Letters333 Letter CCCXXXIII. To CARDINAL G . . .2 To his venerable friend G . . ., Cardinal-deacon under the title of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, BERNARD, Abbot of Clairvaux, wishes health and joy. (A.D. 1140)
Letter CCCXXXIII. To CARDINAL G . . .2 To his venerable friend G . . ., Cardinal-deacon under the title of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, BERNARD, Abbot of Clairvaux, wishes health and joy. (A.D. 1140)
It used to be your custom to rise before me as often as I entered the Curia, and I trust that you will do so now. Do not think thac I am merely in joke, for there is a serious matter to be decided. At this very moment I present myself before the Curia, if not in person, at least in the cause which is referred thither. As you were accustomed to rise to greet me, so rise to greet my cause, or rather, that of Christ; for it is His, and it is His truth which is in question. Rise, or rather start up in wrath, against the man who disputes about the faith in order to destroy the faith, and contradicts the law in words of the law; whose hand is against every man, and the hands of all against him. This is Peter Abaelard, who writes, dogmatizes, and disputes, deciding exactly as he pleases, upon morals, upon the Sacraments, yea, concerning the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. After having disturbed and troubled the Church, he presents himself before the Curia, not to offer excuses for his errors, but to defend them. If you are a true son of the Church, defend her now who has borne you and nourished.
Against the same Abaelard.
To GUY, Abbot of Pisa, BERNARD, Abbot of Clairvaux, wishes a sound mind in a sound body.
I know that you have so much affection for me (as I for you) that I should with great confidence entrust to you my dearest interests; but it is with more confidence still that I entrust to you those of Jesus Christ, who is to be loved tar more than I. The cause is Christ's, since Christ Himself is in question, and the truth is in peril. The garments of Christ are being divided, when the Sacraments of the Church are rent in pieces; but His seamless robe is entire, which is woven from the top throughout. For this tunic is the unity of the Church, which does not admit of cutting or division. Man is not capable of dividing that which has been compacted from above, and made firm by the Holy Spirit. Though heretics sharpen their tongues like serpents, though they arm themselves with the sharpest weapons of the intellect, in order that they may disturb the peace of the Church; yet though they are the gates of hell, they shall not prevail against her. If you are truly her son, if you recognize the bosom which bore you, do not desert your mother in her peril, do not withdraw your support in the time of tribulation. Magister Peter has recourse to the Curia, that the authority of the Apostolic See may serve him as a wall and a rampart to protect the errors which he has taught and written, and in which he has impugned the Catholic Faith.
Viro venerabili et amico suo G. diacono cardinali sub titulo sanctorum Sergii et Bacchi, BERNARDUS Clarae-Vallensis abbas, salutem et dilectionem.
Secundum tuam consuetudinem, quotiescunque curiam intro, semper mihi debes assurgere. Verba videntur quasi ludentis; sed seria res agitur. Ecce ego curiam intro, secundum causam dico, non secundum personam. Qui personae meae assurgere solebas, assurge nunc causae meae, imo causae Christi: quia Christus est in causa, et veritas periclitatur. Assurge, imo exsurge adversus eum qui disputat de fide contra fidem, qui verbis legis legem impugnat, cujus manus contra omnes, et manus omnium contra eum. Hic est Petrus Abaelardus, qui de moribus, de sacramentis, de Patre et Filio et Spiritu sancto scribit, docet, et disputat, dividens prout vult. Nunc autem intrat curiam, postquam commovit Ecclesiam, et turbavit eam, non ut sanet contritiones ejus, sed ad excusationes excusandas in peccatis. Si filius ejus es, defende uterum qui te portavit, et uberaquae suxisti.
[Epistola CCCXXXIV]
GUIDONI Pisano, BERNARDUS Clarae-Vallis abbas, mentem sanam in corpore sano.
Causam meam propriam secure vobis committerem propter officium mutuae dilectionis nostrae: nunc autem tanto confidentius istam committo, quanto amplius ille diligendus est, cujus est causa. Causa est Christi, imo Christus est in causa, et veritas in periculo. Dividuntur vestimenta Christi, sacramenta Ecclesiae scinduntur: sed integra manet tunica inconsutilis, desuper contexta per totum. Tunica haec unitas est Ecelesiae, quae scissuram ignorat, divisionem non recipit. Quod enim desuper contextum est, quod a Spiritu sancto compactum est, non dissolvetur ab hominibus. Cum haeretici exacuerunt linguam suam sicut serpentes, cum omnes aculeos ingenii sui excusserunt, ut pacem Ecclesiae conturbent; tamen, quoniam portae inferi sunt, non praevalebunt adversus eam. Si filius hujus est, si materna ubera recognoscis, non deseras matrem in periculo, non subtrahas humeros tuos in tempore tribulationis. Magister Petrus ingreditur curiam, ut apostolicae Sedis auctoritas ponatur ei murus et antemurale ad confirmandos suos errores, quos scripsit, quos docuit, quibus fidem catholicam impugnavit.