Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Abbreviations
- Chronology
- Preface
- Introduction
- Appendix to Introduction Deconstructing: Close Reading, Rhetorical Criticism, and Historiography of Persecution and Heresy
- 1 The Lord's Vineyard in the Twelfth Century
- 2 Monastic Spirituality and Literature: the Domestic Vineyard
- 3 Bernard of Clairvaux, the 1143/44 Sermons and the 1145 Preaching Mission: From the Domestic to the Lord's Vineyard
- 4 Henry of Clairvaux, the 1178 and 1181 Missions, and the Campaign against the Waldensians: Driving the Foxes from the Vineyard
- 5 Innocent III's Papacy and the Crusade Years, 1198–1229: Weeding the Vineyard
- 6 Hélinand of Froidmont and the Events of 1229: Planting Virtues in the Vineyard
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- Title in the series
3 - Bernard of Clairvaux, the 1143/44 Sermons and the 1145 Preaching Mission: From the Domestic to the Lord's Vineyard
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Abbreviations
- Chronology
- Preface
- Introduction
- Appendix to Introduction Deconstructing: Close Reading, Rhetorical Criticism, and Historiography of Persecution and Heresy
- 1 The Lord's Vineyard in the Twelfth Century
- 2 Monastic Spirituality and Literature: the Domestic Vineyard
- 3 Bernard of Clairvaux, the 1143/44 Sermons and the 1145 Preaching Mission: From the Domestic to the Lord's Vineyard
- 4 Henry of Clairvaux, the 1178 and 1181 Missions, and the Campaign against the Waldensians: Driving the Foxes from the Vineyard
- 5 Innocent III's Papacy and the Crusade Years, 1198–1229: Weeding the Vineyard
- 6 Hélinand of Froidmont and the Events of 1229: Planting Virtues in the Vineyard
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- Title in the series
Summary
At the opening of his Sermon 65 On the Song of Songs, Bernard of Clairvaux explains to his audience that it is necessary for him to preach a third sermon on Song of Songs 2. 15: ‘Seize for us the little foxes that are destroying the vineyard’. His first sermons, he explains, gave sufficient warning to his brothers so that they could guard against the three sorts of foxes who might ravage their vineyard, interpreted as the vices that could lead them astray on their spiritual journey in the monastic life. However, the abbot expresses his anxiety about the Lord's vineyard and its vines, which are not so secure. He feels that he must turn from inside to outside, away from domestic monastic matters in order to be of use in affairs of general concern.
I have examined one verse for you in two sermons; I am preparing a third on the same verse if listening will not be tiresome [for you]. And I consider the third necessary. For I think that what I have done in the two sermons is adequate for our domestic vineyard, which you are, for protecting it against the snares of three sorts of foxes … who are skilled and practised at representing evil things under the appearance of the good. Truly the Lord's vineyard is not so [well protected]. I speak of that vineyard which has filled the earth, of which we too are part: an exceedingly great vineyard, planted by the Lord's hand, redeemed by his blood, watered by his word, increased by grace and fertilized by the Spirit. Therefore caring more for [our] particular property, I have been less useful to the universal [vineyard]. For its sake I am troubled by the hoard of those demolishing it, the scarcity of its defenders, and the difficulty of its defence.
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- Information
- Cistercians, Heresy and Crusade in Occitania, 1145–1229Preaching in the Lord's Vineyard, pp. 78 - 108Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2001