Authorities
The principal source for the life of St Bernard is the Vita Prima, compiled, in six books, by various contemporary writers: book i. by William, abbot of St Thierry near Reims; book ii. by Ernald, or Arnald, abbot of Bonnevalle; books iii., iv. and v. by Geoffrey (Gaufrid), monk of Clairvaux and Bernard's secretary; book vi., on Bernard's miracles, by Geoffrey and Philip, another monk of Clairvaux, &c. A MS. is preserved, int. al., in the library of Lambeth Palace (§ xiv. No. 163). The Vita was first published in Bernardi op. omn. by Mabillon (Paris, 1690), ii. pp. 1061 ff.; it was included in Migne, Patrolog. lat. clxxxv. pp. 225-416, which also contains the abridgments or amplifications, by later hands, of the Vita Prima, known as the Vita Secunda, Tertia and Quarta. For a critical study of these sources see G. Huffer, Der heilige Bernhard von Clairvaux (2 vols., Munster, 1886),1886), and E. Vacandard, Vie de Saint Bernard (2 vols., Paris, 1895).
Among the numerous modern works on St Bernard may be mentioned,
besides the above, J. C. Morison, The Life and Times of St
Bernard (London, 1863); G. Chevallier, Histoire de Saint
Bernard (2 vols., Lille, 1888); S. J. Eales, St Bernard,
abbot of Clairvaux (London, 1890, " Fathers for English Readers "
series); ib. Life and Works of St Bernard (London, 1889);
R. S. Storrs, Bernard of Clairvaux: the Times, the Man and His
Work (New York, 18 93); Comte d'Haussonville, Saint
Bernard (Paris, 1906). See also the article by Vacandart in A.
Vacant's Dictionnaire de theologie (with full bibliography), and
that by S. M. Deutsch in Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopddie (3rd
ed.), vol. ii. (bibliography). Further works, monographs, &c., are
given s. "Vita S. Bernardi" in Potthast. Bibliotheca
Historica Medii Aevi (Berlin, 1896). (W. A. P.)
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