MEDIEVAL IMAGES OF SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - GL09.jpg

Category Glass
Origin: artist/workshop Cologne workshop
Date 16C/1
Reference No
Size 113x73
Provenance Altenberg Cistercian Abbey, cloister
Present Location Shrewsbury, England, St Mary's Church, north window
Bibliography VP1:4:23-4 (PL185:240-1); Paffrath 1984, 55-7

Eckert 1953, 67;Paris 1990, 287; Hunt 1951, 17
Illustration From Paffrath 1984, ill 10
Other illustrations Eckert 1953, pl 11

Paris 1990, ill 233
Country Germany
Description:
1505/32. Scene from c 1113 of Bernard praying that he might be given the strength to join his brothers in the harvest. It refers to the passage in the 'Vita Prima' which records how during harvest time when the brothers were busy reaping Bernard would be ordered to sit on his own and rest as he was too frail to take part in the heavy labour. Saddened, be prayed to be given the strength, and from then on he claimed to be more skilled than the others. Bernard kneels before a shrine, the scroll saying: 'Lord, give me the grace to learn to reap the harvest' ('Domine Deus, dona mihi gratiam metendi!'). His scythe is by his feet. Four other monks, also in white tunics and black scapulars, are working in the cornfield. A church is in the background. A panel from St Apern is almost identical to this one (see GL61).