Saint Bernard of Menthon

At the age of seven, he was given a tutor, a man distinguished by his talents and virtues; the pious Germa in help Germain Relative and travel companion of Cassian in Egypt and Rome. ed him make great progress in the sciences; this wise man proved himself worthy of being the guardian angel of this child of blessing. His initial studies being advanced, his parents deemed it appropriate to send him to Paris, under the guidance of his tutor, to pursue more extensive and solid studies; he was only fourteen years old when he arrived in that city. He completed his philosophy course, and then devoted himself with great application to the study of law and especially theology; always docile to the wise advice of his guide, faithful to the impressions of that holy religion which filled all his thoughts, he knew how to shelter his virtue from all seductions.

The sight of the disorders and the frightful ravages that vice caused among the young students of his age revolted his innocent and pure heart; surrounded by perils, suspended on the edge of an abyss, his gaze was lifted toward heaven; it was then that he confided to his tutor the keen desire he felt to enter the ecclesiastical career to further flee the corruption of the century. His tutor, without however opposing his design, made him observe that he should decide nothing in this regard without having first, in such an important matter, consulted God, his director, prudent persons, and his own inclinations. Bernard followed this advice, and, on the advice of his director, he consulted God during the three years he studied theology.

Such a long trial, far from discouraging him, only increased his inclination and his fervor; then he formed the resolution to live only for heaven and to seek in the sanctuary a secure asylum for his virtue: he frequented the sacraments twice a month; he distanced himself from the pleasures and entertainments permitted to young men of his rank; he always kept in mind the piety and science that are necessary for a priest. His director finally declared to him that the state to which God was calling him was the priesthood and that his salvation was attached to it. This decision fixed his vocation forever; he immediately made a vow of virginity and to enter the ecclesiastical state; his tutor, who shared his designs and who had formed the resolution to embrace the religious state, strengthened Bernard in his vocation; and so as not to omit anything that could ensure their choice, they prayed to Saint Nicholas to be the protector of their enterprise.

However, Bernard's parents, unable to bear a longer absence of their only son, recalled him to the castle of Menthon; the father, in overseeing his education, had intended to make him an accomplished gentleman, capable of maintaining a high rank and the glory of his family; the heir to his name and fortune was to be a great man, according to the ideas of the time. Bernard, who knows that obedience is the first virtue of a well-born child, returns without hesitation to the bosom of his family.

Arrived at the castle of Menthon, he tastes with delight the pleasure of being back with his family. All the nobility of the neighborhood came to take part in the celebration, everyone hastened to welcome a young man to whom so many interests were attached; they gave themselves over with transport to the amusements, to the naive pleasures of that age. We know what the courtesy, the gaiety, and all the amiable follies that embellished the festivities of an old Gothic manor were. Bernard, who had renounced the pleasures of the world, was little sensitive to the rejoicings that his return caused, so his father could not help but make him feel his indifference, and as if to help him recover from the fatigues of the journey which he used as a pretext on this occasion, and with the intention of making him more joyful, he declares his designs to him: "My son," he said to him, "it is time to settle your fate and to relieve me of the fatigues of a painful administration: you are going to be the consoler of my old age; it is on you that all my happiness depends; it is you who must perpetuate my family, of which you are the only hope. You must therefore decide to conclude soon an honorable alliance that I have arranged for you."

At this speech, trouble takes hold of young Bernard; he throws himself at his father's knees, begging him not to impose upon him engagements that frighten him.

Out of consideration for his father's heart, he does not dare to reveal his soul to him; he is content to be surprised by it; he excuses himself on account of his youth, and the keen desire he had to travel for his instruction provides him with a plausible motive; but the Baron of Menthon, instead of letting himself be softened, flies into a rage.

[By a] divine force; unable to leave through the doors which were all locked, he escapes through a window of his room, breaking an iron bar that was obstructing him. The window through which his escape took place is still shown today. From there, wandering at random, he arri Aoste Principal city of the saint's activity and cult. ves, after a few days of walking, at the gates of the cit Pierre de la Val-d'Isère Archdeacon of Aosta who welcomed Bernard after his flight. y of Aosta, where he presents himself to the venerable Peter of Val-d'Isère, archdeacon, who received him with much kindness and charity; he had the happiness of meeting another father in this personage of high holiness.

This flight, which had put Bernard at rest, did not produce the same effect in his father's castle; the officers who went in the morning to dress him, finding the door locked, were forced to break it down.

