WILLIAM OF SAINT THIERRY, the little known but very great contemporary and friend of Saint Bernard, wrote his treatise On the nature and dignity of love a little after his first work, On contemplating God. He was at the time abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Saint Thierry near Rheims, but one already notices how heavy he found the abbatial charge. Eventually he found it impossible to carry on any longer, and in I 135 he resigned his office and...