Liber Quartus, Caput II. De cleri et populi Romani moribus agit, et de veterum Pastorum cura ac vigilantia.
The Weight of the Roman Charge
Bernard opens by urging the new pope to recognize that the Roman clergy and people, long a model for the Church, now reflect a dangerous disorder that brings particular shame to his office.
And first, that clergy of yours ought to be highly orderly, since from them especially the model for all the clergy of the Church has gone forth. Then, whatever is done wrongly while you are present, that is all the more shameful to you. It concerns the glory of your Holiness that those you have before your eyes be so orderly, so formed, that they themselves may be the mirror of all integrity and order, they themselves the model. They must be found more ready than the rest for their duties, suitable for the Sacraments, diligent in instructing the people, and circumspect in guarding themselves in all chastity. What should I say about the people? It is the Roman people. I couldn't have opened up more briefly about your parishioners, nor however more expressively, than what I feel. What is so well known to the ages as the insolence and arrogance of the Romans?
The Stroke That Must Not Be Avoided
Bernard presses the pope not to flee from the intractable Roman people, reminding him that pastoral duty is measured by faithful labor, not by visible results.
A nation unaccustomed to peace and accustomed to turmoil — a nation harsh and intractable up to this very day, not knowing how to submit unless it no longer has the strength to resist. See, the stroke falls upon you — this charge laid on you — and you're not permitted to look the other way. Perhaps you laugh at me, convinced I'd be beyond cure. Don't lose heart. You will have fulfilled your charge, even if you haven't brought about the cure. After all, you have heard it: 'Take charge of that one' — and not 'Heal it' or 'Cure that.' But someone has said:
Labor Without Anxiety
Drawing on Paul's example, Bernard teaches that the apostle gloried in labors rather than results, so the pope should plant and water in peace while leaving growth to God.
But I'm setting a better example for you from my own life. Paul says: I worked harder than all of them.✦ He does not say, I was more useful than all of them, or, I bore more fruit than all of them, carefully avoiding that presumptuous word. At other times the man whom God taught knew that each one will receive a reward according to their own labor, not according to the results.✦ And for this reason he thought one should glory in labors rather than in results, just as elsewhere you have him saying: In labors most abundant.✦ So please, you do what is yours to do: for God will take care of what is His, quite well without your worry and anxiety. Plant, water, give your care; and you have done your part.✦ Surely, the growth, wherever He wills, will be given by God, not by you.✦
Work That Cannot Fail
Bernard reassures the pope that faithful labor is never emptied by failure, since God can still bring conversion and will repay the saints' toil, even when the people's heart seems hardened.
When perhaps he refuses you, nothing is lost to you — as Scripture says: God will repay the reward of the labors of his saints. Work is secure, which no failure can empty out. And I say this without any prejudice to divine power and goodness. I know the heart of this people is hardened — but God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.✦ Who knows whether God might turn back and forgive, might convert and heal them? But it's not my place to dictate to God what he ought to do — if only I could persuade you, as I ought and in the way I ought, of what's needed.
A Reluctant Warning About Dangerous Change
Bernard hesitates to speak about a perceived danger, weighing the outcry over novelty against established custom, yet concludes that speaking will do no good.
But the ground is doubtful, and a scrupulous dispute breaks out. For where would I even begin to say what I feel? I see clearly enough what's threatening. People will cry that it's unheard of; for what is just cannot be denied. As for me, I wouldn't go along with it even if it were unheard of. To be sure, I know it was once the custom, and so could have slipped into disuse; but it cannot slip back into being unheard of. Would anyone deny it was customary, when it's agreed not only to have been done at some point, but to have been practiced repeatedly for some time? I'll say what it is, and it won't do any good.
Why the Truth Is Not Spoken
Bernard explains that plain speech displeases the powerful courtiers, then contrasts the present corruption with the self-devoted shepherds of old who spent themselves wholly for the flock.
Why? Because it won't please the satraps, who favor majesty more than truth. There were those before you who devoted themselves entirely to feeding the sheep, boasting in the work and name of the shepherd, considering nothing unworthy for themselves, except that they thought it necessary to oppose what would benefit the salvation of the sheep, not seeking what was their own, but giving of themselves. They devoted care, substance, and themselves. One of them said: "And I, he says, will devote myself for your souls." And as if they were saying, "We have not come to be served, but to serve," they laid down the Gospel without expense whenever it was necessary. One was a gain from the subjects, one pomp, and one pleasure, if in any way they could prepare a perfect people for the Lord. They were busy with this in every way, even in much contrition of heart and body, in labor and hardship, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness.
