Published in Monastic and Scholastic Philosophy in the Middle Ages

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This article reflects on the thought of Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) in order to understand the dynamics of the Cistercian monastic education and its influence in the educational process in century XII. In light of social history, the first part presents some aspects of the social structures of medieval christian west, relating the broader context with the Cistercian monastic reform proposal that forwarded the Church for an important moment against the temporal power, with Pope Innocent III (1198-1216). Bernardo of Clairvaux became a part key of the church reform that was in course, from the gregorian reform and has in contact with all the importants points of the conflicts politicians of its time. Its letters and its writhings disclose the dynamics between action and contemplation that if became its life and, by means of them, we can perceive the influence in the direction of the society, that if wants guided in the values of the authenticity of the love, conscience of itself, taste for the pureness spiritual and the affirmation of the dignity of the man as image and similarity of God. This vision Christian humanist and the valuation of the knowledge as conscience of itself, were the basis for the mystical movement developed by the Cistercians. Finally, the text presents reflections on the Sermon on the Vigil of Christmas to explain the devotion to the humanity of Jesus as one of the theological basis for learning the route of ascent to contemplation, as understood by the monks developed psychic ability to achieve affection and unity between reason.