BERNARD, archdeacon of AOSTA, saint. – Summary:
I. Life
II. Iconography and sacred representations
III. Hospice of the Great St Bernard
IV. Hospice of the Little St Bernard.I. Life
N. came from a noble family (a recent hypothesis makes him a member of the viscounts of Aosta) at the dawn of the 11th century; a tireless preacher, he was archdeacon of Aosta, and founder, or more properly restorer, of the hospice on the Mount of Jupiter, later called the Great St Bernard, and probably of that on the Column of Jupiter, later called the Little St Bernard. His feast is celebrated on 15 June.From Novara, where he was preaching, B. went to Pavia (April 1081) to meet Emperor Henry IV, who was about to take hostile action against Countess Matilda and Gregory VII, in order to dissuade him from such a plan; on his return to Novara he died on 15 June of the same year, leaving a wide reputation for holiness. He was buried in the church of the monastery of St Lawrence. A document dated 15 June 1424 shows that he was canonized by the bishop of Novara, Riccardo (1115–21); however, his introduction into the Roman Martyrology dates only to 9 August 1681. His cult was and still is widespread in Piedmont, Valais (Switzerland) and Tarentaise (France). It was introduced into the Proper of the Canons Regular of the Holy Mount of Bologna by the General Chapter of 1481 (cf. G. Grisostomo Trombelli, Memorie storiche concernenti le due canoniche di S. Maria di Reno e di S. Salvatore, Bologna 1752, p. 190). Pius XI proclaimed him, on 20 August 1923, patron of mountaineers, inhabitants and travellers of the Alps (cf. AAS, 15 [1923], pp. 437–42).
The attribution of B. to the ancient baronial family of Menthon and the dates 923 for his birth and 1008 for his death are due to a common forger of the early 15th century who passed himself off as Riccardo di Valdisère, friend and successor of the Saint in the archdeaconry of Aosta. His account is riddled with anachronisms and puerilities, and deserves no consideration.
No trace has been found of the life of B. written by his brother Azolino, so that the few reliable details we have about B. must be sought in the Vita (or rather panegyric of the Saint) preserved in two slightly different versions, the oldest manuscripts of which are found in Novara (12th–13th c.) and Aosta (13th–14th c.).
II. Iconography and sacred representations
St B. is generally depicted in choir canonical dress: rochet, mozzetta and archdeacon’s staff; often, from the 15th century onwards, he holds the devil chained at his feet with his stole transformed into an iron chain, an iconographic motif shared with some other saints, including St Bernard of Clairvaux. An anonymous author of the 15th century staged the life of the Saint in the drama entitled Mystère de s. B. de Menthon, performed several times at the Great St Bernard and in Aosta, which unfolds over three days and comprises 4,340 lines. Recently Henry Ghéon reworked it in his Merveilleuse histoire du jeune B. de Menthon, Paris 1924, performed the same year in Annecy.Literature: among the many ancient and modern lives of little critical value, we cite only those by R. Viot, Miroir de toute saincteté en la vie de s. B. de M., Lyon 1627 (Lat. vers., Munich 1652; Ital. vers. 1653); [G. Dorsaz], Vie de s. B. de M., Paris 1862; P.-A. Pidoux de La Maduère, S. B. de M., Lille 1923 (Ital. vers. S. Lesna, Ivrea 1931); id., s. V. in DHG, VIII, cols. 690–96; C. Mazzone, S. B. da M., Varallo Sesia 1925.
Particular mention should be made, however, of the recent works by J.-A. Duc: A quelle date est morti s.B. de Menthon, in Misc. di Stor. Ital., s. II, XVI (XXXI), Turin 1893, pp. 343–88; L. Quaglia, S. B. de Montjou (G. S. Bernardo 1936), in lithography; A. Donnet, S. B. et les origines de l'hospice du Mont-Joux, St-Maurice 1942 (a work of great critical merit); L. Quaglia, S. B. de Montjou d'après les documents liturgiques, in Zeitschrift für schweizerische Kirchengeschichte, 38 (1944), pp. 1–32.
