I

To Malachy. 1141.⁹²⁴⁹²⁴When this letter was written certain brothers, sent by Malachy after his return from Rome (October 1140), had arrived at Clairvaux, and had spent some time there (see notes 5, 7); and the brothers left there on his return journey had had a considerable amount of instruction (n. 7). The date is therefore not earlier than 1141. But it is evidently earlier than that of Letter ii.

(Epistle 341.)

To the venerable lord and most blessed father, Malachy, by the grace of God archbishop of the Irish, legate of the Apostolic See, Brother Bernard called to be abbot of Clairvaux, [desiring] to find grace with the Lord.

1. Amid the manifold anxieties and cares of my heart,⁹²⁵⁹²⁵Cp. Hor., Sat. i. 2. 110. by the multitude of which my soul is sore vexed,⁹²⁶⁹²⁶Ps. vi. 3. the brothers coming from a far country⁹²⁷⁹²⁷Josh. ix. 6. that they may serve the Lord,⁹²⁸⁹²⁸These were some of the brothers sent from Ireland (Life, § 39). thy letter, and thy staff, they comfort me:⁹²⁹⁹²⁹Ps. xxiii. 4. the letter, as a proof of good will; the staff, to support my weak body; the brothers, because they serve the Lord in a humble spirit.⁹³⁰⁹³⁰Song of Three Children, 16.—They had evidently been a good while under St. Bernard's eye. We have received them all, we are pleased with all, all alike work together for good.⁹³¹⁹³¹Rom. viii. 28. But as to the wish that you have expressed that two of the 132brothers⁹³²⁹³²No doubt the four brothers who had been left at Clairvaux (Life, § 39). should be sent to look out a place for you beforehand, having taken counsel with the brothers, we have not thought it meet that they should be separated one from another⁹³³⁹³³Matt. xxv. 32. until Christ be more fully formed in them,⁹³⁴⁹³⁴Gal. iv. 19. until they are wholly instructed in the battles of the Lord.⁹³⁵⁹³⁵1 Sam. xxv. 28. When therefore they have been taught in the school of the Holy Spirit, when they have been endued with power from on high,⁹³⁶⁹³⁶Luke xxiv. 49. then at length the sons shall return to their father that they may sing the Lord's song, not now in a strange land,⁹³⁷⁹³⁷Ps. cxxxvii. 4. but in their own.

2. But do you yourselves in the mean time, according to the wisdom given you⁹³⁸⁹³⁸2 Pet. iii. 15. by the Lord, look out beforehand and prepare beforehand a place for them,⁹³⁹⁹³⁹John xiv. 2. like the places which you have seen here, apart from the commotions of the world. For the time is at hand⁹⁴⁰⁹⁴⁰Rev. i. 3; xxii. 10. when, by the operation of the grace of God, we shall bring forth for you new men out of the old.⁹⁴¹⁹⁴¹Cp. Rom. vi. 6; Eph. ii. 15; iv. 22, 24. Blessed be the Name of the Lord for ever,⁹⁴²⁹⁴²Dan. ii. 20, etc. of whose only gift it cometh that⁹⁴³⁹⁴³Coll. for 13th Sunday after Pentecost. I have sons in common with you, whom your preaching planted and our exhortation watered, but God gave the increase.⁹⁴⁴⁹⁴⁴1 Cor. iii. 6. We beseech your holiness to preach the word of the Lord⁹⁴⁵⁹⁴⁵Acts xv. 36. so that you may give knowledge of salvation unto His people.⁹⁴⁶⁹⁴⁶Luke i. 77. For a double necessity is laid upon you,⁹⁴⁷⁹⁴⁷1 Cor. ix. 16. both from your office as legate and your duty as bishop. Finally, since in many things we offend all,⁹⁴⁸⁹⁴⁸Jas. iii. 2. and, being often thrown among the men of this age, we are much besmirched with the dust of the world, I commend myself to your prayers and to those of your companions, 133that in His fountain of mercy Jesus Christ, himself the fountain of pity, may deign to wash and cleanse us, who said to Peter, If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me.⁹⁴⁹⁹⁴⁹John xiii. 8 (inexact quotation). And, indeed, I not only earnestly entreat this of you, but also require it as in some sense the payment of a debt, since I cry to the Lord for you, if the prayer of a sinner can do anything. Farewell in the Lord.