Saint of the Day – 25 October – Saint Bernard of Calvo O.Cist. (1180-1243) Bishop of Vich in Spain, Abbot, Priest and Friar of the Cistercian Order, Legal Expert, Born as Bernat in 1180 at Manso Calvo, Catalan, Spain and died on 26 October 1243 in north Tarragona, Spain of natural causes. Also known as – Bernat Calbó, Bernard of Vich.
Bernard of Vic.
Born and educated in Manso Calvo near Reus, in Spain, Bernard belonged to a family of the knightly class and early on, served as a legal administrator and functionary at the Curia of the Archdiocese of Tarragona.
Bernard became a Canon and then the Vicar General of the Cathedral of Tarragona. In 1214 he became a Cistercian Monk at the Monastery of Santes Creus, eventually being elected the perpetual Abbot and, in 1223, he was appointed as the Bishop of Vich.
As the Bishop of Vich, he accompanied Saint Raymond of Peñafort in the conquest of Valencia.
In 1232, Pope Gregory IX named him Inquisitor against the Waldensians heretics practising in the region of
the Catalan border with France. In 1236 he took part in the Courts of Monzón and in 1239 and 1243, Bernard participated in the Church Councils held at Tarraconensis.
Bernard died in Tarragona on 26 October 1243. He was
Beatified in 1260, by Pope Alexander IV and was Canonised on 26 September 1710 by Pope Clement IX.
In the 18th Century his remains were translated to a carved silver urn in a Chapel in Vich Cathedral. However, in 1936, in the context of the Spanish Civil War, the tomb was desecrated and only a few Relics were saved, some of which are currently kept in the Priory of San Pedro de Reus. The City of Reus itself declared him an Illustrious Son in the 19th Century and an Altar in the Sanctuary of Mercy and a street in the same City, were dedicated to him.
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