Bernard Archbishop of Toledo

Bernard Archbishop Of Toledo the main promoter of the Gregorian papal system in Spain, was born at Agen, in France, near the close of the 11th century. For a time being he served as a soldier; he then entered the order of the Benedictines, and when Gregory VII endeavored to introduce his church reforms into Spain, Bernard was appointed abbot of the monastery of Sahaguna in Castile, in 1080, where he greatly promoted the claims of the papal see. His influence, however, was widened when Alfonso VI elected him archbishop of Toledo, while pope Urban: II appointed him primas of the Spanish Church, when he invested Bernard with the pallium at Rome in 1087. All bishoprics were now given to adherents of the pope (to Benedictine monks whom he had brought along from France), and without any regard the papal system was now introduced. These proceedings caused not only the resist. ance of the king, but also of a part of the Spanish clergy; and the archbishop of St. Jago de Compostella went even so far as to contest Bernard's primacy. The introduction of the Roman liturgy in place of the Mozarabian was mainly Bernard's work. At one time his martial character would have placed him at the head of a Castilian army, as he intended to undertake a crusade to Palestine, but pope Paschalis II forbade him and all Spaniards, under pain of the interdict, taking any part in crusades to the East. Bernard presided at the Council of Leon in 1091, assisted at that of Nismes in 1096, and finally at that of Gironne in 1097, as legate of the holy see. He died in 1125. He wrote four Sermones upon the anthem Salve, Regina Misericordice, which, published under the name of St. Bernard, had always been attributed to this, saint in all the editions of his works until Mabillon proved the error in the edition which he gave in Parisn in 1690. They are given in Bernardi Clarcevall. Opera V (Paris, 1719). See Herzog, Real Encyklop. s.v.; Aschbach, in Wetzer u. Welte, Kirchenlexikon, s.v.; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v. (B. P.)