Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist., venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templar, and a major leader in the reform of the Benedictines through the nascent Cistercian Order.
Pope Eugene III, born Bernardo Pignatelli, or possibly Paganelli, called Bernardo da Pisa, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1145 to his death in 1153. He was the first Cistercian to become pope. In response to the fall of Edessa to the Muslims in 1144, Eugene proclaimed the Second Crusade. The crusade failed to recapture Edessa, which was the first of many failures by the Christians in the crusades to recapture lands won in the First Crusade. He was beatified in 1872 by Pope Pius IX.
The Cistercians, officially the Order of Cistercians, are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contributions of the highly-influential Bernard of Clairvaux, known as the Latin Rule. They are also known as Bernardines, after Saint Bernard, or as White Monks, in reference to the colour of their cowl, as opposed to the black cowl worn by Benedictines.
Alfonso VI, nicknamed the Brave or the Valiant, was king of León (1065–1109), Galicia (1071–1109), and Castile (1072–1109).
Alfonso II, called the Chaste or the Troubadour, was the King of Aragon and, as Alfons I, the Count of Barcelona from 1164 until his death. The eldest son of Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona and Queen Petronilla of Aragon, he was the first King of Aragon who was also Count of Barcelona. He was also Count of Provence, which he secured from Douce II and her would-be father-in-law Raymond V, Count of Toulouse, from 1166 until 1173, when he ceded it to his brother, Ramon Berenguer III. His reign has been characterised by nationalistic and nostalgic Catalan historians as l'engrandiment occitànic or "the Pyrenean unity": a great scheme to unite various lands on both sides of the Pyrenees under the rule of the House of Barcelona.
Saint Lawrence or Laurence was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman emperor Valerian ordered in 258.
Vincent of Saragossa, the Protomartyr of Spain, was a deacon of the Church of Saragossa. He is the patron saint of Lisbon, Algarve, and Valencia. His feast day is 22 January in the Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, and the Eastern Orthodox Church, with an additional commemoration on 11 November in the Eastern Orthodox Church. He was born at Huesca and martyred under the Emperor Diocletian around the year 304.
The Church of Saint Susanna at the Baths of Diocletian is a Catholic parish and Cistercian conventual church located on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, Italy. There has been a titular church associated to its site as far back as AD 280. The current church was rebuilt between 1585 to 1603 for a community of Cistercian nuns founded on the site in 1587 and still based there.
Cistercian architecture is a style of architecture associated with the churches, monasteries and abbeys of the Roman Catholic Cistercian Order. It was heavily influenced by Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, who believed that churches should avoid superfluous ornamentation so as not to distract from prayer. Cistercian architecture was simple and utilitarian. Although a few images of religious subjects were allowed, such as the crucifix, elaborate figures common in medieval churches were prohibited. Bernard noted their capacity for distracting monks in a famous letter. Early Cistercian architecture shows a transition between Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Later abbeys were constructed in Renaissance and Baroque styles, which were more ornate by nature.
Tre Fontane Abbey, or the Abbey of Saints Vincent and Anastasius, is a Roman Catholic abbey in Rome, held by monks of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, better known as Trappists. It is known for raising the lambs whose wool is used to weave the pallia of new metropolitan archbishops. The pope blesses the lambs on the feast of Saint Agnes on January 21. The wool is prepared, and he gives the pallia to the new archbishops on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, the Holy Apostles.
The Llibre dels fets is the autobiographical chronicle of the reign of James I of Aragon (1213–1276). It is written in Old Catalan in the first person and is the first chronologically of the four works classified as The Four Great Catalan Chronicles, all belonging to the early medieval Crown of Aragon, and its first royal dynasty, the House of Barcelona. James I inherited as a child the titles of King of Aragon, Count of Barcelona, and Lord of Montpellier, but also became by conquest King of Majorca and King of Valencia. James emphasises in his chronicles his conquest of Majorca (1229) and of Valencia (1238).
Quart de Poblet, or simply Quart, is a municipality in the comarca of Horta Oest in the Valencian Community, Spain. It has 25,499 inhabitants.
Simat de la Valldigna is a municipality in the comarca of Safor in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is 50 km from Valencia, and 20 km from Cullera and Gandia. It is also near Xàtiva and Alzira.
Lutgardis of Aywières is a saint from the medieval Low Countries. She was born in Tongeren, known as Tongres in French, and entered monastic life at the age of twelve. During her life various miracles were attributed to her, and she is known to have experienced religious ecstasy. Her feast day is 16 June.
Maurice was an Egyptian military leader who headed the legendary Theban Legion of Rome in the 3rd century, and is one of the favourite and most widely venerated saints of that martyred group. He is the patron saint of several professions, locales, and kingdoms.
Damià Forment was an Aragonese Spanish architect and sculptor, considered the most important Spanish sculptor of the 16th century.
Hugh of Noara or of Novara, also known as Ugo of Novara and Hugo of Novara, was a Cistercian monk and a disciple of Bernard of Clairvaux. French by birth, he served as the first abbot of Novara Abbey, Sicily, where he remained until his death in 1170.
John of Perugia and Peter of Sassoferrato, were both Franciscan friars, who in 1216, were sent by St. Francis, to preach and convert the Moors, at Teruel and Valencia. Both of them would go on to suffer martyrdom in 1231, at Valencia.
Bernat Calbó (or Calvó) (c. 1180 – 26 October 1243), sometimes called Bernard of Calvo, was a Catalan jurist, bureaucrat, monk, bishop, and soldier.
Luxurius or Luxorius was an ancient Roman official on Sardinia in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries. Apparitor to Delphius, the praeses or governor of the island, he was converted to Christianity by reading the Psalms. He possibly was beheaded on 21 August for refusing to sacrifice to idols in the city of Forum Traiani, probably in 304 during the fourth of Diocletian's persecutions. Later he was venerated as a martyr and saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
