Saint Bernard Born near Dijon in France in 1090, Bernard entered the Cistercian Order at the age of 22; he became the Abbot of Clairvaux. Despite his longing for the solitary contemplative life, he traveled extensively in France, Germany, and Italy, trying to reconcile the divisions in the Church at the time. He wrote many works on the spiritual life and theology.
Saint Bernard is known for his deep devotion to the Blessed Mother. He is credited with writing the Memorare prayer and for his commitment to the austerity of Cistercian life.
Prayer to Saint Bernard
Oh, blessed lady, you found grace, gave birth to Life, and became the Mother of Salvation. May you grant us the grace to go to the Son. Through her mediation, may we be received by the One who, through you, gave himself to us.
May your integrity make up to him for the guilt of our corruption; and may your humility, which is pleasing to God, implore forgiveness for our vanity. May your great charity cover the multitude of our sins; and that your glorious fecundity confers on us a fecundity of merits.
Dear lady, our Mediatrix and Advocate, reconcile us with your Son, recommend us to him, and introduce us to your Son. For the grace you have found, for the privilege you deserved, for the mercy you brought, obtain for us the following favor.
Oh, blessed lady, may he who, thanks to you, came down to share our illness and our misery, make us share again thanks to you. The glory and blessedness of him: Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who reigns in heaven and is blessed forever! Amen.
Prayer to Saint Bernard for the holy wound in man
Oh, most loving Jesus, meek lamb of God, I, a miserable sinner, greet and adore the most sacred wound on your shoulder on which you carried your heavy cross, which hurt your flesh so much and bare your bones to inflict it on you. An anguish greater than any other wound in Your blessed body.
I adore you, oh painful Jesus, I praise and glorify you, and thank you for this most sacred and painful Wound, begging you for that excessive pain, and for the crushing load of your heavy cross, to be merciful to me, a sinner, and forgive me all my mortal and venial sins, and to guide me towards heaven by the way of the cross. Amen.
Powerful prayer to Saint Bernard
Heavenly Father, Saint Bernard was filled with zeal for your house and was a radiant light in your Church. Through his prayers may we be filled with his spirit of zeal and always walk as children of light. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Marian Prayer of Saint Bernard
The memory of Saint Bernard. Remember, Virgin Mary, that it was never known that anyone who fled under your protection, implored your help, and sought your intercession, was left without help.
Inspired with this confidence, I fly towards you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother, I come to you, before you I am sinful and sad.
Oh Mother of the Incarnate Word! do not despise my requests, but, in your mercy, listen to me and answer me. Amen.
Novena to Saint Bernard
Day 1
Saint Bernard, you have said: «Neither fear nor self-interest can convert the soul. They can change the appearance, perhaps even the behavior, but never the object of the supreme desire…. Fear is the motive that constrains the slave; greed binds the selfish man, by which he is tempted when he is attracted by his own lust and seduced by it. But neither fear nor self-interest are immaculate, nor can they convert the soul. Only charity can convert the soul, freeing it from unworthy motives».
daily prayers
Saint Bernard, you have given us this prayer and we pray with you: (The Memory) Remember, Virgin Mary, that it was never known that anyone who fled under your protection, implored your help, and sought your intercession, was left without help.
Inspired with this confidence, I fly towards you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother, I come to you, before you I am sinful and sad. Oh Mother of the Incarnate Word! do not despise my requests, but, in your mercy, listen to me and answer me. Amen.
Let us pray to Saint Bernard
O God, who made Abbot Saint Bernard a man consumed by zeal for Your House and a light that shines and burns in Your Church, grant, through his intercession, that we may burn with the same spirit and always walk as children of the light. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Day 2
Saint Bernard, you have said: «The man who is wise, therefore, will see his life more as a reservoir than as a channel. The channel simultaneously pours what it receives; the reservoir holds the water until it is full, then it discharges the overflow without loss to itself…Today there are many in the Church that act as canals, reservoirs are too rare…. You too must learn to wait for this fullness before pouring out your gifts, do not try to be more generous than God.»
- Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.
Day 3
Saint Bernard, you have said: «Justice is the natural and essential food of the soul, which can no longer be satisfied by earthly treasures that the hunger of the body can be satisfied by air. If you saw a starving man standing with his mouth open to the wind, inhaling drafts as if hoping to satisfy his hunger, one would think that he is a lunatic. But it is no less foolish to imagine that the soul can be satisfied with worldly things that only inflate it without feeding it.
- Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.
Day 4
Saint Bernard, you have said: “Ignorance is brutal, arrogance is devilish. Only pride, the chief of all iniquities, can make us treat gifts as if they were legitimate attributes of our nature, and, while receiving benefits, rob our Benefactor of the glory due to him.” “May your prayer for temporal blessings be strictly limited to things absolutely necessary.”
- Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.
day 5
Saint Bernard, you have said: «Jesus, you, joy of loving hearts, source of life, light of men, of the best blessedness that the earth imparts, we turn to You again. We taste you, O living bread, and yearn still to feast on You: We drink of You, the Fountainhead, and our souls thirst for you to be filled.
Oh Jesus, stay with us always, make all our moments quiet and bright; Pursue the dark night of sin, pour out your holy light on the world».
- Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.
day 6
Saint Bernard, you have said: «Let no one believe that they have received the divine kiss, if they know the truth without loving it or love it without understanding it. But blessed is that kiss by which not only God is recognized, but also the Father is loved; for there is never full knowledge without perfect love.”
- Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.
day 7
Saint Bernard, you have said: «It was love that motivated his self-emptying, that led him to be a little lower than the angels, to be subject to his parents, to bow his head under the hands of the Baptist, to endure the weakness of the flesh, and to submit to death even on the cross.”
- Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.
day 8
Saint Bernard, you have said: “Many seem full of sweetness and sweetness as long as everything goes its own way; but the moment any contradiction or adversity arises, they are in a flame, and they begin to rage like a fiery mountain. People like these are like red-hot coals hidden under the ashes.
This is not the goodness that Our Lord assumed to teach us to make us similar to Him.” “If someone makes his own teacher in the spiritual life, he becomes a scholar for a fool.”
- Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.
day 9
Saint Bernard, you have said: «Let us not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the great praise that we lavish on the Mother; for the more they honor her, the greater is the glory of her Son. There can be no doubt that everything we say in praise of the Mother equally praises her Son.
Oh, Blessed Mary, whoever loves you honors God; whoever serves you, pleases God; he who calls upon your holy name with a pure heart will infallibly receive the object of petition from him.”
- Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.