Instead of a spouse who was being sought, they found a letter addressed to his father, in which he explains that he would be unworthy of being called his son if he concealed his vocation from him; that if he owes him his education, he owes the first grace of it to God; that His divine will must be listened to when it speaks.

He declares to him the vow of chastity that he made in Paris, begging him not to blame him if he leaves everything to follow God; that he abandons his fortune to follow that of Providence; that he abandons his spouse, so as not to fail in his word, having promised fidelity to the cross; he ends thus:

"I conjure my charitable mother to agree with you to the resolutions of my heart, since I am only distancing myself from you to find you all again one day in the blessed eternity."

We leave to the reader the care of guessing the trouble that this terrible news caused in the castle; we will only say, in a few words, the resentment that the Baron of Miolans felt, and how sensitive he was to an affront of which the Lord of Menthon was not at all guilty; it is reported that he would have taken vengeance by force of arms if Marguerite, throwing herself at her father's feet, had not interceded to obtain his pardon; and if she had not herself chosen Jesus Christ as her spouse, in a convent in the Dauphiné.

However, the holy fugitive took great care to keep his country and family secret in Aosta; he even changed his name. Whether Bernard had confided the secret of his noble origin to the archdeacon, or whether the wise old man respected the mysterious silence of the young stranger, it is certain that he knew how to appreciate the treasure that heaven had entrusted to him. He took it upon himself to cultivate this young plant; he found consolation in forming a subject endowed with such happy dispositions and whose glorious career he seemed to foresee. In the shadow of the sanctuary, this new Samuel breathed the calm of the peace that the world could not give him. Entirely devoted to recollection, prayer, and study, and docile to the lessons of the virtuous archdeacon, he did not cease to adorn his beautiful soul with the knowledge and virtues required by the priesthood, to which he was soon raised. Pierre de la Val-d'Isère often spoke to the canons of the virtues and talents of the stranger; charmed by his merits, they wished to receive him among them and obtained a canonry for him.

The zeal and talents of Bernard called him to apostolic functions; it would have been difficult for him to contain within himself the divine fire that consumed him. His labors in the work of the missions were not long in being accompanied by the most abundant and happy fruits. His benefactor, the venerable archdeacon, having died, Bernard was elected to succeed him in this dignity. The Bishop of Aosta, who also knew all his merit and prudence, desiring to rely on him for the conduct of his diocese, appointed him vicar general; this new employment made all his zeal shine forth, as well as what a strong soul inspired by the love of God can do; soon the Valley found itself renewed by his care. His apostolic labors extended even into the dioceses of Novara, Sion in Valais, Tarentaise, and Geneva; everywhere one sees him deploying his indefatigable zeal, and everywhere his prodigious efforts obtain the most happy successes.

Persuaded that vices never have more power than under the reign of ignorance, the source of all disorders, he organized public instruction, which was very neglected in this country. Bernard gathered worthy and capable men in the city; he founded schools in the countryside; he made it a duty to accept for this mission only virtuous and educated men; through his assiduous visits, he re-established the respect due to churches and restored ecclesiastical discipline through the observance of the canons and the piety of which he himself gave the example.

While this holy man was thus marking each day with some good works, he learned of the disasters that idolatry was causing very frequently in the Alps, by attacking travelers and pilgrims who were traveling to the tombs of the holy Apostles, via the two Roman roads that existed.

One of these roads established communication between the Aosta Valley and the upper Tarentaise, by cutting through the Graian Alps by the mountain called Colonne-Joux, because of a column consecrated to the cult of Jupiter. The other road crossed the Pennine Alps and led into the Valais, through a narrow and difficult pass named Mont-Joux. On this mountain Mont-Joux Alpine summit where Bernard founded his principal hospice. existed an ancient pagan temple in which a statue of Jupiter-Penninus was still worshipped; Olympus, driven out from everywhere, had taken refuge on this last rampart where it believed itself impregnable.

Travelers who escaped the violence of storms and the rigors of the cold, as well as the cruelty of brigands, descended to the city half-dead from fatigue and terror and painted a frightening picture of the dangers they had run and the horrible cruelties experienced by their brothers who were victims of the monsters that inhabited these places.

Bernard could no longer resist the movements of his heart; inspired by this sublime religion, which knows no obstacle when there are tears to wipe away, he took the resolution to go and plant the cross at the summit of the Alps and to set up a hospitable tent there. The undertaking was perilous; it was a matter of conquering an almost inaccessible desert and humanizing the ferocious inhabitants of this last lair of idolatry. We know how difficult it is to extirpate old prejudices, especially when ignorance and fanaticism are linked to an infamous greed; our Saint did not let himself be discouraged by all these difficulties; his great confidence in Providence smoothed all paths for him; he even made a sacrifice of his own life.