The Flock Fed on Pastures of Demons
Bernard laments that the care once given to feeding sheep has now shifted to courting favor and wealth, so that all eyes are fixed on the lawgiver's hands rather than his mouth.
Where now, I ask, is this custom? It has changed a great deal; the pursuits have shifted far in another direction, and I wish it weren't for the worse. But care and anxiety, emulation, and solicitude, I confess, persist. These things have been transferred, not diminished. I bear witness to you that you spare neither substance nor more than before. But a different placement creates dissimilarity. What a great abuse! Few look to the mouth of the lawgiver, but all look to his hands.
The Corruptions of the Roman Clergy
Bernard exposes the greed and domination of those around the pope, who profess servitude yet invade every counsel and private place, being cunning in evil but ignorant of good.
And yet, not without reason. They handle every papal affair. Who in this whole great city will you show me who received you as Pope without money or the hope of money coming into it? And they especially want to dominate precisely when they have professed servitude. They pledge themselves faithful, the better to harm those who trust them. Because of this, you'll have no counsel they can't break into, no private place where they won't force their way in. If a doorkeeper lingers even briefly at their threshold on someone's behalf, I want no part in that. And now let me test briefly whether I too have picked up something of their ways.
A Nation Hateful to Heaven and Earth
Bernard catalogs the vices of the Roman clerical world, describing people who cannot obey or lead, who are shameless in asking and ungrateful in receiving, and who have taught their tongues to promise greatly while doing little.
More than anything else, they're clever at doing evil, but they don't know how to do good. These people are hateful to earth and to heaven: both groups have laid hands, the impious against God, the reckless against holy things, the seditious against one another, the envious against their neighbors, the inhuman against outsiders — people who love nobody and are loved by nobody; and since they strive to be feared by everyone, everyone necessarily fears them. These are the ones who can't stand being under someone else's authority, and don't know how to lead; unfaithful to their superiors, unbearable to those beneath them. These are shameless when it comes to asking, brazen when it comes to refusing. Troublesome in order to receive, restless until they receive, ungrateful once they've received. They've taught their tongues to speak great things while they do small ones. The most generous promisers and the most sparing givers; the most flattering flatterers and the most biting detractors; the most straightforward dissemblers and the most malicious traitors. We've gone this far, thinking you needed to be warned more fully and more plainly about the things surrounding you in this area.
The Gilded Shepherd and the Starving Flock
Bernard returns to his theme, denouncing how church wealth is seized and applauded, how the poor feed the rich, and how the pope himself goes forth in splendor while the sheep receive nothing.
Now let's return to the proper order. What is this — that things bought with the spoils of churches are said to you with a 'Bravo, bravo'? The life of the poor is sown in the streets of the rich. Silver glitters in the mud, and everyone runs for it from all sides; the one who grabs it isn't the poorer person but the stronger, or whoever by chance got there first. Yet this custom — or rather this death — didn't start with you; I pray to God it may end with you. But let's move on to the rest. Amid all this, you, a shepherd, go forth gilded, surrounded by such great variety and splendor. What do the sheep get?
Honor Devoured, Holiness Neglected
Bernard contrasts apostolic poverty with present ambition, showing how everything is now devoted to dignity and display, so that even humble conduct is shunned as unbecoming and true humility is almost impossible to find.
If I dared say so, these are the pastures of demons, more than of sheep. Surely this is how Peter used to act, is this how Paul used to live? You see how every kind of churchly zeal burns solely for the sake of preserving dignity. Everything is devoted to honor; nothing, or next to nothing, to holiness. If you tried to behave a little more humbly, and to carry yourself more sociably when the situation demanded it — God forbid! They say it's unbecoming, it doesn't suit the times, it's out of keeping with your majesty — pay attention to the role you're playing. God's good pleasure is mentioned last; there's no hesitation when it's a matter of losing your salvation — only what we consider lofty do we treat as salutary, and what smacks of glory we treat as righteous. And so among courtiers every humble thing is taken as a disgrace, with the result that you'd more easily find someone who wants to be humble than someone who wants to appear humble.
