The Mellifluous Doctor and Us, by Robert Royal

By Robert Royal, The Catholic Thing, August 20, 2025

Robert Royal is editor-in-chief of The Catholic Thing and president of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. His most recent books are The Martyrs of the New Millennium: The Global Persecution of Christians in the Twenty-First Century, Columbus and the Crisis of the West , and A Deeper Vision: The Catholic Intellectual Tradition in the Twentieth Century.

Most Catholics, even well-informed Catholics, if asked who were the great medieval saints would reply with a familiar list of names: Francis of Assisi, Dominic, Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Siena. But one of the earliest among these great figures – and most conspicuous in his day – has, oddly, been almost forgotten in modern times. He was so obviously holy and multifaceted that Dante, in Paradiso, after meeting with hundreds of other saints and heroes, chose him to make the ultimate prayer to the Virgin Mary so that he, Dante, would be granted the Beatific Vision.

That forgotten saint is Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), the Mellifluous Doctor, whose feast is today. We’re somewhat aware of Doctors of the Church again just now because of St. John Henry Newman’s nomination to that very exclusive body (he brings their number up to only 38). Some have been given special names because of what they did. Augustine is the “doctor of grace,” Aquinas the “angelic doctor,” Anselm the “doctor magnificus.” ….