ARNOLDO di BOHÉRIES. - A Cistercian monk of Bohéries (diocese of Laon, now Soissons), probably living at the end of the 12th century. He became known only when B. Tissier, the editor of the Bibliotheca Patrum Cisterciensium (t. VI, Bonnefontaine 1664, p. 138), followed later by J. Mabillon, Migne, etc., attributed to him the Speculum Monachorum, also called the Speculum Bernardi.
A very brief (PL 184, 1175-78) but substantial work, « brevis formula sanctae et bonae conversationis », this compendium of spirituality (which expressly refers back to the Rule of s. Benedict) offers advice on psalmody, spiritual reading, manual labor, and recommends, with particular insistence, examination of conscience, private confession, and—« summa philosophia »—the assiduous meditation on death. Its influence upon the subsequent monastic milieu was great.