In his famous opusculum, De laude novae militae , Saint Bernard addressed the Knights Templars — using Saint Augustine's arguments on the famous reply of Saint John the Baptist to the soldiers — he wrote: “What then? If it is never permissible for a Christian to strike with the sword, why did the Savior’s precursor bid the soldiers to be content with their pay, and not rather forbid them to follow this calling? I do not mean to say that the pagans are to be slaughtered when there is any other way to prevent them from harassing and persecuting the faithful, but only that it now
In his famous opusculum, De laude novae militae , Saint Bernard addressed the Knights Templars — using Saint Augustine's arguments on the famous reply of Saint John the Baptist to the soldiers — he wrote: “What then? If it is never permissible for a Christian to strike with the sword, why did the Savior’s precursor bid the soldiers to be content with their pay, and not rather forbid them to follow this calling? I do not mean to say that the pagans are to be slaughtered when there is any other way to prevent them from harassing and persecuting the faithful, but only that it now