a. Rule of St. Benedict
A Guide for Happiness and Holiness
Written in the sixth century, the Rule of St. Benedict continues to bring meaning those who seek happiness and holiness – among people who are part of religious orders and lay people alike. It provides useful perspective and guidance on serving others, especially the infirm; showing hospitality, even to strangers; maintaining a balance in one’s daily schedule; and reverencing Christ and His word.
This book of precepts is the formative inspiration for Trappist life and a guide for ordering our daily existence. It describes important concepts, such as obedience, silence and humility. It suggests ways to handle sacred practices and everyday tasks. And it helps define roles, relationships and expectations for those living in community.
The constitutions of our order interpret Benedict’s rule for our time. We frequently revisit the rule and reflect on how we might honor the vision of St. Benedict in the context of a modern world so radically different from his.
Medieval Origins of the Rule of St. Benedict
In the early part of the fifth century, as the Roman Empire began to crumble and was sacked by invaders, the Catholic Church was also undergoing a period of change and discord. In growing numbers, people were attracted to religious life, and increasingly they left places of solitude to live communal lifestyles.
St. Benedict emerged as an inspiring, guiding figure for many immersed in monastic life – and soon it became clear that this lifestyle should be better defined. Studying older teachings in combination with his own experiences, Benedict compiled and refined a set of rules that, in the collective, came to be known as the Rule of St. Benedict.
Wider Adoption
At first, the Rule of St. Benedict was followed only by the monks of Monte Cassino, a monastery he founded. When this monastery was invaded and destroyed, the monks who fled took the rule with them and preserved it for posterity. In the sixth and seventh centuries the rule took root in Ireland and travelled to France and parts of Europe. King Charlemagne, intending to unify all Romanic and German peoples, chose the Rule of St. Benedict create a uniform discipline across all monasteries of the realm.
In 1098, the Abbey of Citeaux was founded in southern France by monks who wanted to return to the original observance of the Rule of St. Benedict. These monks, called Cistercians, are the ancestors of we who are called Trappists today.
In 1803, the first Trappists came to America fleeing persecution under Napoleon and later led the foundation of Gethsemani Abbey in Kenctucky. Today Trappist monasteries of men and women across the Unitated States continue to witness the wisdom and beauty of the Benedictine way of life as envisioned by St. Benedict in his rule.
b. Our History
A Tradition of Centuries
Joining the Trappists means becoming part of a family. The history of the Trappists stretches back sixteen hundred years. In the wind-swept deserts of fourth-century Egypt, on sunny hills in sixth-century Italy and in grassy meadows of Medieval France, monks and nuns have prayed, studied and worked together in joy and peace offering the world a glimpse of life in eternity.
The Start of Christian Monastic Life
Forms of monastic life have been part of human existence very early on. In India, China, Tibet and Japan, individuals intensely devoted to their religious beliefs separated themselves from towns and led very disciplined lives.
About a century before Christ was born there was a Jewish sect called the “Essenes” whose lifestyle might be described as monastic and who influenced John the Baptist and other disciples of Jesus. Ever since his time on Earth, Jesus has inspired people to show their love for Him by imitating the way he lived in poverty and chastity.
Christian monastic life, as we know it today, first appeared in about 271 A.D. with the sudden conversion of St. Antony in a church in lower Egypt. Inspired by a passage from Matthew to be anxious about nothing and sell everything he possessed to follow Christ, Antony lived alone, dedicating himself to prayer and manual work. Others had done this before, but Antony, over the course of his nearly hundred-year life, inspired a movement which resulted in thousands establishing themselves as monks in the deserts of Egypt.
For the first 120 years or so, after Antony’s fame began to spread, the fathers and mothers of the desert lived alone or in small groups. Their lives were marked by extreme austerity remarkable psychological and physical strength.
Monk Seek Common Life
In the fourth century monks began gathering together in communities, sometimes comprising hundreds of individuals. The person who first gathered monks into large, organized communities was St. Pachomius (286-346).