We report, according to Richard of Val-d'Isère, successor to Saint Bernard, who was a witness to his miracles in the Alps, how he brought a remedy to so many evils. "It was following a mission that Saint Bernard executed his design; after having left at the foot of the mountain the bishop, the clergy, and the people who had come there in procession, he climbed accompanied by nine French pilgrims who had been cruelly mistreated during their passage through the Alps, where a brigand called Procus, a worshipper of the id Procus Idolatrous brigand and magician struck down by the saint. ol and nicknamed the Giant because of the greatness of his stature, had just snatched one of their companions from them, as if by right of tithe. Arrived near the idol, at the foot of which was the Giant, this monster of cruelty showed himself in the form of a dragon ready to devour them; but the Saint, having made the sign of the cross, undertook to strike him down, and full of an intrepid zeal and a holy confidence, he threw his stole around his neck, which immediately changed into an iron chain, except for the two ends that he held in his hand. It is thus that a zeal accompanied by prayer and confidence in God disarms hell." The companions of Saint Bernard immediately put him to death. The two ends of Saint Bernard's stole are still kept in the treasury of relics of the Abbey of Saint-Maurice, in Valais; hence this custom of seeing Saint Bernard represented everywhere holding the demon chained. The body of this monster of iniquity was placed in a cave near the monastery; for, while digging the foundations of the church that exists today, a stone in the shape of a sepulcher was unearthed, which bore this epitaph: Here lies a magician, called Procus, minister of the demon.

But our Saint, little content with his victories if he could not secure their fruits and ensure the safety of these two mountains, believed it necessary to establish there a secure asylum for travelers, and with this intention, he laid, in the year 902, the foundations of the two hospices that are still there today, called by his name: the Great and the Little Saint Bernard.

The savings he made from his benefice, and the pious liberalities of the Bishop of Aosta and several other virtuous persons, provided him with considerable sums with which he soon put the two houses in a state to receive and lodge all travelers. He had them inhabited and served by religious, under the title and rule of the Canons Regu lar of Saint Augustine, as they still chanoines réguliers de saint Augustin Order under which Bertrand united his canons. exist today. The two houses established on the ruins of idolatry appeared, in the judgment of everyone, to be of such great advantage for the safety and convenience of travelers that, even during his lifetime, he was given the glorious name of Apostle of the Alps and father of the poor. Idolatry could not hold out against so much charity and so many miracles; he even converted to Jesus Christ a rich man named Polycarp, who had raised a carbuncle to Jupiter on the Graian Alps.

In a few years, the pious cenobites of Saint Augustine made the name of Bernard blessed throughout all of Europe; the gratitude of travelers was not limited to sterile admiration: the princes of the Church and the great of the earth wished to associate themselves with the merit of such a great work, to offer Bernard the means to perpetuate this establishment of charity in these places where an almost perpetual winter reigns.

The high opinion held of his merit and holiness no longer allowed him to live in obscurity; his great reputation became for the Saint the cause of a rather singular trial: pilgrims returning from Rome passed through Menthon, where they were well received; conversation began after supper; the Baron of Menthon questioned the strangers about the curious things they had observed on their journey; they explained to him what they had seen of most interest, and in particular they informed him that the Alpine route was beginning to be well-traveled; that the Grand Vicar of Aosta provided all travelers with aid of every kind, with the most admirable charity; that they themselves had been very well received in the hospital houses he had built at the highest point of the Colonne-Joux; in a word, that the person was everywhere regarded as a just man and a saint; that he had even performed wonders by overturning an idol with a sign of the cross, by felling a giant, and by forbidding the demon from continuing to cause desolation in that country; that finally he silence that the pen struggles to trace, the heart alone will be able to render.

However, the Baron of Beaufort, who was present at this touching scene, fearing unfortunate consequences for paternal tenderness, spoke up, proposing to the father as well as to the archdeacon a means of consoling them, by suggesting they ask for a bishopric for the Apostle of the Alps; the Saint replied to him that the burdens and especially the brilliant dignities of the Church made him tremble and that he would always refuse, as he had already refused the bishopric of Aosta, which had been offered to him by the bishop himself. The Saint thanked his parents for all the most obliging offers they made him; only, as he wished to make the two establishments he had founded prosper, he asked them only to help him with their fortune to increase the income of his hospitals, declaring to them the vow he had made never to change his state or his country.

