard calls his love for Peter an image impressed on his interior being by the Spirit. Again. Peter is to hirn an exemplar, a mirror: if he could but contemplate hirn, a mirror refIecting aII holmess. he wouId become like hirn. And because he could 1001< on him, not. as we must now look on Christ. in the darkness of faith. but with a seeing faith , (66) Ep. 11. 8 (CPS. 195) : ... quia non prius quod spirituale, sed quod animale, deinde quod spirituale; et prius necesse est por/emus imaginem terrestris, deinde ccelestis. - Ep. 440 (PL 182. 637 b). : Non est aequum profecto aeque diligi quod movetur, et quod movet; quod regitur, et quod regit; quod vivificatur. eL quod vivificat; quod denique de terra et terra est, et quod desursum venit nalurae superioris insignitum imagine. (67) Ep. 107. 6 (PL 182, 245 c) : ... ponamus hominem in saeculo, saeculi adhuc et suae carnis amore retentum. et, cum terrestris hominis imaginem portet. incubantem terrenis. nil de ccelestibus cogitantem. - Ep. 109.2 (PL 182, 252 b) : Vos quoque, fratres. in eamdem imaginem transformamini a claritate in claritatem, tamquam a Domini Spiritu ... - Serm. in Cant. 82. 8 (PL 183, 1181 b) : Facta igitur de medio iniquitate, quae eam quae ex parte est dissimilitudinem facit, erit unio spiritus, erit mutua visio, mutuaque dilectio. On Bernard's doctrine of the regio dissimilitudinis, see Etienne Gi l s o n , Regio de Platon Ci Saint Bemard de Clairvaux. Mediaeval Studies 9. 1947. 108-130. - Serm. in Cant. 82. 8 (PL 183, 1181 b) : ... erit ad alterutrum casta. et consummata dilectio. agnitio plena, visio maniiesta, conjunctio [irma. societas indiuidua, similitudo perfecta. - Ibid. (1181 a) : Charitas dIa uisio, illa similitudo est. Gilson points out the dependence here of Bernard on St. Gregory the Great, and the dependence of both on I /oan. 4, 7-8 (G i Iso n , Theol. Myst. de St. Bernard, 172. n. 2). (68) CL ep. 111, 3 (PL 182, 255 c),; - ep, 204 (312 b). - ep. 324 (539 ab). - Ep. 387 (PL 182. 591 b) : ... quid in corde mev de amore vestro digilus Dei scripserit. quid meis impresserit medullis. - Ep. 265 (PL 182. 470 c) : Non. inquam, fruslra conspicerem virtutis exemplar. disciplinae summam. speculum sanctitatis : quodque minus adhuc a Chrislo didicisse me fateor. non incassum fide oculata perciperem. quam sis et tu mitis. et humilis corde.