Lives of Alcyone

Chart XLVIII b
1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th 5 th 6 th 7 th
We find a small but important group of our characters gathered in Central France towards the end of the eleventh century, Colossus, who in
that life bore the name of Tecelin, was a man of distinguished family, a knight and vassal of the Duke of Burgandy, living at Fontaines near
Dijon. He married the Lady Aleth (Vesta) who was also of a noble family of the name of Montbard. This couple had six children, all of them
characters in our story. There were five brothers: Nicos, Pavo, Naga, Crux and Quies, and one sister Algol. Colossus was killed in the First
Crusade while his children were still yong, and some ten years after Vesta also passed away, though not until she had ineffaceaby stamped herr
piety, her fiery religious zeal and her wonderfully loving nature upon her young family. Her two elder sons had taken up the profession of
arms as a matter of course, and had married; but the mother's devotion found its fullest reflection in the third son Bernard, who in our history
is called Naga.
He was born in the year 1090, and from an early age declared his intention of consecrating himself absolutely to the service of God in the world,
through the endeavour to guide humanity towards Him. He devoted much of his time to meditation, chiefly out in the woods, for his love
of nature was only less a passion with him than his love for humanity. In later life he wrote: Experto crede; aliquid amplius invenies in silvis
quam in libris; ligna et lapides docebunt te quod a magistris audire non possis." Trust one who knows; you will find something wider
in woods than in books; the forests and the rocks will teach you something which you cannot learn from the professors." His great ideas as to
the means of helping humanity were: first, to set them the example of a stainless life, and secondly to become a monk and preach to them, and
preach to them, and he began expounding this doctrine to those nearest and dearest to him with such wonderfully persuasive power that his
whole family followed him; his two elder brothers Guido and Gerard made provision for their wives and children, gave up the profession of
arms, and joined him in the monastic life, while his younger brothers and his sister adopted it from the first.
He spoke with such effect to neighbours of his own rank that at the age of twenty two he was able to present himself at the little ruined monstery
of Citreaux with thirty young men, alll of noble family, and all burning with anxiety to take the severest monastic vows, and to devote themselves
to God's work in the world. The head of this humble monastery was at this time an Englishman, named Stephen Harding, a monk
from the Abbey of Sherborne in Dorsetshire, and he naturally welcomed with enthusiasm this important accession to his obscure little community.
Naga continued to exercise his marvellous persuasive power, and it is said by a contemporary writer that "mothers his their sons, wives
their husbands, comanions their friends, because none could resist him."
The accommodation of the humble building at Citeaux proved entirely inadequate, so in 1115 Naga was sent out with twelve others to seek
a site for a daughter establishment. He went northward and presently decided upon a wild and thickly wooded valley, where he founded the
monastery of Clairvaulx, the fame of which was later to spread through Christendom. Young as he was, he was appointed abbot of this mon
astery, and the number of its novices increased with startling rapidity. The young abbot was at this time scornfully impatient of the ordinary
desires and emotions of humanity, and he demanded from himself, though not from others, an impossibly rapid rate of progress in their subju
gation. His austerities were so extreme that he speedily fell ill and would probably have brought himself and his work to a premature end but
for the interference of a wiser and much older friend, William de Champeaux, who was enough of a doctor to understand that ascetism may
very easily be overdone, and that when it is, it inevitably leads to disastrous results.
His senior's counsel prevailed, and Naga re-established his health; and his renewed vigour speedily showed itself both in his speeches and in
his writings. His high character and his absolute unselfishness gained him very wide influence, and the fame of his zeal and of his sanctity spread
over the whole of France. He began to be invited to the Synods and Councils of the Church, and it was he who secured official recognition
for the order of the knights Templars, and drew up for them their table of regulations. His extraordinary power of persuation resulted from
the unselfish depth of affection in his nature; but he regarded it as his duty to direct this entirely along the lines of love for humanity as a
whole.
The tenor of his teaching was always that men could attain salvation only by being filled with the spirit of Christ, and therefore becoming Christlike.
He held that heretics shold be brought into the fold not by force of arms but by force of argument, and that faith was to be produced
from within by persuation and not to be imposed upon men from without. The spirit of the age, however, was strongly in opposition to those
milder doctrines, and it was not entirely without its influence on him, so that he was sometimes betrayed into expressions and actions incosistent
with these high ideals. Whatever cause he espoused, he identified himself with it whole heartedlly, and ran some danger of becoming fanatical
in its advocacy.
When Pope Honorius II died in 1130 there sprang up two claimants to the Papal Throne--Innocent and Anacletus. The cardinals favoured
the latter, and he was established in Rome, while Innocent fled to France. King Louis of France espoused Innocent's cause, and called a great
Council of archbishops and bishops to decide upon the matter. To this Council Naga was summoned, and he thought it his duty to go, though
it was with considerable reluctance that he abandoned his quiet literary life at Clairvaulx. After much debate and careful examination as
to the claims and character of the two Popes he pronounced in favour of Innocent, and his eloquence carried the whole Council with him.
He then travelled with Innocent over a good deal of France and Germany, and he was everywhere successful in bringing men to his position
in Rome, all the rest of Europe acknowledged Innocent. Indeed, Naga so stirred up the Emperor Lothair that he took up arms in order to
assert Innocent's claim, and finally obtained his coronation in Rome, Anacletus being shut up in the Castle of St. Augelo, where he shortly
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