Remember St. Bernard of Clairvaux – Our Mentor and Patron
Truly, we Templars follow in the footsteps of mighty men! St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the spiritual guru and co-founder of the Knights Templar Order died on 20th August, 1153 A.D.
In the year 1128, Bernard attended the Council of Troyes, at which he first presented the Rule of the Knights Templar – setting out ideas still used in our Knighting Ceremonies today. The hugely popular clergyman praised the Order as the new soldiers of Christ in his Liber ad milites templi de laude novae militiae.
In 1146, with the Christian forces in the Holy Land under deadly pressure from the Saracens, Bernard sparked the Second Crusade, by preaching to an enormous crowd in a field at Vézelay, making "the speech of his life".
A contemporary account says that "his voice rang out across the meadow like a celestial organ" and his historic speech included this call to arms:
“The din of arms, the danger, the labours, the fatigues of war, are the penances that God now imposes upon you. Hasten then to expiate your sins by victories over the Infidels, and let the deliverance of the holy places be the reward of your repentance… Cursed be he who does not stain his sword with blood. Deus Vult! Deus Vult!”
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