The Cistercian Order had its origins in the monk Robert who, with several companions at the end of the 11th century, withdrew to Citeaux, a section of Burgundy, to put into internship the ideals of the Benedictine rule of work and prayer. His fame attracted Stephen Harding, who took it upon himself to summarize the statement of core values of those reforming monks, restless and eager to participate in an authentically spiritual business . The real impetus developed from 1112 onwards, after the arrival of Bernard of Clairvaux (1190-1153) together with several Burgundian nobles and with the pontifical approval of the Carta Caritatis in 1119. Bernard, endowed with great intellectual training and endowed with enormous staff appeal, empathy and great power of conviction, was able to attract many young people of his time. He was canonized in 1174, proclaimed doctor of the Church in 1830 and his feast day is celebrated on August 20.

With him began a rapid expansion of the Cistercian Order, with a pattern of austerity and prohibition of all luxuries subject housing, clothing and food. At the same time, he recommended the praise of God, through lectio divina and work, avoiding idleness (Work at something, so that the devil will always find you busy) and, therefore, the temptations of which he affirmed: "the flesh tempts with sweetness, the world with vanities, the devil with bitterness". She also developed extensively in her writings the ideals of work, poverty, knowledge and the following of Christ, as well as love for the Virgin.

His personality presents us with a curious mixture of gentleness and passion, of action and contemplation, and of meekness and militancy, all contradictions that he resolved in God, result a special charm. Bernard was the opposite of mediocre and wrote about knowledge in these terms: "To know for the sake of knowing: vulgar curiosity; to know for the sake of making oneself known: foolish vanity; to know in order to sell one's science, enrich oneself or receive honors: shameful business; to know in order to edify: that is love; to know for one's own Building: that is prudence".

In 1133, there were 69 foundations. Twenty years later, coinciding with his death in 1153, the issue rose to 343. At the end of the average, the male monasteries numbered 742 and those of nuns exceeded seven hundred. The new communities always maintained a close relationship of dependence with their mother house and the General Chapters ensured that there were no exceptions that would break the uniformity of the order.

Navarra has the first two Cistercian foundations in the Iberian Peninsula: Fitero for the monks (1140) and Tulebras for the nuns (1147). Together with the abbeys of La Oliva, Iranzu, Marcilla and Leire, which became part of the Cistercian Order in 1269, they form a special bequest of history, art, culture and spirituality. The female communities of Nuestra Señora la Blanca de Marcilla and Nuestra Señora de Salas in Estella disappeared at the beginning of the 15th century, the male abbeys were extinguished with the disentailment of Mendizábal and in the plenary session of the Executive Council in the 20th century, convent life was restored in La Oliva (1927) and a female monastery was founded in Alloz.

The architecture of its monasteries constitutes an extraordinary collection of medieval Navarrese art. They are organized for the charisma of the order, built with decorative austerity, severity and functionality, always far from luxury and ostentation, in harmony with the writings of the saint and determinations of the General Chapter. The Cistercian abbeys, scattered throughout the West, attract attention for their sober beauty, simple elegance, stripped of the sensory and its pearly light, which penetrates through its stained glass or monochrome alabaster.

Along with architecture, the images of St. Bernard, including his iconographic cycles, took on a special significance. His relationship with the Marian cult and his writings, full of vitality, caused his representations to spread, promoted by his monasteries, prominent men and institutions. Navarre was no exception in the reception and multiplication of her images. His figure was present, in a singular way, in the Cistercian and Benedictine abbeys and their areas of influence.

His iconographic subject as an isolated figure invariably presents him with the wide white Cistercian cowl. He is accompanied by the abbot's staff, the book in reference letter his numerous writings and the mitre or mitres at his feet, in allusion to the bishoprics he did not want to accept. His monasteries and those of the Benedictines have excellent representations, such as those of his collateral in the monastery of Fitero (1614), or of the main altarpiece of the monastery of Irache, today in Dicastillo, contracted in 1617 by Juan Imberto III. Other sculptures can be found in Corella, Tafalla, Roncal, Sesma, Tafalla, Uztegui and Cascante. Among the pictorial versions, it is necessary to emphasize the panel of the attic of the altarpiece of the monastery of La Oliva, today in San Pedro de Tafalla, work of Rolan Mois and Paolo Schepers (1571-1582), where he appears kneeling, in prayerful attitude, with an open book in whose pages he reads the verse Monstra te ese matrem of the hymn Ave maris Stella.

In some cases, as in the attic of the main altarpiece of San Miguel de Corella (1718-1722) or the altarpiece of La Oliva, the saint is found in an Assumptionist context, something that does not surprise us, since he composed a rich sermon for the feast of August 15. Scenes from his life appear in his altarpieces in Fitero and Leire. In the latter it is evident that the sculptor Juan de Berroeta (b. 1630) copied in his scenes the engravings of the Vita et miracula divi Bernardi, published in Rome in 1587 with the sponsorship of the Congregation of Castile. In both cases, Fitero and Leire, we find the two great messages of the saint. On the one hand, the maxim "to know Jesus and Jesus crucified" and, on the other, his extraordinary love for the Virgin, which made him repeat: "Mariae nunquam satis" (Of Mary, never enough). Iconography could not remain oblivious to both directives. There is no lack of baroque canvases with these themes.