Summary: The Early Career Of Saint Bernard

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The twelfth century brought about a period of reform in the Western Christian Church. Many individuals sought to move beyond the corruption that they believed to have befallen the church, both through heresy and though the infiltration of secular impropriety. At this time in history, men of strong faith had a desire to bring about a sort of spiritual renewal as a means of combating the problems that they saw in their society. This search for change was exemplified in the resurgence of interest in the monastic life and the creation of societies such as the Franciscans, who practiced their own unique from of asceticism inside of cities. Through examining “The Early Career of Saint Bernard,” and “The Rule of Saint Francis of Assisi,” it is possible to see that though these two individually distinct avenues of reform; they sought to change the Western Christian Church in very comparable ways. …show more content…
Bernard was born to parents who were seen by their community as deeply pious individuals (Ogg, 251). Growing up in this environment it is no surprise that Bernard was drawn to monastic life, as it was one of the traditionally revered and respected spiritual practices, which his parents surely approved of and celebrated. Bernard joined the monastic order at Citeaux with the directive to remove himself from the world and ultimately in the anticipation of drawing closer to God (Ogg, 252). The thing that attracted Bernard to this monastic order was the simple life of work, prayer, and self-denial (Ogg, 252). The drastically ascetic life of these monks that attracted Bernard was the very thing that startled others away from joining the order, as the way of living required of the monks was by no means an easy burden to bear (Ogg,