This “common life” is also called cenobitic monasticism. After living as a hermit for a while, this holy monk was called by God to be the father of several large monasteries housing hundreds of monks. His followers embraced chastity and poverty and also obedience – not that of a single monk to his “Abba” or spiritual father, but to the head of a community and to other community members.
This was a new form of obedience and became the pattern in monasteries for many centuries afterward. Unlike hermits, the monks prayed together and also worked in cooperation with one another. Monasteries became so huge they were like small towns with monks divided into “houses” of thirty or forty monks, grouped according to their skills as tailors, bakers, gardeners, etc. The success of Pachomius’ monasteries caused the movement to spread outside Egypt to Palestine and Syria.
Reforms Reshape Monasticism
When a movement like monasticism survives for centuries, it needs to be periodically renewed in order for monks and nuns to sustain their fervor. Notably, the sixth-century Rule of St. Benedict emerged as a document guiding the pursuit of holy life.
During a time of renewal in the middle of the 10th century, the great Benedictine Abbey of Cluny (founded in 910) grew and established new monasteries all over Europe. Over time, the monasteries of Cluny became very large and prosperous, and the lifestyle of the monks became more complex and perhaps a little more comfortable too.
Gradually, some monks, like the famous St. Peter Damian, complained about the change they saw happening in monasteries. These reformers thought that the life of monks should be simpler, poorer and more closely patterned after the life of the first Christians in Jerusalem. In particular, they dreamed of a life where monks shared everything in common and could celebrate Eucharist with intense joy and faith.
Finally, in 1098, a group of monks from Molesme, which had been founded by Cluny, separated to begin their own monastery at a place called “Citeaux”. This first Cistercian monastery, over time, became an order of many monasteries.
The Cistercian Order is Defined
Most religious orders in the Catholic church were founded by one inspired person. The Cistercian Order is unusual, because it was founded by a community of three, (accompanied by several others): St. Robert, St. Alberic and St. Stephen.
Each Cistercian monk and nun carries in their heart the memory that our order was born as a community. The common life has always been the essence of who we are. Even so, our founders had very different and distinctive personalities.
Robert was a passionate and restless monk. During the course of his monastic life, moved several times from one place to another, always dissatisfied with the way he was living the monastic ideal. Not long after he founded Citeaux, he was called back to serve as abbot of Molesme and this caused deep consternation in the small band of monks struggling to establish the new monastery.
St. Alberic succeded Robert as abbot of Citeaux and it was he who decided the Cistercians should wear the white habit under a black scapular fastened with a leather belt, which we still wear today. St. Alberic died in 1109 and St. Stephen was elected abbot.
St. Stephen had an extraordinary gift for organization. Assuming responsibility for a tiny and fragile monastery he transformed it in the course of several years into the first “order” in monastic history. He accomplished this by introducing the “The Charter of Charity” to be entered into by all the new monasteries founded by Citeaux. This Charter allowed each Cistercian monastery to remain independent of the others and yet strongly united to them by legal structures and a bond of charity shown by mutual support. St. Stephen’s fervor and personality attracted many new disciples.
In the year 1112 a young man, Bernard from Burgundy, entered the new monastery and brought with him about thirty friends and relatives! St. Bernard is honored today as the spiritual father of the Cistercian Order and his arrival at Citeaux marked the beginning of a “golden age.”
Inspired by the Desert Fathers and Mothers
The Cistercian founders were inspired by the example of the desert fathers and mothers of Egypt. They believed that by “being poor with the poor Christ,” distancing themselves from the busyness of the world’s affairs and keeping their life very simple, it would be easier to pray and grow in friendship with God in Jesus. The Trappist way of life was—and continues to be—appealing to people who hunger for a more intimate relationship with God.
Compared to their brothers and sisters in other orders, Cistercians had a simpler diet, used simpler and poorer liturgical vestments and vessels, and did not introduce stained glass windows into their churches. They reintroduced several hours of manual labor each day. And in general, they observed a stricter enclosure and had less interaction with their neighbors outside the monastery.
In the 12th century, hundreds of Benedictine monasteries were all under the authority of the one great Abbey of Cluny. In the Cistercian order, each monastery was independent but lent support to other Cistercian monasteries in keeping with The Charter of Charity.