The Fear of the Lord Called Foolishness
Bernard closes by noting that in this environment the fear of the Lord is treated as simplicity, the conscientious person is slandered as a hypocrite, and the lover of quiet is dismissed as useless.
The fear of the Lord is seen as simple-mindedness, if not outright foolishness. They slander the careful person and the one who's loyal to his own conscience as a hypocrite. What's more, they say that the person who loves quiet, who sometimes takes time for himself, is useless.
Read the original Latin
Et primo quidem clerum illum ordinatissimum esse decet, ex quo praecipue in omnem Ecclesiam cleri forma processit. Deinde omne quod perperam agitur te praesente, id tibi turpius. Interest gloriae Sanctitatis tuae, ut quos prae oculis habes, ita ordinati, ita sint informati, quatenus totius honestatis et ordinis ipsi speculum, ipsi sint forma. Inveniantur prae caeteris oportet expediti ad officia, idonei ad Sacramenta, ad plebes erudiendas solliciti; circumspecti ad sese custodiendos in omni castitate. Quid de populo loquar? Populus Romanus est. Nec brevius potui, nec expressius tamen aperire de tuis parochianis quod sentio. Quid tam notum saeculis, quam protervia et fastus Romanorum?
Gens insueta paci, tumultui assueta; gens immitis et intractabilis usque adhuc, subdi nescia, nisi cum non valet resistere. En plaga: tibi incumbit cura haec, dissimulare non licet. Rides me forsitan, fore incurabilem persuasus. Noli diffidere; curam exegeris, non curationem. Denique audisti: Curam illius habe; et non, Cura, vel, Sana illud. Verum dixit quidam:
At melius propono de tuis tibi. Paulus loquitur: Plus omnibus laboravi. Non ait, Plus omnibus profui, aut, Plus omnibus fructificavi, verbum insolens religiosissime vitans. Alias autem noverat homo quem docuit Deus, quia unusquisque secundum suum laborem accipiet, non secundum proventum. Et ob hoc in laboribus potius quam in profectibus gloriandum putavit, sicut alibi quoque habes ipsum dicentem: In laboribus plurimis. Ita, quaeso, fac tu quod tuum est: nam Deus quod suum est satis absque tua sollicitudine et anxietate curabit. Planta, riga, fer curam; et tuas explicuisti partes. Sane incrementum, ubi voluerit, dabit Deus, non tu.
Ubi forte noluerit, tibi deperit nihil, dicente Scriptura: Reddet Deus mercedem laborum sanctorum suorum. Securus labor, quem nullus valet evacuare defectus. Et hoc dixerim absque praejudicio divinae potentiae et bonitatis. Scio induratum cor populi hujus: sed potens est Deus de lapidibus istis suscitare filios Abrahae. Quis scit si revertatur et ignoscat, convertat et sanet eos? Sed non est propositi mei dictare Deo quid facere debeat: tibi utinam possim, quae oportet et prout oportet, suadere.
At locus dubius, et scrupulosa incidit disputatio. Nam ubi adoriar dicere quod sentio? Video satis quid imminet. Clamabitur insuetum; nam justum negari non poterit. Ego vero ne insuetum quidem assenserim. Nempe assuetum fuisse scio, ac per hoc in dissuetum potuisse venire: sed non redire in insuetum. An vero assuetum quis neget, quod constat non modo aliquando factum, sed aliquandiu factitatum? Quid illud sit dicam, et non proderit.
Cur? Quia non placebit satrapis, plus majestati quam veritati faventibus. Fuerunt ante te qui se totos ovibus pascendis exponerent, pastoris opere et nomine gloriantes, nihil sibi reputantes indignum, nisi quod saluti ovium obviare putarent, non quaerentes quae sua sunt, sed impendentes. Impendere curam, impendere substantiam, impendere et se ipsos. Unde unus illorum: Et ego, ait, superimpendar pro animabus vestris. Et tanquam dicerent, Non venimus ministrari, sed ministrare; ponebant, quoties oportuisset, sine sumptu Evangelium. Unus erat de subditis quaestus, una pompa, unaque voluptas, si quo modo eos possent parare Domino plebem perfectam. Id omnimodis satagebant, etiam in multa contritione cordis et corporis, in labore et aerumna, in fame et siti, in frigore et nuditate.
