St Bernard's College was a

constituent college A collegiate university is a university in which functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges. Historically, the first collegiate university was the University of Paris and its first college was the C ...

of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. Founded by the

Cistercian order The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Sain ...

in 1437 and dedicated to

Bernard of Clairvaux Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. ( la, Bernardus Claraevallensis; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templars, and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order throug ...

, it was suppressed in Spring 1540 during the dissolution of the monasteries. Its buildings were later used to found St John's College, Oxford.

History

The College of St Bernard, a monastery and house of study of the Cistercian order, was founded in 1437 and closed during the dissolution of the monasteries. It was founded by Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury, under licence in mortmain for Cistercian monks, on the model of

Gloucester Hall Gloucester College, Oxford, was a Benedictine institution of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England, from the late 13th century until the Dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. It was never a typical college of the Universit ...

and

Durham College Durham College of Applied Arts and Technology is located in the Durham Region of Ontario, Canada, with a campus co-located with Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, a second campus in Whitby, and community employment services in Uxbridge, Por ...

for the southern and northern Benedictines. Nothing more than a site and building was required by way of endowment, as the student monks, who were sent there to study under a provisor, were supported by the houses of the order to which they belonged. The site was five acres, and the building is described in the letters patent "as a fitting and noble college mansion in honour of the most glorious Virgin Mary and St Bernard in Northgates Street outside the Northgate of Oxford." It was suppressed with the Cistercian abbeys, and, on 11 December 1546, granted to Christ Church, Oxford, which sold it to Thomas White in 1554 for St John's College. Construction of the college quadrangle started in 1437. When the site passed to the crown in 1540, the Eastern range, which was to be a library with chambers below, was nearly complete but lacked its roof. The quadrangle of St Bernard's would accommodate 50 students. St John's College Oxford Chapel

The chapel was built and dedicated to St Bernard of Clairvaux in 1530. It survives, rededicated to St John the Baptist, as the chapel of St John's College.

Alumni

* Gabriel Donne (died 1558), Abbot of Buckfast Abbey * Thomas Skevington (died 1533), Bishop of Bangor

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Bernard's College, Oxford St John's College, Oxford 1437 establishments in England 1539 disestablishments in England Former colleges and halls of the University of Oxford Cistercian Order