The Name Trappist Takes Hold
Our common name, “Trappist” or “Trappistine” is derived from La Grande Trappe, a Cistercian monastery in the French province of Normandy where further reforms to our order began in the middle of the 17th century. The name “Trappist” is derived from 17th century reforms that took place in a French abbey called La Grande Trappe.
In 1637, a precocious 11-year-old boy inherited from his family the honorary title of “Abbot of La Trappe.” Decades later, he decided to renounce his wealth and become a monk. He eventually led the reform movement whose promoters were nicknamed Trappists.
When Napoleon’s army invaded Switzerland in 1798, Trappists and Trappistines living there set out looking for a place of refuge. It was from this group of Trappists and Trappistines, either directly or indirectly, that Cistercian monastic life came to the United States in the nineteenth century.
c. Our Teachings
Finding Meaning in the Words of Our Forebears
Trappist brothers and sisters invite you to find inspiration and meaning in the words of the desert fathers and mothers who led lives of extreme austerity to become closer to God, and in the sayings of early Cistercians and modern Trappists whose lives and teachings shaped our order.
From the Desert Fathers and Mothers
Around the third century AD, a movement comprising thousands of people chose to live an austere and holy life in the deserts of Egypt as a precursor to modern Christian monasticism. Alone or in small groups, they pursued God. Some produced words of wisdom that resonate today.
From the Cistercian Fathers
In 1098 a group of monks, wanting to live the Benedictine Rule more carefully, founded a new monastery, which was eventually called Cîteaux. From this one monastery a large family of monasteries descended. Throughout the 12th century monks and nuns, our spiritual fathers and mothers, wrote about this new venture. You can read selections here.
Teachings of Modern Cistercians
Trappists living in our times draw on our rich history, their own experience as well as the context of modern life to provide wisdom and inspiration
d. Notable Monks & Nuns
Trappists have been living a quiet hidden life in praise of God and service of the church for centuries. God knows each one by name, but history records only the names of some notable monks and nuns. Among these are some of the most beloved saints in the church.
1) St. Antony of the Desert
Called the “grandfather” of Christian monks, St. Antony of the Desert was born in 251 and died in 350. He is the first Christian monk whose life was written down in a book. When Antony was about twenty years old, his parents died and left him all their wealth. That is when God began to reveal to Antony the monastic way of life. One day during Mass, he heard Jesus say in the gospel of Matthew: “If you would be perfect, give away all that you own to those who are poor and then come and follow me!”
Antony realized that was the very thing his heart was aching to do. He wanted to possess nothing in this world except Jesus Christ. When he had given away everything he owned, Antony visited various holy men to gain wisdom about the spiritual life. He eventually settled down in a solitary place in the desert where he lived until he was nearly one hundred years old. He prayed constantly, worked with his hands, read the bible, and gave to any poor person who visited him. Antony is revered by all ages as a man whose one desire was to know and love God.
2) St. Pachomius
In the fourth century, St. Pachomius set up large monastic centers that provided a secure alternative to dwelling alone or in small groups as the first monks did in the Egyptian desert. Pachomius was a soldier in the Roman army before his conversion to Christianity and vocational call to monastic life. He had a gift for organizing large groups of monks into a strong, well-functioning unit like an army.
Monks were grouped according to the trade they practiced, with an officer over every ten monks, and another over five groups or ten. In this organized way, many hundreds of monks could live together in one compound, gathering for prayer together, then separating into their proper units for work. One unit supplied bread for all, another made shoes, another prepared the common meal.
Pachomius also organized two monasteries for women along the same regimented lines. In this way, he opened up monastic life to thousands of devout Christians and is honored as the founder of cenobitic monasticism, a term describing common life. St. Benedict adopted the Pachomian model and modified it. Most monks and nuns today live a common form of life in large or small monasteries.
