This beautiful treatise was St. Bernard's first book: a very striking commentary on the seventh chapter of the Rule of St. Benedict, which the young abbot of Clairvaux wrote down at the express urging of his monks.
This beautiful treatise was St. Bernard's first book: a very striking commentary on the seventh chapter of the Rule of St. Benedict, which the young abbot of Clairvaux wrote down at the express urging of his monks.
The seventh chapter of the Rule is concerned with the twelve degrees of humility, which St. Benedict sets out as twelve rungs of a ladder, with the two sides composed of the body and the soul. For St. Bernard, it is only through humility that we come to true self-knowledge, which, in turn, leads us to Christ, the perfect model of humility. Thus, to live a life of humility is to live a life united to Christ.
The second part of this little book is an analysis of the degrees of pride, the downward path that leads to alienation from God and, ultimately, to damnation.
This work is characteristic of the legendary powers of observation of this great saint, often referred to as the last of the Fathers of the Church.
This is the first title in the Columba Series.
The Steps of Humility, by St. Bernard (trans. G. Webb and A. Walker).
87 pages, paperback. ISBN 1 901157 53 9.
£3.95 ; $6.00 in the U.S.A.
Published by The Saint Austin Press.
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