Five Books on Consideration: Advice to a Pope : Liturgical Press : 9780879077372 : 0879077379 : 01 Aug 1976 : Always a vigorous champion of papal reforms, Bernard of Clairvaux toward the end of his life saw one of his own monks raised to the papal throne as Eugene III. While acting as the new Pope's political and spiritual counsellor, the Great Cistercian abbot was tireless in advancing Eugene's policies and in defending his authority and prestige. Both as a monk and as a strategist, Bernard realized that political astuteness needs the complement of sober and honest reflection. In Five Books on Consideration he defines 'consideration' for the Pope by examining the practical and the theological demands of the papal office. In Book One he scrutinizes an overcrowded papal schedule and exhorts his former pupil to insure for himself the leisure without which reflection is impossible. In Book Two he demands of Eugene a relentless knowledge of himself and his motives. In Book Three he expos