Again he bowed low, with spread hands. The iron gate of Citeaux clanged behind me; I was out in the living world once more. As I rode to Nuits in the rain, between the dripping trees of the ancient forest, whose glades had echoed to the foot-fall of St. Bernard, I felt, more strongly than ever before, how close is the rapport existing between the ascetic mysticism of that time—symbolising the soul of things in saint and hermit—and the wider transcendentalism of to-day, that, taking, as Bacon took, the all for its medium, works, through art, through science, through poetry, through even subtler and more recondite communion of the human spirit with fellow spirits and with nature, towards the ultimate goal of truth.
Footnotes:
[98] Some authorities think that the name refers to the many pools, overgrown with bulrushes and other aquatic plants—Cit-eaux.
[99] The author of "A Concise History of the Cistercian Order," cap. iii. p. 67, states that tradition assigns the appearance of the vision to St. Alberic, but he adds that the immediate historical cause of the adoption of the white habit is somewhat mysterious. I venture to think that the legendary cause was also the historical one, seeing that all the Cistercian houses were dedicated to "the Queen of Heaven and Earth, Holy Mary." Moreover, what more natural than such a symbol in a wholly symbolical age?
[100] See Life of St. Stephen in "Cistercian Saints" quoted in "A Concise History of the Cistercian Order." p. 68.
[101] Martenne Thes. Anec. Tome v., p. 1650, quoted in "History of Cistercian Order." p. 71.
[102] "Cistercian Saints" cap. xiii., quoted in "A Concise History of the Cistercian Order." Chevalier speaks also of a boy face, and a white forehead; and adds that his bearing would have appeared proud but for a slight drooping of the head upon the shoulders, which lent sweetness to his general appearance.
[103] Guill. Vit. S. Bern: lib. 1, n. 2. Quoted Chevalier's "Histoire de St. Bernard," p. 8.
[104] Chevalier's "Life of St. Bernard." p. 55.
[105] Chevalier's "St. Bernard," vol. xi., p. 357.