3) St. Benedict
The Rule of St. Benedict (RB) was not the only monastic Rule available in the sixth century, but it was the most livable for people of ordinary strength. From his own experience and from the tradition of Egyptian monasticism, Benedict absorbed the authentic monastic spirit of seeking God in community. He was able to articulate his vision in a rule that is notable both for its Christo-centric spirituality and its practical organization.
Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor and his son Louis the Pious in the ninth century established Benedictine monasteries throughout their empire to benefit from the civilizing and unifying effects. In our time, not only monks and nuns but also lay people have discovered the wisdom contained in the RB and try to live accordingly.
4) St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Born in the year 1091 in Burgundy, France, St. Bernard attained in his lifetime a stature and influence almost unparalleled by any other individual in the history of the church. He was a cloistered monk who owned nothing, held no high office in the church, and no political power in the world, and yet he exercised a fascination over the minds and hearts of the monks he lived with and over persons of every rank and state in life, including priests, princes and even over popes. St. Bernard possessed outstanding gifts as a mystic, a teacher, a pastor of souls and a preacher of God’s word.
Born into a noble family, at age 20 Bernard experienced a conversion and gave his life to Christ. So magnetic was Bernard’s personality that his conversion quickly led to the conversion of many family members and friends. When Bernard learned of a monastery at Citeaux where the monks had given themselves completely to silence, prayer and meditation on the scriptures, fasting, obedience, poverty, the renunciation of all personal possessions for the glory of God, he wanted to join. At age 23, Bernard became a monk at Citeaux and brought with him 30 companions. Following his arrival, the new order received a tremendous surge of growth.
5) Abbot de Rancé
The formidable Abbot Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé (1626–1700) reformed the Cistercian abbey of La Trappe in northwestern France, which eventually gave its name to the Trappist Congregation of Cistercian monks who followed its customs. de Rancé’s reforming zeal was that of a wealthy, well-connected cleric who underwent a moral conversion after the death of a close friend, the Duchess of Montbazon.
Life under Abbot de Rancé at La Trappe was penitential and brief, with monks dying of tuberculosis in an unhealthy climate. Because some of them died in great holiness, La Trappe was considered the gateway to heaven and attracted many candidates.
Rancé resigned for health reasons in 1695 after thirty-one years as abbot and died in 1700. By the middle of the twentieth century and more so after Vatican II, Rancé’s heritage was viewed as a departure from spirit of the 12th-century Cistercian founders.
The order was permitted university studies for degrees, use of speech instead of sign language, individual sleeping rooms, improvements in the monastic diet, variations in liturgical and ascetical practices, and work in industries other than farming. Essential components of Cistercian monastic life such as prayer, manual labor, lectio Divina, separation from the world, and the denial of self-will remain in place.
6) Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu
Maria Sagheddu was born in Dorgali, Sardinia, into a family of shepherds. Witnesses from the period of her childhood and adolescence speak of her as a girl with an obstinate, critical, protesting and rebellious character, but paradoxically with a strong sense of duty, loyalty and obedience: “She obeyed grumblingly, but she was docile”, it was said of her. “She would say, ‘No,’ but she would do the task at once.”
What everyone noticed was the change that came over her when she was 18. Little by little she became gentle. Her outbursts of temper disappeared. She became more pensive and austere: more tender and reserved. The spirit of prayerful charity grew in her, together with a new sensitivity concerning the Church and the needs of the apostolate. She enrolled in “Catholic Action”, a Church-sponsored youth movement.
A new depth of receptivity was also born in her, one that hands itself totally over to the will of God. At 21 she decided to consecrate herself to God. Following the guidance of her spiritual father, she entered the Cistercian monastery of Grottaferrata, an economically poor and culturally under-developed community, governed at that time by Mother Maria Pia Gullini.
Her life in the monastery appears to have been dominated by a few essential principles:
- The first and most obvious of these was gratitude for the mercy which God had poured out on her, calling her to belong completely to him. She liked to compare herself to the prodigal son and could only say, “Thank you!” for the monastic vocation, her monastery, the superiors, the sisters, everything. “How good the Lord is!” was her constant exclamation and this gratitude will pervade everything, even the last moments of her illness and agony.
