St Bernard was born in 1090 at Fontaines, near Dijon, France. He died in 1153, on 20th August at Clairvaux. He was then canonized by Pope Alexander III in 1174.
Andrew Dokett, before he became the first President of Queens' in 1448, had been the Principal of St Bernard’s Hostel in Cambridge (which is now the site of Corpus Christi College’s New Court). Queens’ was originally going to be named St Bernard’s College, until the patronage of Margaret of Anjou led to it being founded as Queen’s College. The connection with St Bernard is retained by naming him as a patron saint.
Queens’ full name is The Queen’s College of St Margaret and St Bernard, commonly called Queens’ College, in the University of Cambridge.
St Bernard can be seen with his emblem, a beehive, in Queens’ Chapel. He is also depicted on the vaulted ceiling of the gatehouse in Old Court.