Letters62 Letter LXII. To Henry/ bishop of Verdun (Before A.D. 1129)
Letter LXII. To Henry/ bishop of Verdun (Before A.D. 1129)
He recommends to the bishop a woman laden with many sins, but now penitent.
To the Lord HENRY, by the grace of God, Bishop of Verdun, Brother BERNARD, Abbot of Clairvaux, health and prayers.
This poor woman, whom already Satan has bound, lo! these many years, with many and tangled knots of sin, has sought counsel respecting her salvation from me, though unworthy, and has been advised by me; but after many and daily wanderings this poor lost sheep should return with confidence to the fold of her own pastor. You will succour her with the more care and speed in her distress inasmuch as you know perfectly well that you will render a strict account of her safety to the Lamb who has died for her and has committed her to your care. It was our duty to correct her when wandering, it is yours not to despise her as a sinner, but to receive her as a penitent; and if her unhappy history which she has told me be true, to reconcile her to her former husband, if he still lives, or if he is un- \villing to receive her, to oblige both the one and the other to live in single life. Farewell.
DOMINO HENRICO, Dei gratia Virdunensi episcopo, frater BERNARDUS dictus abbas de Clara-Valle, salutem et orationem.
Haec muliercula, quam ecce jam multis annis, multis et perplexis peccatorum nodis Satanas alligavit, super statu salutis suae, nostrae parvitatis consilium expetiit: et tale accepit, ut post multum videlicet ac diuturnum erratum, ad proprii pastoris sinum profuga ovicula fidenter recurreret: qui utique eo citius ac sollicitius inopi ferret opem, quo se certius scit atque districtius de sibi commissa, Agno qui pro ipsa mortuus est, redditurum rationem. Nostrum fuit deviantem corrigere; vestrum sit peccatricem non despicere, imo poenitentem suscipere: et si vera est suae, quam nobis exposuit, infelicitatis historia; aut viro suo priori, si adhuc vivit, reconciliare; aut, si ille noluerit, sicut hanc innuptam, sic illum cogere absque uxore manere. Valete.