MEDIEVAL IMAGES OF SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - GL12.jpg

Category Glass
Origin: artist/workshop Cologne workshop
Date 16C/1
Reference No
Size 94x73
Provenance Altenberg Cistercian Abbey, cloister
Present Location Shrewsbury, England, St Mary's Church, west window
Bibliography VP1:11:50 (PL185:255-6); LA 217; Paffrath 1984, 67-9

Eckert 1953, 70; Paris 1990, 288
Illustration From Paffrath 1984, ill 13
Other illustrations Eckert 1953, pl 12

Paris 1990, ill 236
Country Germany
Description:
1505/32. Scene of the letter Bernard wrote c 1120 to one of his monks and a relation, Robert, who had left for Cluny and whom Bernard was trying to get to come back. In order to keep the dictation more private he decided to take his secretary, William, later abbot of Rievaulx, with him outside. It started to pour and Wiliam wanted to put the paper away, but Bernard insisted that he continue, and the letter was written miraculously without a drip or a smudge. Bernard sits on the right holding his crozier while William kneels before him and hands him the letter he has written. The rain is seen pouring from the sky. The scroll has Bernard's words taken from the 'Vita Prima': 'It is God's work; write on; do not be afraid!' ('Opus Dei est, scribe, ne timeas'). In the background are the sumptuous buildings of Cluny identified by the inscription 'Cluniacum', and on the far right a black monk of Cluny is inviting a monk dressed in the Cistercian white tunic with black scapular - Robert - to come in.