So far as I am aware, this is the first attempt on the part of a Catholic to render St. Bernard’s famous Discourses on the Canticle of Canticles available for English readers. It is passing strange that it should be so; passing strange that the most important work, perhaps, of him who has been called by excellence the Doctor of Love and the Prince of Mystics, should be so neglected. But the Sermons on the Canticle are not singular in this respect. The same neglect has been extended to practically all the writings of the Melliduous Doctor, with great loss to spirituality. Aeterna Press

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 – August 20, 1153) was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian order. The Song of Songs is a book of the Hebrew Bible—one of the megillot (scrolls)—found in the last section of the Tanakh, known as the Ketuvim (or "Writings"). It is also known as Canticle of Canticles or simply Canticles from the Vulgate title Canticum Canticorum (Latin, "Song of Songs"). The protagonists of Song of Songs are a woman (identified in one verse as "the Shulamite") and a man, and the poem suggests movement from courtship to consummation. For instance, the man proclaims: "As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters." The woman answers: "As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste."Additionally, the Song includes a chorus, the "daughters of Jerusalem." (from wikipedia.com) This book contains 43 beautiful sermons that St. Bernard wrote on this book. He interprets the song of songs in reference to the love between God and the soul. God is deeply in love with us, and wills our love in return. This love between the soul and God, which is the most intimate love possible, is expressed in the analogy of bride and bridegroom, where the intimacy of love is especially expressed.

The European Middle Ages bequeathed to the world a legacy of spiritual and intellectual brilliance that has shaped many of the ideals, preconceptions, and institutions we now take for granted. An Introduction to the Medieval Mystics of Europe examines this phenomenon in vivid and scholarly accounts of the lives and achievements of those men and women whose genius most inspired their own and subsequent ages. These great mystics explored and consciously realized the relationship between human life and unconditioned transcendence. Representing both the contemplative and scholastic traditions, the mystics in these studies often found their solutions to ultimate questions in radically different ways. Some of them, such as Eckhart, Aquinas, and Cusa, may already be familiar, and here the reader will benefit from a new approach and summary of extensive research. Others, such as Smaragdus and several of the women mystics, are little known even to specialists. Finally, and unusually for a study of European mysticism, the influence of Spanish Kabbalists is discussed in relation to the Zohar and two figures from the mystical school of Safed, Cordovero and Luria. Though the essays focus on individuals, the cultural and social implications of their lives and work are never ignored, for the mystic way did not exist separately from the rest of medieval life; it functioned as an integral part of the whole, influencing the development of Christian and Jewish religions in both their internal and external forms.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 - 1153), was a Burgundian abbot, and an important reformer of Benedictine monasticism through the new Cistercian order. He is famous for playing a key role in various councils of his time and also for being a leading advocate for the failed second Crusade. In 1830 he was declared a doctor of the church. This book gives his commentary on King Solomon's book Canticle of Canticles (written around the 8th century BCE). The source text for this work is "St. Bernard's sermons on the Canticle of Canticles, Dublin: Browne and Nolan, 1920, by St. Bernard of Clairvaux." To this work have been added illustrations of the author and various figures mentioned in the text.