ARNALD (ARNOLDO, ERNALDO), Abbot of Bonneval. – Friend and biographer of St Bernard. Little is known of his life. He was a monk at Marmoutier when, after 1138, he was elected abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Bonneval (Bona Vallis) in the diocese of Chartres: hence he is also called A. of Chartres. There he suffered various trials, for which he went to Rome, where the Pope declared his innocence. He enjoyed the esteem and friendship of St Bernard, with whom he corresponded (cf. St Bernard, Ep. 310: PL 182, 514), and whose exegetical method he imitated. He died after 1156. The Cistercian Menology commemorates him on 6 February, praising him as «a man renowned alike for learning and piety».
His writings are of exegetical and ascetical importance: 1) *De operibus sexu dierum* or *Hexaemeron*, of which the copy in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (ms. lat. 1925) bears the title *Paradisus animae*: it cites St Ambrose and St Basil. Its first editor, Denis Perronet, called it a «fulgid gem». 2) *Commentarius in Ps. CXXXII*: 5 homilies, a model of piety and sweet eloquence. 3) *Expositio super Isaiam* (unpublished; ms. 923 of the library of Troyes): a compendium of Jerome’s commentary. 4) *De cardinalibus operibus Christi*, formerly attributed to St Cyprian (cf. J. Huby, Une exigée faussement attribuée à s. Cyprien in *Biblica*, 14 [1933], p. 96): 12 discourses on the mysteries of the life of Jesus Christ, preceded by a pious Prologue addressed to Pope Adrian IV; of these, the seventh (*De ablutione pedum*) on the symbolism of the washing of the feet is noteworthy, echoing St Bernard (cf. A. Malvy, in *DThC*, IX, col. 34); a theory which St Robert Bellarmine and Maldonado (In *Jo.* 13, 7) have highlighted as belonging to St Cyprian (M. J. Lagrange, *Ev. Selon s. Jean*, 7th ed., Paris 1947, pp. 349 and 550, attributes to him, with exaggeration, sacramental efficacy). 5) *De septem verbis Domini in cruce*: «in them — he writes — Christ recapitulates all His doctrines» (PL 189, 1678). 6) *Meditationes* (on the Passion of the Lord), once published among the works of Cyprian. 7) *De septem donis Spiritus Sancti*, in 17 chapters. 8) *De laudibus B. Mariae Virginis*, a lively and devout sermon. 9) *Liber secundus* of the *Vita s. Bernardi*, written at the request of the monks of Clairvaux, erroneously attributed by De Visch to another author of the same name, who is said to have been abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Bonnevaix (Bonavallis) near Vienne. According to Vacandard, the work shows «une remarquable sagacité».
A. has the qualities of a delicate, eloquent and pious writer, endowed with profound learning. More than an exegete, he is a mystic yearning for divine knowledge and life.