"The paths of the Cistercians and embryonic Templars crossed in the person of St. Bernard de Clairvaux. Bernard was the most famous churchman of a century that experienced a religious renaissance not seen since the reign of Charlemagne. He had already raised the Cistercians to greatness with his preaching when he encountered the Templars. He was a master propagandist, mostly because he believed everything he said, however contradictory.
