Eugenius III dies weeks after Bernard

1153

The first Cistercian pope, a former pupil of Bernard of Clairvaux, died within two months of his old teacher. The coincidence of their deaths closed an era in which the white monks had set the moral agenda of Latin Christendom. Both would later be venerated as saints. Eugenius had spent much of his pontificate in exile from Rome, governing the universal church from France while Roman factions fought over his palace.