WHY ANOTHER CRUSADE?[1]
(About 1145)
Born in 1091, died in 1153; made Abbot of Clairvaux in 1115; refused many offers of preferment, but exercised strong influence on the church politics of Europe; procured the condemnation of Abelard's writings in 1140; promoted the Second Crusade of 1146.
You can not but know that we live in a period of chastisement and ruin; the enemy of mankind has caused the breath of corruption to fly over all regions; we behold nothing but unpunished wickedness. The laws of men or the laws of religion have no longer sufficient power to check depravity of manners and the triumph of the wicked. The demon of heresy has taken possession of the chair of truth, and God has sent forth His malediction upon His sanctuary.
Oh, ye who listen to me, hasten then to appease the anger of Heaven, but no longer implore His goodness by vain complaints; clothe not yourselves in sackcloth, but cover yourselves with your impenetrable bucklers; the din of arms, the dangers, the labors, the fatigues of war are the penances that God now imposes upon you.
- ↑ From a sermon given in part in the English edition of Michaud's "History of the Crusades." Bernard had been delegated by the pope to preach the Second Crusade, which ended in complete disaster to the army sent out by Europe.
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