Bernard of Clairvaux and the Fragmentation of Charity

Abstract Chapter 6 turns to the application of Benedict’s Rule in the hands of the most representative of the Benedictine tradition: Bernard of Clairvaux. Framed by Bernard’s last major work De consideratione, a work of counsel dedicated to his one-time pupil Pope Eugenius III, this chapter presents Bernard as attempting to pull together an Augustinian portrait of Paul, Benedictine abbatial authority, and the example of Gregory to craft his pastoral theory and advice on balancing the “active” and “contemplative” lives. As in Gregory, Bernard holds that the caritas of one who rules over others should be guided by the desire to be of service to them and to promote their salvation. However, the chapter shows how Bernard delineates this variety of charity as distinct from the higher level of charity, the pure love of God (amor dei). This distinction informs Bernard’s controversial Liber ad milites temple de laude novae militae, where he imagines a Benedictine-informed rite for going to war.