In all of history there is probably no other man who so dominated his times, so influenced its people and was so beloved by all as St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Deciding to renounce the world and enter religion, he chose the newly founded Cistercians, the strictest of monastic orders, bringing with him 29 other men and thus beginning the meteoric growth of that order, which 40 years later, upon St. Bernard's death, numbered 160 houses all over Europe. Stemming from his incomparable example and holy writings came innumerable vocations to the religious life and many remarkable "conversions" of prominent Churchmen to a serious practice of their duties--which changed the face of religion at that time. Abbe Theodore Ratisbonne, in this thorough yet popularly written biography, masterfully chronicles and explains in their historical setting all the extraordinary events and glorious accomplishments of St. Bernard of Clairvaux--the "Oracle of the Twelfth Century" and a Doctor of the Church.
