A letter from Bernard of Clairvaux

Translated letter:

IT  was with great pleasure that I learned of your wish to strive for the true and perfect joy which is not of this earth, but of heaven; which is not of this vale of tears, but of that ' city of God which is enriched with deeply flowing rivers '. The only true joy is derived not from creatures but from the Creator, no man can take it from you, and compared to it all earthly joy is no better than sorrow; all pleasantness, grief; every sweet thing, bitter; every seemly thing, mean; and finally everything else which might give pleasure, weari­some. You yourself are my witness for the truth of this; ask yourself, you know yourself best. Is this not the very thing which the Holy Spirit is crying out in your heart? Were you not persuaded of this by the Holy Spirit before ever you were persuaded by me? Unless you had been strengthened and charmed by interior graces in comparison to which every sensible consolation seemed dross, how could you, a mere girl, beautiful and well born, have had the power to overcome the weakness of both your sex and your age, and to repudiate the privileges of your position and beauty?

2. But you have acted wisely. The earthly things which you have rejected are fleeting and of little worth, whereas what you are seeking now are great and eternal. Let me tell the truth and say more: you are leaving the shadows and entering the light. From the depths of the sea, you are coming into harbour; after a wretched slavery, you are breathing the pure air of a happy liberty, in a word you are passing from death to life. So long as you were living according to your own will and not God's will, according to your own law and not God's law, although alive you were no better than dead. While living for the world you were dead to God or, to speak more truly, you were alive neither to the world nor to God. While you were trying to live as one of the world under the habit and name of Religion, you alone had rejected God by your own will. But you found that you were not able to do what you stupidly thought you could: the world rejected you, but not you the world. So while you turned away from God, the world turned away from you and you fell, as the saying goes, between two stools. You did not live for God because you did not wish to, nor for the world because you were not able to. You were dead both to God and to the world. To the former willingly and to the latter unwillingly. This is what is apt to happen to those who make vows and do not keep them; who according to their profession are one thing and in their heart another. But now by the mercy of God you are beginning to live again, not to sin, but to righteousness; not for the world, but for Christ, knowing full well that to live for the world is death, but in Christ even to die is to live. ' Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.'

3.We will not discuss any more your broken vow and violated profession. From now the integrity of your life will not be under­mined by the corruption of your heart, nor will you any longer sully the title of virginity by your evil life. From now on there will be no deception in the name you bear, and the veil you wear will not any longer be meaningless. Why have you hitherto been called ' nun ' and ' Reverend Sister ‘1 when under the cover of your holy habit you were living a life that was not holy? Why did you feign by the veil on your head a gravity that your impudent glances belied? The veil you wore covered a haughty brow, under the outward guise of modesty you carried a saucy tongue in your head. Your unrestrained giggles, wanton bearing, good attire, were more becoming to a coiffure than a veil ! But under the leadership of Christ the old habits have passed away and all things are made new and you now attend more to the care of your soul than your body and adorn your life rather than your dress. You are doing what you should and, indeed, what you ought to have done long ago, for it is long since you made your vows. But the Holy Spirit who breathes, not only where he wills, but also when he wills, had not then breathed upon you. Here perhaps is some excuse for your former way of life. But if you suffer the fire of the Holy Spirit which now burns in your heart, that divine fire which enkindles your heart in meditation, to die out, you can be sure that there will be nothing else for you but that other burning fire which shall never be put out. Rather let the fire of the Spirit extinguish in you the concupiscence of the flesh lest (which God forbid) the holy desires which you have newly conceived be extinguished by it and you hurl yourself into the flames of hell.

Original letter:

Magnum est mihi gaudium, quod te ad verum et perfectum gaudium velle tendere comperi, quod non est de terra, sed de caelo, id est non de hac convalle plorationis, sed de illa quam fluminis impetus laetificat civitate Dei. Et revera illud verum et solum est gaudium, quod non de creatura, sed de Creatore concipitur, et quod, cum possederis, nemo tollet a te, cui comparata omnis aliunde iucunditas maeror est, omnis suavitas dolor est, omne dulce amarum, omne decorum foedum, omne postremo, quodcumque aliud delectari possit, molestum. Denique tu mihi testis es in hac re: teipsam interroga, quia tu tibi familiarius credes. Numquid non hoc ipsum clamat in corde tuo Spiritus Sanctus? Annon tibi iam ab ipso, priusquam a me, huius rei Veritas persuasa est? Quando enim tu, femina et iuvencula, formosa et ingenua, sic fragilem et sexum vinceres et aetatem, sic spectabilem et formam et generositatem contemneres, nisi cuncta quae sensibus corporis subiacent, in illorum iam tibi comparatione vilescerent, quae te interius et confortant ut vincas, et delectant ut praeferas?

