BERNARD OF TIRON. - Benedictine abbot and reformer, b. in the territory of Abbeville (hence also called B. of Abbeville) ca. 1046 and d. at Tiron on 14 or 25 April 1117. After having attained, while still young, a high degree of learning, at the age of 20 he embraced the monastic life in the abbey of St. Cyprian of Poitiers. B. had been a monk for only a short time when he became prior of St. Savin. In this office he showed particular zeal for the strict observance of the Rule and was able to turn even his abbot Gervase away from his faint simoniacal sympathies. On the death of that abbot, in order to avoid election as abbot, he fled into the forests of Maine, where he joined others who were already leading the eremitical life there, but obedience made him return to the abbey of St. Cyprian, of which, not long afterward, he was elected abbot.
In his abbatial government B. had much to suffer on behalf of the monastery, which he had to defend first against the Duke of Aquitaine and then against the Cluniacs, who claimed ancient rights over St. Cyprian. This latter dispute had particularly painful moments, and B. was forced to abandon the abbey by order of Pope Paschal II. He thus returned to the eremitical life, but remained there only a short time, since he allowed himself to be persuaded by his monks to plead the cause of the monastery in Rome. Having obtained justice, he was reinstated in his office. But a new trial came to him precisely from the monks of St. Cyprian, who found the discipline established by their abbot too rigorous. On a new journey to Rome B. won the case; indeed the Pope proposed the cardinalate to him, which B. refused in order to return to the monastic life, but no longer at St. Cyprian. After some further attempts to introduce his reform in pre-existing monasteries, still encountering the hostility of the Cluniac milieu, in 1114 he founded the abbey of the Most Holy Trinity of Tiron (Eure-et-Loir). There he modeled monastic observance on primitive austerity; many flocked to place themselves under his guidance. The increased number of disciples required new foundations in France and in England, while generous donations came from lords and princes. The schools of Tiron, which lasted until the French Revolution, were much renowned and frequented.
Through the impulse given to the monastic life, recalled to the best traditions of observance and discipline, the movement begun by B. links up with the currents of the time desirous of a return to the ancient spirit of solitude and recollection, renouncing participation in the political and ecclesiastical controversies that had been a cause of much distraction for the life of the Cluniac monasteries. B.'s experiment succeeded; hence he deserved the title of "reformer" of the Order of St. Benedict.
B. shone not only for his activity, but also for his holy life, marked by the desire for solitude and austerity united with great charity toward his disciples. In his abbey he welcomed not only zealous monks who had come from other monasteries, but also persons with a very bad past, and to all he knew how to point out the way of conversion. The Benedictine martyrology commemorates him on 14 April.
Bibliography5 works
Ambrogio Mancone