St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, was born in Burgundy, in 1091. He was at once a reformer of the monastic life, a preacher of the Crusade, a Doctor of the Universal Church, a worker of miracles, a peace-maker between kings, princes, and peoples, the oracle of Popes, and the champion of the Roman See against schisms and heresies. The mortal frame of the saint, consumed by penance and by sickness, could scarcely contain his soul on fire for the glory of God.

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