Azione Romana

Letters149 Letter CXLIX. To the same (A.D. 1138)

St Bernard of Clairvaux († 1153) · Epistolae · c. 1120-1153

Letter CXLIX. To the same (A.D. 1138)

Bernard advises him not to press on so eagerly the affair of the Abbey of Saint Bert in.

I think that you are well aware how unwilling I am ever to do anything which may be hostile to your Reverence. And having this confidence I do not hesitate to make suggestions to you when necessary. With respect to the monastery of S. Bertin I could wish you to act less eagerly than you have done. For even if you could bring it to submit to you in peace and without any contention, I do not see how you would gain even then. For I should not suppose that you would find any pleasure in honour accompanied by such responsibilities. But now that you cannot obtain the submission of this monastery without great labour, nor hold it, they say, peacefully, you have a good excuse afforded you for retiring gracefully from the attempt, in the fear of causing trouble and strife.

Quam nolim fieri quod vestrae putem obviare Reverentiae, credo sinceritatem vestram non latere. Ea fiducia suggerere vobis non dubito, quod suggerendum videtur. De monasterio Sancti-Bertini vellem vos moderatius agere, quam coepistis. Nam etsi hoc vobis in pace subjicere, et absque omni contradictione possetis, ne tunc quid vestra referre quidem video. Neque enim crediderim vos delectari honore, cum tanto onere. Nunc vero cum nec absque magno labore vindicare vobis, praefatum monasterium, nec in pace, ut aiunt, queatis possidere: honesta vobis, ut mihi videtur, praebetur quiescendi occasio, timor inquietandi.

Samuel J. Eales (active by 1879; M.A., Principal of S. Boniface College, Warminster, in 1882), Life and Works of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, edited by Dom John Mabillon, vols. I-III, London: Burns & Oates / John Hodges, 1889-1896. Digital text: OCR of Internet Archive scans saintbernardlife00bernuoft, saintbernardlife02bernuoft, lifeworksofsaint03bern, word-repaired against second copies (lifeworksofsaint01bern, lifeworksofsaint02bern, LifeWorksOfSBernardClairvauxV3). Original text: Corpus Corporum (University of Zurich) TEI of the Patrologia Latina, via the CatholicCorpus mirror. Public domain in the US and Canada: published 1889-1896; translator active by 1879, an M.A. and principal in 1882; necessarily died before 1972. Latin: Migne, Patrologia Latina 182-183 (1854), public domain.

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