III. HOSPICE OF THE GREAT ST BERNARD
The site on which the hospice stands is at 2,473 m above sea level in a narrow and wild gorge to the east of Mont Blanc in the Pennine Alps. It was known and crossed long before the Romans and was sacred to the god Penn, whence its name “Alpis Penina”, Poeninum, Summus Poeninus. The Romans consecrated it to Jupiter Penninus (hence the new name Mons Iovis, Mont-Joux, Plan de Jupiter, Plan de Joux, Monte di Giove) and erected there a small temple and two hostels (“mansiones”), improving the access routes. When pagan worship ceased at the end of the 4th century (cf. St Augustine, De Civ. Dei, V, 26), the hostels also fell into disuse, and there is no further record of them until the end of the 8th century (cf. Letter of Pope Hadrian to Charlemagne, Jaffé-Wattenbach, 2471), and the pass became unsafe. A new hospice was erected in the Carolingian period, dedicated to St Peter and entrusted to monks, probably Benedictines, but not on the pass itself, rather a little lower on the Swiss side, where Bourg-St-Pierre now stands. When the pass again became unsafe due to Saracen and Hungarian invasions (10th and part of the 11th century), St B. decided to build a hospice (mid-11th century) to replace the Carolingian one that had been destroyed, entrusting its care from the outset, it seems, to a community of Canons Regular (v.), which still exists and flourishes today. St B. dedicated the hospice to St Nicholas, but already in the following century the founder’s name was added to the titular saint, which in turn gave way to second place: “Hospitium Bernhardi, domus hospitalis s. Bernardi”. The work of St B. ranks among the most heroic initiatives of Christian charity and human solidarity: the numerous donations of real estate, already attested by a bull of Alexander III of 18 June 1177, bear witness to this, existing not only in the nearby valleys but also in Italy, Sicily, France, Switzerland and England (cf. Jaffé-Wattenbach, 12872). The provosts of the Congregation also resided in Aosta. The Congregation experienced alternating periods of prosperity and decline, but the saddest period began with commendatory provosts (1465–1586) and ended with its suppression in the Savoyard states by Benedict XIV (1752). The Congregation then regained new vitality on Swiss territory. The Canons enjoyed Napoleon’s favour for the welcome given to him in May 1800, when he crossed the pass with his troops. The Canons of the Great St Bernard have also managed, since the beginning of the 19th century, the hospice built on the Simplon Pass in the canton of Valais. Since 1933 they have opened the “Mission of Tibet”, located on the borders of Burma, Tibet and China with its centre at Weisi (Yunnan); since 1936 they have begun work on the construction of a hospice on the Latsa Pass at 3,800 m above sea level, a much-frequented transit point between the valleys of the Mekong and the Salween (Yunnan).In the hospice, besides a collection of sacred objects and vestments, there is an archive, a library (ca. 30,000 volumes; 17 manuscripts from the 11th century onwards, some illuminated; 16 incunabula including a 1486 breviary from Moutiers in Tarantasia), and a museum with rich collections of local character: archaeological (over 3,000 coins, Gallic, Roman and medieval, numerous votive offerings to Jupiter, etc.), entomological, ornithological and mineralogical. Also characteristic are the Saint Bernard dogs, larger than Newfoundland dogs, with long hair, short and broad muzzle, pendulous lips and ears, and extremely keen senses. They provide valuable assistance in searching for travelers lost in the snow; famous is Barry, who saved more than 40 people in the last century. The first records of their presence at the hospice date back to the 17th century.
IV. OSPITZIO DEL PICCOLO S. B. – It is located on the pass of the same name in the Graian Alps south of Mont Blanc, at an elevation of 2,188 meters above sea level, following an apparition. On this pass, called “Saltus Graius, Mons Graius, Alpis Graie,” interesting Gallic and Roman antiquities were discovered, along with a hospitable dwelling (“mansio”).
The Romans honored Jupiter here, and tradition points to a sacred column dedicated to the god, whence the medieval name “Columna Iovis, Mons Columnae Iovis” (Colonne Joux). In the second half of the 5th century, in memory of the translation of the body of St. Germanus of Auxerre (d. 448), a church was built on the hill in honor of the saint, to which a hospice was naturally added; this latter was restored from its ruins at the end of the 8th century (cf. the letter of Pope Adrian, cited above). It is likely that St. Bernard also thought of rebuilding a hospice on this hill, although no contemporary documents exist to confirm this. Certainly not by chance, Pope Eugenius III, on April 5, 1145, listing this hospice among the properties belonging to the Canons Regular of Verrès, calls it “domus Sancti Bernardi” (cf. Jaffé-Wattenbach, 8730). The Canons of Verrès had custody of it until 1466, when the hospice passed under the jurisdiction of the provosts, commendatory priors of the Great St. Bernard. This union remained in force until the secularization of the hospice in 1752 and its transfer to the Maurist Order. Among the modern rectors of the Little St. Bernard, the well-known Don Pietro Chanoux (Abbé Chanoux, 1828–1909) should be remembered; he served as chaplain and rector from 1860 to 1909 and was the ingenious creator of the Chanousia (1897), a garden containing over 2,000 alpine plants. Among his most valuable collaborators in this initiative, now unfortunately destroyed by war events and the peace treaty, was Prof. Lino Vaccari. Two monumental statues of the founder were erected on the Little and Great St. Bernard in 1902 and 1905 respectively. – See Pl. LXXXIX.
id., Ricerche e studi sui monumenti romani della Val d'Aosta, in fascicolo straordinario della rivista Aosta, 6 (1934), pp. 53–59, 72–75; id., Forma Italica. Regio XI Transpadana. I. Augusta Praetoria, Roma (1949), coll. 1–9, 53–63; M. Dellenbach, La conquête du massif alpin et de ses abords par les populations préhistoriques, Grenoble 1935; L. Blondel, L'Eglise et le Prieuré de Bourg-St-Pierre, in Valleia, 1 (1946), pp. 21–41; id., L'Hospice du Grand St-Bernard, ibid., 2 (1947), pp. 19–44 (accurate archaeological study of the ancient buildings); L. Vaccari, L'abate Pietro Chanoux, in Boll. del C.A.I., 40 (1909), 3rd ed., Perugia 1913; S. Vuillermin, Le Recteur Chanoine Chanoux. Sa physionomie morale, Aosta 1909; L. Vaccari, La Chanousia nelle sue origini e nel suo sviluppo (extract from the Yearbook, no. 1 of the Chanousia laboratory), Roma 1928; id., L'Attività della Chanousia durante i suoi quarant'anni, 1867–1937 (extract from vol. III of the aforementioned Yearbook), Torino 1937; See also CANONICI REGOLARI. A. Pietro Frutaz