After having given, for a few days, free rein to the outpouring of their feelings, the father and mother of Saint Bernard returned to the castle of Menthon, admiring the ways of Providence and blessing God like the old man Simeon, when he had seen the object of his long desires; they returned full of joy and consolation to their ancient home. Henceforth, complaint will no longer rise from the depths of their hearts; they will not cease to unite their voices to celebrate the benefits of the Lord; too happy to have a Saint in their family, they will strive to imitate his virtues.

Meanwhile, Bernard continued his work and applied himself to perfecting his undertaking; his most assiduous care was applied to forming disciples whose zeal and devotion would be sheltered from slackening and all vicissitudes. He traveled alternately from one to the other of his two monasteries, to direct his brethren, to console them, and to share their labors. His presence alone was for them the most effective of all lessons. He also took great care to follow the regulations and wise constitutions that give stability to establishments and perpetuate their happy fruits. Bernard spoke the language of faith to docile hearts; the divine fire that consumed him passed into the souls of his dear hospitallers.

While Bernard was working with such zeal to strengthen his work, he received the news of the death of his parents; it was Germain, his old friend, who was tasked with informing him of this loss.

This news deeply touched our Saint; but he moderated his grief upon learning that they had died in such a way as to live with the Lord; he also knew how to resign himself to the will of God; he did not, however, fail to ask all his priests to offer the holy sacrifice of the Mass for a year for the repose of their souls.

Having nothing left that could attach him to the earth, Saint Bernard gave himself up more than ever to the care of his hospitals. The considerable sums that his parents' heirs sent him, and the funds assigned to him from all sides, even contributed to graciously receiving all travelers. In the meantime, an English gentleman, curious to see for himself all that public rumor was spreading, passed through these hospitals, made, in gratitude for the charity with which he was received, a cession of all he possessed, and ended by entering the Order.

Despite the Saint's particular attachment to his establishments, his ardent zeal for truth and religion pushed him to leave for Lombardy, where heresies had manifested; success crowned the enterprise; he obtained the conversion of the heretics. It was then that, foreseeing that he needed the confirmation of the Holy See to ensure the existence of his hospitals, he went to Rome in the year 996. Pope Gregory V received him with the tenderest affection and granted him several privileges; he permitted him, among other things, to receive novices for religious profession to perp etuate his Grégoire V Legitimate pope and contemporary of Saint Nilus. nascent congregation.

Upon his return to Mont-Joux, Bernard studied for nearly nine years to form himself in piety, science, and above all in the practice of charity, a quantity of virtuous subjects who presented themselves for the novitiate; he represented to them with kindness and insinuating sweetness that, being destined by their state as hospital canons to spend their days lodging and helping strangers, charity should be their continuous study. He gave them the example in everything: he received passersby and served them himself; he had above all a very special care for the sick.

However, as his strength began to wane, he felt the end of his career approaching; but God, who delights in making known those who seek most to hide themselves, reserved for him another glory before his death. In a fairly significant city, two lords of Novara, distinguis hed be Novare City of which Gaudentius is the bishop and patron saint. nefactors of his hospices, had a dispute between them that could have led to their ruin; our Saint, having learned of this, did not hesitate, despite his age and weakness, to go and reconcile them; he still had the good fortune to succeed on this occasion. He even preached in that city, at the monastery of Saint-Laurent, with marvelous strength and unction. As he was preparing to return to his hospices, he fell ill; he immediately had some of his religious brothers called, who came to his side. He then gave them his final advice, recommending that they flee all novelty in matters of religion, remain inviolably attached to the chair of Saint Peter, and regard hospitality as a sacred duty that they could not neglect without committing a crime; he even forbade them from ever allowing any inn to be built on the mountain, because it would be directly opposed to his last will and would prevent a good work such as hospitality; he further recommended the exact observance of the Rule of Saint Augustine, which he had given them, and that his body be carried to the monastery to be buried in the burial place of travelers. Then he asked for the last sacraments, which he received with admirable fervor and piety. He then recited the penitential psalms, and, seeing the angels descending to meet him, he rendered his spirit to God to be associated with their happiness, on May 28 of the year 1008, at the age of eighty-five, in the monastery of Saint-Laurent, in Novara, in the Milanese.

According to these provisions, his modest inheritance belonged to his Congregation and his body was to rest in the burial place of the hospices; but the Benedictines of Novara retained the holy relic in their monastery, which was later ruined by Charles V in 1552. From there, the body of the Blessed one was transferred to the cathedral church of Novara, where it is kept with great veneration. His head is at Mont-Joux, in the diocese of Aosta, in the monastery that bears his name.