2. Nec immerito. Modica, transitoria, terrena sunt quae despicis; maxima, aeterna, caelestia sunt quae appetis. Plus dicam, et verum dicam: tenebras deseris, et lucem ingrederis. De profundo fluctuum emergis ad portum; de misera servitute in felicem libertatem respiras; de morte denique transis ad vitam. Siquidem usque modo tua non Dei voluntate, tua vivens non Dei lege, vivens mortua eras: vivens mundo, mortua Deo, sive, ut verius loquar, nec mundo vivens, nec Deo. Volens quippe sub habitu et nomine religionis instar unius de saeculo conversari, sola Deum a te voluntate repuleras; non autem valens quod stulte volebas, non tu quidem mundum, sed te mundus repulerat. Deum ergo repellens et a saeculo repulsa, inter duas, ut dicitur sellas corrueras. Nec Deo itaque vivebas, quia nolebas, nec saeculo, quia non poteras, alteri quidem volens, alteri invita, sed tamen utrique mortua. Sic debet contingere his qui vovent et non solvunt, qui aliud foris ostentant et intus aliud appetunt. At vero nunc per Dei misericordiam incipis reviviscere, non peccato, sed iustitiae, non saeculo, sed Christo, sciens quia et saeculo vivere mors est, et in Christo etiam mori vita. Beati nempe mortui qui in Domino moriuntur.  

3. Ex hoc iam nec votum tuum irritum, nec cassam professionem causabimur: ex hoc iam nec corporis integritas animi corruptione infirmabitur, nec morum pravitate virginitatis titulus obscurabitur; ex hoc iam nec falsum nomen, nec vacuum velamen portabis. Ut quid enim hactenus nonna et sanctimonialis vocitata es, quae sub sanctitatis nomine, tam non sancte conversata es? Cur velum in capite mentiebatur reverentiam, et sub velo petulans oculus exhibebat impudentiam? Caput siquidem gerebas velatum, sed elatum; sub signo verecundiae sermo resonabat inverecundus. Risus immoderatior, incessus lascivior, vestitus ornatior, wimplatae magis quam velatae congruerent. Sed ecce iam Vetera, Christo auctore, transierunt, et nova fieri incipiunt omnia, dum cultum exteriorem interiore commutas, et magis vitam quam vestem appetis habere ornatam. Facis quod debes, immo quod iam olim fecisse debueras, nam olim iam voveras. Sed Spiritus, qui, sicut ubi vult, ita et quando vult, spirat, necdum spiraverat. Et idcirco forsitan quod hucusque egisti, excusationem habet. Ceterum si flammantem spiritum, quo nunc recaluit sine dubio cor tuum intra te, et in meditationibus tuis exardescentem ignem divinum iam exstingui permiseris, quid restat, nisi ut te illi servandam noveris igni, qui non possit exstingui? Sed exstinguat potius idem Spiritus in te concupiscentias carnales, ne forte ab his praefocato, quod absit, nuper concepto sancto desiderio, in flammas contingat incidere gehennales.

Historical context:

This letter appears to be addressed to a nun, nobly born, who had taken vows but failed to live up to them and indulged in worldly pursuits while apparently living as a nun.  Now that she has repented, Bernard encourages her to live the religious life.

Scholarly notes:

1.Ut enim hactenus Nonna et Sanctimonialis vocitata es.  St. Benedict rules that junior monks should call their senions Nonnus.  There is no exact translation for this word.

Printed source:

Translation by Bruno Scott James, The Letters of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, #117, pp.177-79.  Copyright 1998 by Cistercian publications.  Published by Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN.  Reprinted with permission of the publisher.  Original from Sancti Bernardi Opera, ed. J. LeClercq and H. Rochais (Rome: Eds. Cisterciennes, 1979), ep.114. 

Date: