Hailing from the 12th century, Bernard of Clairvaux was a prolific writer, preacher, and mystic whose works included a host of polemical treatises, letters, and hymns such as "O Sacred Head Now Wounded" and "Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee." His sermons remain popular devotional reading even today, especially those preached from the Song of Songs, that erotic little 117 verse book nestled in the middle of the Old Testament which also happened to be Bernard's favorite.
Song of Songs is basically a collection of ancient Hebrew poetry celebrating wedded sexual love in all of its ecstasy, beauty, power, agony, and joy. As a celibate monk, Bernard presumably didn't have a lot of firsthand experience in this arena, at least not physiologically speaking. However spiritually (and thus more sublimely) speaking, Bernard was a seasoned lover. An ardent follower of Christ, Bernard insisted that Song of Songs was really a song about the mutual exchange of amorous devotion and desire between the King of kings and his Bride, the church. He dedicated eight sermons to chapter 1, verse 2 alone where the enraptured young beloved exclaims, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—for your love is more delightful than wine." Eight sermons, Bernard preached, all on kissing.
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