rd undertook the
duties of his office with such incessant zeal, and displayed such
amazing control over his appetites, that he seriously weakened his
health, but at the same time enlarged his reputation to such an extent
that the convent became overcrowded with the number of those whom he had
attracted thither. He was therefore appointed, after three years'
residence at Citeaux, to head a colony of monks which was to be fixed in
the valley of Clairvaux--a desolate though beautiful spot in the
bishopric of Langres. The tears of their brethren accompanied the
departure of Bernard and the twelve others who composed the band. It was
in the year 1115, and at the age of twenty-six, that he was made Abbot
of Clairvaux. His appearance at the consecration is described as that of
a corpse rather than a man, so emaciated with the rigors of devotion had
he become. He had frequent visions, perhaps from his weakness, in one of
which he imagined that the Virgin Mary herself appeared to him. The
privations of the members of his little colony were most severe. The
season for sowing had been spent in building the convent, and when the
winter came they were reduced to little better than starvation. Coarse
bread and beech-leaves steeped in salt were their only food. This scanty
sustenance, together with the strict adherence to the Benedictine rule,
in which Bernard still persisted, so shattered his health, that the
bishop of the diocese, who was his personal friend, at last interfered,
and released him from the active duties of abbot. But as soon as a brief
respite had restored his strength, Bernard renewed his self-mortifying
practices. A fresh attack of illness followed, and he was obliged
permanently to relax his habits. In after-years he lamented the error
into which his early enthusiasm and mistaken zeal had led him, the
effects of which greatly marred his future influence for good.

Though debarred from laboring in his own sphere, Bernard's energetic
mind would not let him rest, and he began from this time to exercise
the power which his reputation for sanctity had brought him, in
political life. He well knew the nature of the position which he was
thus enabled to take, and did not shrink from its perils. "Bernard!
wherefore art thou here on earth?" is said to have been his
constant self-appeal. Poor and unarmed, a priest or monk in those
days had nothing wherewith to oppose the tyranny of the powerful
nobility, save the weapons of r