Bernard joins Citeaux

1112

A Burgundian noble of twenty-two rode up to the struggling reformed monastery of Citeaux with thirty kinsmen in tow and asked to be admitted. Within three years the abbot sent him to found a daughter house at Clairvaux, and the Cistercian order began its explosive growth. Bernard's charisma was so intense that mothers reportedly hid their sons when he preached, for fear they would abandon everything and follow him into the cloister.