- The second principle of her life is the desire to respond to God’s grace with all her strength, so that what the Lord had begun in her might be completed and God’s will fulfilled in her, because here is where her true peace lay.
In the novitiate she was afraid that she would be sent away, but after her profession this anxiety was overcome and a peaceful, trusting self-surrender took its place, producing a deep inner drive toward the complete sacrifice of herself: “Now do what You want with me!” she would simply say. Her brief life in the cloister — she lived as a nun for only three and a half years — was consumed simply, like the Eucharist, in her daily commitment of conversion, so as to follow Christ better in his obedience to the Father unto death. Gabriella saw herself as defined by a mission of self-gift: the total handing over of herself to the Lord.
The memories which the sisters have of her are both simple and meaningful: her promptness in acknowledging her faults and asking pardon of others without justifying herself; her simple, sincere humility; her cheerful readiness to do any sort of work, even the most tiring, without making a fuss about it. After her monastic profession there grew in her the experience of her littleness: “My life is of no value… I can offer it in peace.”
Her abbess, Mother Maria Pia Gullini, had a precocious ecumenical awareness and a desire to work for Christian unity. She had communicated this desire to the community, so when she explained to the sisters the Church’s request for prayer and offering for the great cause of Christian Unity, Sr. Maria Gabriella felt immediately involved and interiorly compelled to offer her young life. “I feel the Lord is calling me” — she confided to her abbess — “I feel urged, even when I don’t want to think about it.”
By the quick, straight road of her tenacious commitment to obedience, Gabriella attained the inner freedom to be conformed to Jesus, who “having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end”. As a counterweight to the laceration of the Body of Christ, she realized the urgency of offering herself and carrying out that offering with faithful consistency until its final consummation. She was conscious of her own frailty, but her heart and her will had only one desire: “God’s Will! God’s Glory!” On the very day of her offering, tuberculosis appeared in her young body which until then had been extremely healthy. It swept her to her death after 15 months of suffering.
On the evening of 23 April 1939, Gabriella ended her long agony, totally abandoned to the will of God, while the bells were ringing full peal at the end of Vespers on Good Shepherd Sunday. The Gospel that day had proclaimed: “There will be one fold and one Shepherd.” Even before the consummation of her offering, her self-gift for the sake of Christian Unity had been communicated to the Anglican brethren and had been welcomed by them. It has also sparked a deep response in the hearts of believers of other Christian confessions. The most concrete gift of Sister Gabriella to her own community has been the influx of vocations, who arrived in great numbers during the following years.
Her body, found intact on the occasion of its recognition in 1957, now rests in a chapel adjoining the monastery of Vitorchiano, where the community of Grottaferrata has transferred. She was beatified by John Paul II on 25 January 1983 in the basilica of St.Paul outside the Walls. It was 44 years after her death, the feast of the Conversion of St.Paul and the last day of the week of prayer for Christian Unity.
7) Thomas Merton
A well-known Trappist of the 20th century, Thomas Merton was born in 1915 and is remembered by many people for a fascinating book he wrote called The Seven Storey Mountain, which tells the story of his conversion as a student at Columbia University in New York City to life as a Catholic and Trappist monk at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky. Many men returning from military service after World War II read Merton’s book and were inspired by it to become monks. Because The Seven Storey Mountain made Merton famous, his life as a Trappist monk was unusual. He published books of poetry, was outspoken about the political issues of his day and met with many representatives of non-Christian religions, even becoming a friend of the Dalai Lama.
Later in his life, he received permission to build a hermitage on the property behind Gethsemani Abbey where he lived for a few years. In a book called New Seeds of Contemplation, Merton demonstrated his rare gift for writing about his experience of contemplation in a way that engaged and inspired many people to take up the practice themselves. He helped people to realize that they could know God in a direct experience and foster a close friendship with God even amid their busy lives in the world.
Staying in a retreat house in Bangkok where he was giving a lecture in 1968, he was found dead under an electric fan which he had apparently touched after stepping out of a shower. He was only 53 years old, and his untimely death was mourned by people all over the world.
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