Saint Bernard of ClairvauxSt. Bernard’s Parish of Louisville, Kentucky commissioned this painting as one of a four part series. The paintings are an effort to illustrate the life and teachings of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and to reflect their connection to the lifestyles and beliefs of this modest parish. We find Bernard sitting outdoors — a stump his writing desk, a rock his floor, trees his chapel. Plain trappings for a son of a wealthy family living in Burgundy around 1100 AD. But the rock, wood, and cloud are a palace for this extraordinary man. A palace where the floor is the stone mound of Calvary. The columns of trees, crucifixes branching with new life. The billowing skies, the sheltering roof of heaven. The palace of the earth. He looks away for a moment, searching for his first word, only to find himself looking into Mary’s face. She speaks to him, guiding his far away search for a beginning. At her feet sits her son. Christ, as a curious child, reaches across Bernard’s desk to touch his pen. Stretching over the very tree from which His cross was hewn to see if the pen is sharp, as it must be to write words inspired by such an immaculate muse. |
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