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(BARNARD.)
Archbishop of Vienne,France. Born in 778; died at Vienne, 23 January, 842. Hisparents, who lived nearLyons and had large possessions, gave him an excellenteducation, and Bernard in obedience to the paternal wish, married and became a military officer underCharlemagne. After seven years as a soldier the death of hisfather and mother recalled him. Dividing hisproperty into three parts — one for theChurch, one for the poor and one for his children — he retired to the wilderness of Ambronay where there was a poormonastery. Bernard bought themonastery, enlarged it, and become one of its inmates. Upon the death of theabbot he was elected (805) to the vacant position. In 810 he was chosenArchbishop of Vienne to succeed Volfère, but it was only upon the command ofPope Leo III and ofCharlemagne that he accepted thehonour. He wasconsecrated by Leidtrade,Archbishop ofLyons, and distinguished himself by hispiety and learning. He took part in drawing up the Capitularies ofCharlemagne and aided Agobard in a work upon Jewishsuperstitions.
Bernard was a member of the Council ofParis (824) convoked by Louis the Pious, at the request of Eugenius II, in the hope of bringing about an agreement between theChurch ofFrance and that of the East as to the devotion to be paid to images. Bernard took an unfortunate position in the quarrels between Louis the Pious and his sons over the partition of the empire between the three sons of his first marriage, to which the monarch had agreed. Like Agobard ofLyons, Bernard sided with the oldest son, Lothair, and was one of theprelates who deposed the emperor at Compiègne and condemned him to make a public penance. Louis soon regained his authority and another council ofbishops annulled the action of the one of Compiègne. Agobard and Bernard were deposed, but the sentence of deposition was never carried out, owing to the intervention of Lothair, who had been reconciled to hisfather. From this time on, thearchbishop devoted himself entirely to theduties of his pastoral office. Towards the end of his life heloved to retire to a solitary spot on the banks of the Isère where stands today the town of Romans which owes its origin to him. On the approach of death he had himself removed to Vienne. He ishonoured in Dauphiny as thepatron saint of agricultural labourers.
Acta SS. (3d ed.), January, 111, 157-197; Bibl. hag. lat. (1898), 149-150; CHAPHUIS, St. Bernard, Archévêque de Vienne (Grenoble, 1898).
APA citation.Fournet, P.A.(1907).St. Bernard. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02496a.htm
MLA citation.Fournet, Pierre Auguste."St. Bernard."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 2.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1907.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02496a.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Bob Mathewson.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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