volume one

BOOK VL
SECOND CRUSADE.
A.D. 1142—1148.
The Christian colonies, threatened by the Mussuhnans,
called upon the princes of Europe to assist them. The
bishop of Gaballa in Syria, accompanied by a great number
of priests and knights, repaired to Yiterbo, where the sovereign
pontiff then resided. The recitals of the Christian
embassy not only caused tears to flow from the eyes of the
chief of the faithful ; the misfortunes of Edessa, and the
impending dangers of Jerusalem excited universal commiseration
and dread. Cries of alarm were raised throughout
Europe. Eorty-five years had passed away since the deliverance
of the Holy Sepulchre, yet the minds of men were
not at all changed, and eagerly, as at the first crusade, they
flew to arms. In this instance it was principally the voice
of St. Bernard that excited the nations and kings of Christendom
to range themselves under the banners of the cross.
Born of a noble family of Burgundy, St. Bernard, whilst yet
in the dawn of manhood, had, with thirty relations and companions
whom his discourses and his example* influenced,
secluded himself in the monastery of Citteaux. He was
sent two years after to Clairvaux, a then unknown retreat,
which he Advified with his presence, and rendered one of the
most celebrated monasteries of Christendom. Many of the
most learned doctors consulted the wisdom of the abbot of
* Godfrey, who was abbot of Clairvaux after St. Bernard, has left us
the reason
a life of this saint, in which he does not speak of the crusade ;
of this is that St. Bernard was reproached with the crusade, and that his
panegj'rist thence thouf^ht proper to pass over this remarkable epoch.
We have several other lives of St. Bernard ; the best and most complete
is that which is printed in La France Litteraire.