BERNARDO of ALVERNIA (Bernardus de Alvernis, Bernardus Claromantensis, Bernardus de Claromonte). - Dominican philosopher and theologian of the thirteenth century. He obtained the bachelor’s degree in theology at the University of Paris, and subsequently became bishop of Clermont (1304–1307). An eminent defender of St Thomas, he wrote various Improbationes and Impugnationes against the critics and detractors of the Aquinate, Goffredo de Fontaines, Enrico de Gand, and Giacomo da Viterbo.
On the basis of cod. Vat. lat. 772, the Impugnationes against Egidio Romano on a Trinitarian subject have been attributed to him, apparently wrongly (edited by G. Bruni in Bibliotheca Augustiana medii aevi [ser. philos. et theol.], I, Rome 1942). His Thomistic defence deals chiefly with psychological and metaphysical questions. For the history of ideas, it is important to note that he attributes to St Thomas the doctrine of the real distinction between essence and existence. His polemical works were held in very high esteem by the other eminent Thomist, Capreolo.