Born: Early 12th Century, Morlaix, Bretagne, France.

Little is known of Ber­nard’s ear­ly life. Of Eng­lish de­scent, he en­tered the Ab­bey of Clu­ny, whose head then was Pe­ter the Ven­er­a­ble. It is thought Ber­nard spent the rest of his life at the ab­bey. At that time, the Ab­bey of Clu­ny was at the ze­nith of its wealth and fame. Its build­ings, es­pe­cial­ly its church; the serv­ic­es, re­nowned for their elab­or­ate or­der of ri­tu­al; and its com­mun­i­ty, the larg­est of any sim­i­lar in­sti­tu­tion. The ab­bey thus had a po­si­tion and in­flu­ence per­haps un­e­qualled since. Ev­er­y­thing about it was splen­did, al­most lux­ur­i­ous.

It was amid such sur­round­ings that Ber­nard spent his lei­sure hours com­pos­ing that won­drous sa­tire against the vic­es and fol­lies of his age, which has sup­plied some of the most­ly widely known and ad­mired hymns of the mo­dern Church. His po­em De Con­temp­tu Mu­ndi re­mains a mon­u­ment to an au­thor of which we know lit­tle other than his name. The po­em con­sists of about 3,000 lines in a me­ter known as Le­o­ni­ni Cris­ta­ti Tri­lic­es Da­ctyl­i­ci (dac­tyl­ic hex­a­me­ter). John Neale wrote:

As a con­trast to the mis­e­ry and pol­lu­tion of earth, this po­em opens with a de­scrip­tion of the peace and glo­ry of hea­ven, of such rare beau­ty as not eas­i­ly to be matched by any med­ie­val com­pos­ers on the same sub­ject.

Sources

Hymns

1. O bona patria
   • For Thee, O Dear, Dear, Country
2. Urbs Sion aurea
   • Jerusalem the Golden
3. Hora novissima, tempora pessima sunt, vigilemus
   • Clouds of Judgment Gather, The
   • World Is Very Evil, The