Scarcely had he left the earth when the admiration and gratitude of the people awarded him a religious cult, authorized moreover by incontestable prodigies and by the approval of the Church; Pope Innocent XI had him inscribed in the catalogue of Saints in the year 1681.

He is r epresented: Innocent XI Pope who authorized the office of Saint Hedwig on October 17. 1st, chaining the demon near the mountain which has since taken the name of the Saint. This could seem to be a way of saying that he established the worship of Our Lord on this summit where idols had been honored. Perhaps it might also be intended to express in this way the numerous misfortunes and loss of men that the Saint prevented by the hospital establishment he instituted on such a dangerous route; 2nd, locked in his father's castle, where he is delivered by Saint Nicholas, who makes him escape through the window.

## NOTICE ON THE GREAT SAINT BERNARD.

The part of the Alps where the hospice of the Great Saint Bernard is located was known in ancient times by the name of the Pennine Alps or, according to some, Punines. This word seems derived from Pennus, an ancient divinity worshiped in the Valais. Doctor Schidner claims that it comes from Puni, Carthaginians, because of their famous crossing of the Alps. It was also called Mont-Joux, because of Jupiter, to whom a temple had been erected there. The plateau on which the hospice is seated is 1257 toises above sea level, according to M.B. de Saussure and Pictet. The average height of the barometer there is 20 inches and two lines.

Starting from Martigny, the path that leads to the Great Saint Bernard has eight leagues of ascent, more or less rapid. One crosses successively the valleys of Saint-Brancher, Orsières, and Lédier, and arrives at the town of Saint-Pierre. It is impossible to render the diverse impressions that the traveler experiences in the midst of these gigantic masses of rocks that rise above his head. Impetuous torrents whose waters break with great noise among the rocks at frightening depths; old trees half-fallen or rolled by avalanches; enchanting sites that you discover all of a sudden after having been as if lost in dark labyrinths; bottomless abysses, horrible precipices, a vast silence, everything provokes both admiration and terror at the same time.

After leaving the town of Saint-Pierre, one sees the spectacle presented by this route change all of a sudden. The ascent becomes more rapid and nature more wild and arid. Soon one no longer sees any fir trees, chalets, or cultivation. One discovers piles of rocks broken by lightning, mined and worn by time, crosses that recall the memory of the dead, peaks that are lost in the clouds: one hears, for the greater part of the year, the winds that roar, the avalanches that rustle and freeze one with terror.

Before arriving at the Hospice, one crosses a last valley that bears the name of the Valley of the Dead. One meets there first a small building called the Chapel of the Dead; it is intended to receive the corpses of the unfortunate victims of storms and cold. Then one reaches another building that serves as an asylum for those who are assailed by the storm. It is in this last place that the Maronnier, or servant, goes every day in winter, carrying with him everything necessary to help travelers.

Finally, one arrives at the Hospice of the Great Saint Bernard, located on a plateau that is only a few toises wide. At the bottom, and very close to the Hospice, on the Aosta side, is a small lake fed by the melting of snow. At a short distance from the monastery, one still discovers the debris of a temple of Jupiter. The ground, or rather the rock, is only uncovered for three months: during all the rest of the year, winter reigns in these high regions. For all vegetation, one sees there, in the month of July, some mosses and some meager grasses. The winds blow with impetuosity in this narrow gorge: one cannot grow the smallest shrub there. Everything necessary for life is transported there on the back of a mule. The snow falls there in such quantity that it often hides the hospice almost entirely. This is the dwelling of the children of Bernard of Menthon.

The congregation is composed of a provost, a prior, a canon, a sacristan, a procurator, and some other regular canons of Saint Augustine. Their ordinary habit is that of secular priests, with the exception of a narrow scarf of white cloth that they wear constantly. Vigorous servants, followed by dogs whose instinct is almost intelligence, go every day during these long winters to a great distance from the convent. The religious also travel to various points, either to observe from the top of some rock, or to search through heaps of snow and remove the buried corpses, or, finally, to lead and even transport, if necessary, travelers to the Hospice. We will not enter into the detail of the touching care they lavish upon them. One will agree, says M. de Saussure in his History of the Alps, that only the prospect of the rewards of the future can engage men of an honest condition to devote themselves to a way of life as sad and as painful.

We have used, to compose this life, a brochure entitled: Vie de saint Bernard de Menthon, apôtre des Alpes et fondateur des hospices du Saint-Bernard. Annecy, 1852.