ABSTRACT
The Middle Ages are called by some the Dark Age, and by some the Age of Faith; and this incongruity should prepare the reader to find in them, especially when S. Bernard wishes to understand their spiritual life, modes of expression quite different from any used in the twentieth century. The first reform came from a Benedictine monastery called Cluny which was founded about 910 by a duke of Aquitaine. The Cluniacs aimed at a return to the Rule of S. Benedict, which had been long neglected. The monastic ideal was an attempt to live on earth in the city of God. S. Augustine had disclosed to the barbarian world a vision of unity between God and those who loved Him, by saying that faithful Christians, while they were living an ordinary life in earthly cities, could live also a spiritual life in the city of God, which was contained in Him.
