A letter from Bernard of Clairvaux, abbot (c.1149)

Translated letter:

To Sancha, sister of the emperor of Spain. 1. What happened about/in the receptionof the Toldanos monastery you know was not caused by me, since I was not there and was ignorant of what was happening. I do not, however, deny that it was done by our [people], even by the advice of many religious, with the connivance and assent of the bishop and of the noble lady, who founded that place within her property, publicly, by petition and will, as we have understood; nothing was done covertly. For they thought they could freely take the place which she who had founded it asserted was founded in the freedom of God without subjection to another church; the privileges, as they say, were in their hands. Moreover since the Carracedo brothers, as you write, complain that an injury was done to them in this, not heeding Solomon who says: “Do not restrain him who wishes to do good, but do good yourself if you can” [Prov.3:27], they oppose us in such a holy work. And since it is not fitting to fight with the servants of God, it was our advice to commit the case to your most able counsel so that with your authority and effort every unsuitable and unjust slander may be stilled and order restored in the house of God and remain in peace to his glory and your salvation. 2. And Brother Nivard, who is very grateful to you, has admonished us to trust you greatly in this, because of your special devotion to us, and also the good promise which he heard from you in the matter. If, however, they do not wish to acquiesce, contradicting your salutary admonitions or counsels, which we do not believe, then by the judgment of two bishops to whom those two places are recognized to pertain by parochial right, every controversy between them will be ended, whatever will have been judged or established by them in agreement, will be your affair to hold and moreover to maintain firmly. If you fear God, do not allow such good to be hindered, nor that good woman to be frustrated in her desire, nor those brothers deprived of the fruit of their devotion, nor God defrauded of the sacrifice of the reformed Order, so acceptable to him. We beseech you also for your new foundation, I speak of those of Espina, that you show them the depths of mercy, so that, sustained by your beneficence, they may persevere in the service of God and their Order.

Original letter:

Sanciae sorori Imperatoris Hispaniae. 1. QUOD factum est de receptione Toldanos monasterii, sciatis per me non esse factum, utpote absentem et ignorantem quid fieret. Factum autem per nostras non nego, consilio tamen multorum religiosorum, Episcopi conniventia et assensu, nobilis quoque dominae, quae locum illum in propria possessione fundavit, petitione et voluntate, publice, ut accepimus, et nihil in abscondito factum. Existimabant autem se libere posse suscipere locum, quem in Dei libertate, et sine alterius ecclesiae subiectione fundatum, ipsa quae fundaverat asserebat, et privilegia, ut aiunt, prae manibus erant. Ceterum quia Carracetenses fratres factam sibi in hoc iniuriam, ut scribitis, conqueruntur, nec audientes Salomonem, qui ait: NOLI PROHIBERE EUM QUI BENE VULT FACERE; SI POTES, ET IPSE BENE FAC, nobis in tam sancto opere contradicunt. Et quoniam servos Dei non oportet litigare, consilii nobis fuit ad vestrum potissimum consilium causam remittere, ut vestra auctoritate et opera omnis inepta et iniusta, ut aiunt, calumnia conquiescat, et ordo in domo Dei receptus, ad eius gloriam et vestram ipsius salutem deinceps in pace permaneat. 2. Nam et frater Nivardus, qui multum gratulatur de vobis, satis in hoc de vobis confidere monuit, tum propter vestram erga nos specialem devotionem, tum etiam propter bonam, quam audivit a vobis, de hoc ipso promissionem. Si autem vestris, quod non credimus, salutaribus monitis aut consiliis contradictores illi acquiescere nolunt, tunc duorum iudicio episcoporum, ad quos duo illa loca iure parochiali pertinere noscuntur, omnis inter eos controversia terminetur, quodque ab eis iudicatum sive constitutum concorditer fuerit, vestrum erit ratum habere et de cetero firmiter manutenere. Si timetis Deum, non patiemini impediri tantum bonum, nec bonam illam mulierem frustrari a desiderio suo, nec fratres illos suae devotionis privari fructu, nec Deum denique tam accepto sibi reformati Ordinis sacrificio defraudari. Obsecramus vos et pro novella vestra plantatione, illos loquor de Spina, ut eis viscera misericordiae exhibeatis, quatenus, vestro beneficio sustentati, in servitio Dei et suo Ordine perseverent.

Historical context:

Bernard wrote two letters to Sancha about the affiliation of the Benedictine abbey of Toldanos (epp.301 and 455). Gerhard B. Winkler (in his German translation of Bernard’s letters, Bernhard von Clairvaux, Samtliche Werke [Innsbruck: Tyrolia, 1992] 3.1218), explains that Sancha, the king’s sister, had written to Bernard at the behest of the abbot of Carracedo who opposed the new affiliation of Toldanos with Clairvaux which had been requested by Sancha’s niece, Elvira, the founder of the monastery, and the abbot Ferdinand of Toldanos. Bernard, relying on the word of his brother, Nivard, entrusts a resolution of the situation to Sancha, but makes it clear that the Clairvaux affiliation is God’s will. Winkler notes that the address of ep.455 to the king’s aunt is incorrect; she is his sister.

Printed source:

Sancti Bernardi, Opera, ed. J. Leclercq, H. Rochais (Rome: Cistercians, 1974), v.7.217-18, Ep.301.

Date:

c.1149