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Bernard of Clairvaux
History's Mysteries: The Children's Crusade. Perhaps the most tragic chapter of the centuries-long religious conflict between Islam and Christendom was The Children's Crusade. Explore the sad fate of nearly 20,000 children of the 13th century.
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his is an age like no other that has
gone before; a new abundance of divine mercy comes down from heaven; blessed
are those who are alive in this year pleasing to the Lord, this year of
remission, this year of veritable jubilee. I tell you, the Lord has not
done this for any other generation before, nor has he lavished on our
fathers a gift of grace so copious."
What was this opportunity, this gift of grace, lavished on wicked men?
It was a chance to join a crusade and receive indulgence for all past
sins. The preacher was Bernard of Clairvaux. The place was Vézelay.
The date was March 31, 1146.
St. Bernard had received permission from Pope Eugenius III to preach
a crusade. Europeans, after the Moslem capture of Edessa's "Christian"
fort, were nervous that Islam was erupting to retake the Holy Land. With
this in mind, Bernard said a terrible judgment faced those who did not
take up the cross of the crusade. In a field outside Vézelay he
read the Pope's encyclical and preached a stirring sermon. "This
is a plan not made by man, but coming from heaven and proceeding from
the heart of divine love," he assured his auditors.
To violent men, terrified of facing Christ's judgment, indulgence from
their crimes was a promise worth a great deal. Thousands flocked to join
the expedition. Some were perjurers, murderers and thieves.
In a letter written the following year, Bernard gave another reason why
men ought to travel to the Holy Land to fight. Jesus, he said, was accused
by Muslims of being an impostor, of having claimed to be God when he was
not. "Any man among you who is His vassal ought to rise up to defend
his Lord from the infamous accusation of treachery; he should go to the
sure fight, where to win will be glorious and where to die will be gain."
The Second Crusade failed miserably. It did not even retake Edessa. Bernard's
extravagant claims were justly criticized.
That Bernard preached the crusade and indulgences is difficult for us
to comprehend these centuries later. Of all the Medieval saints, he was
one of the greatest and is respected to this day by Protestant and Catholic
alike. More than most priests of the Middle Ages, he was grounded in Scripture.
He remains best known for his essay On Loving God, in which he
sets forth four levels of love. He points out that even the natural man
ought to love God with his whole being out of mere gratitude. "For
who else gives food to all who eat, sight to all who see, and air to all
who breathe?" The faithful have even greater reason to love God.
They "know how totally they need Jesus and Him crucified."
Resources:
- Bréhier, Louis. "Crusades." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
- "Crusades." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone.Oxford, 1997
- Durant, Will. The Age of Faith. New York: Simon and Schuster,
1950.
- Freemantle, Anne and the editors of Time-Life. The Age of Faith. New York: Time Inc., 1965.
- Peters, Edward. The First Crusade; the chronicle of Fulcher of
Chartres and other source materials. Philadelphia, University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1971.
- Treece, Henry. The Crusades. New York: Mentor, 1962.
- Various encyclopedia and internet articles.
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