David N. Bell (1943-2025) was professor emeritus of religious studies and dean of theology at Queen's College, St. John's, Newfoundland, and canon theologian in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in St. John's. He is the author of a number of books published by Cistercian Publications, including The Very Devout Meditations attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux, Handmaid of the Lord: Mary, the Cistercians, and Armand-Jean de Rancé (CS293, 2021), Everyday Life at La Trappe under Armand-Jean de Rancé (CS274, 2018), and A Saint in the Sun: Praising Saint Bernard in the France of Louis XIV (CS271, 2017).

"Bernard of Clairvaux has not been well served by his admirers. From the time of Geoffrey of Auxerre and his first biographers, his rich and complex career has been plundered by image-makers with a view to advancing their own agenda. The panegyrists of the seventeenth century, studied in this volume, were no exception. They sought to make the saint a mouthpiece for their own well-intentioned priorities and, in the process, created an image of Bernard that would feed the prejudices of later generations. A Saint in the Sun makes available a selection of these largely inaccessible texts and provides a wealth of contextualizing detail. This masterly study will serve to make clear this important phase in the history of the reception of Bernard's writing. David Bell is to be congratulated for throwing light on this neglected area of scholarly research."Michael Casey, OCSO, Tarrawarra Abbey, Australia

• ContentsList of Abbreviations   viiPreface   xi1  The Background   12  The Quietist Controversy   263  Sermons and Panegyrics   514  Paving the Way: Divisions and Subdivisions in Jacques Biroat   335  Moving Forward: Commonplaces and Curiosities in Jean-François Senault, Bernard Planchette, Claude Texier, and Jean-Louis de Fromentières   1096  The Bernard of the Strict Observance: Armand-Jean de Rancé   1477  Bernard Returns to Metz: Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet   1858  Touching, Moving, Converting: The Unction of François Fénelon   2369  Bernard in Battle: The Anti-Quietist Polemic of Charles de La Rue   27110  The Flames Die Down: The Revised Panegyric of Charles de La Rue   32011  Bernard the Mystic: Henri-Marie Boudon   35412  Panegyrical Plagiarism? Claude Lion, François Ogier, and Esprit Fléchier   39713  Last of the Fathers and the Angel of the Lord: Antoine Anselme and Louis-Bénigne Bourru   44614  Bernard the Second Samuel: The Psychological Acuity of Jean-Baptiste Massillon   48515  Conclusion: The Saint in the Sun   530Appendix 1: Technical Terms   539Appendix 2: Personalities   549Bibliography   568Index of Names and Places   574