Ubi nunc, quaeso, consuetudo haec? Subiit dissimilis valde; longe in aliud mutata sunt studia, et utinam non in pejus. Cura tamen et anxietas, et aemulatio, et sollicitudo, fateor, perseverant. Translata haec, non imminuta. Testimonium vobis perhibeo, quod nec substantiae parcitis, non magis quam ante. Diversa autem locatio dissimilitudinem facit. Magna abusio! pauci ad os legislatoris, ad manus omnes respiciunt.
Non immerito tamen. Omne papale negotium illae agunt. Quem dabis mihi de tota maxima urbe, qui te in Papam receperit, pretio seu spe pretii non interveniente? et tunc potissimum volunt dominari, cum professi fuerint servitutem. Fideles se spondent, ut opportunius fidentibus noceant. Ex hoc non erit consilium tibi a quo se arcendos putent, non secretum quo se non ingerant. Si stante pro foribus quoquam illorum, moram vel modicam fecerit ostiarius; ego tunc pro illo esse nolo. Et nunc experire paucis, noverimne et ego vel aliquatenus mores gentis.
Ante omnia sapientes sunt ut faciant mala, bonum autem facere nesciunt. Hi invisi terrae et coelo: utrique injecere manus, impii in Deum, temerarii in sancta, seditiosi in invicem, aemuli in vicinos, inhumani in extraneos: quos neminem amantes amat nemo; et cum timeri affectant ab omnibus, omnes timeant necesse est. Hi sunt qui subesse non sustinent, praeesse non norunt; superioribus infideles, inferioribus importabiles. Hi inverecundi ad petendum, ad negandum frontosi. Hi importuni ut accipiant, inquieti donec accipiant, ingrati ubi acceperint. Docuerunt linguam suam grandia loqui, cum operentur exigua. Largissimi promissores, et parcissimi exhibitores: blandissimi adulatores, et mordacissimi detractores: simplicissimi dissimulatores, et malignissimi proditores. Excurrimus usque huc, plenius te atque expressius admonendum putantes horum quae circa te sunt in hac parte.
Jam ad ordinem recurramus. Quale est, quod de spoliis ecclesiarum emuntur, qui dicunt tibi, Euge, euge? Pauperum vita in plateis divitum seminatur. Argentum micat in luto: accurritur undique, tollit illud non pauperior, sed fortior, aut qui forte citius praecucurrit. A te tamen mos iste, vel potius mors ista non coepit; in te utinam desinat. Sed reliqua prosequamur. Inter haec tu pastor procedis deauratus, tam multa circumdatus varietate. Oves quid capiunt?
Si auderem dicere; daemonum magis, quam ovium pascua haec. Scilicet sic factitabat Petrus, sic Paulus ludebat? Vides omnem ecclesiasticum zelum fervere sola pro dignitate tuenda. Honori totum datur, sanctitati nihil, aut parum. Si causa requirente paulo submissius agere, ac socialius te habere tentaveris; Absit? inquiunt, non decet, tempori non congruit, majestati non convenit; quam geras personam attendito. De placito Dei ultima mentio est; pro jactura salutis nulla cunctatio: nisi quod sublime est, hoc salutare ducamus; et quod gloriam redolet, id justum. Ita omne humile probro ducitur inter palatinos, ut facilius qui esse, quam qui apparere humilis velit, invenias.
Timor Domini simplicitas reputatur, ne dicam fatuitas. Virum circumspectum et amicum propriae conscientiae calumniantur hypocritam. Porro amatorem quietis, et sibi interdum vacantem, inutilem dicunt.
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Cor.15.10 — But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain; but I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
- ↩1Cor.3.8 — Now the one who plants and the one who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
- ↩2Cor.11.23 — Are they servants of Christ? I am speaking as one beside myself—I am more: in labors far more, in prisons far more, in beatings beyond measure, in deaths often.
- ↩1Cor.3.6 — I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
- ↩1Cor.3.7 — So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God, who makes it grow.
- ↩Matt.3.9 — And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
De consideratione (On Consideration) companion
Make consideration a daily appointment
Bernard told Eugene to set aside time every day. Chosen Portion holds that time for you, free.
Bernard's core prescription — a fixed daily time reserved for examining the soul — is exactly the habit Chosen Portion installs with its daily devotional portion.
- One 10-minute daily portion for self-examination and prayer
- Reflection prompts drawn from historic texts, not improvised journaling
- A visible streak that protects the daily interval Bernard insisted on