Church History
January 4, 2007
Class Notes: The Origin
of the Cistercian Order,
Context
A) Gregorian Reform
Concerns:
Clerical Celibacy
Simony
Investiture Controversy
B) 11th Century Monastic Reform
·
o numerous dependencies → abbot became major landlord (revenues, law suits, royal courts)
o daily schedule consumed the day in prayer
o monasteries became wealthy
o children and prebends
o located near town, monasteries provided pastoral care for townspeople and found themselves in competition with/conflict with local priests, monasteries found themselves entangled in the feudal system (hosting traveling nobles)
·
Looked to
· Fr. Louis, “. . .monasticism turned into a mass movement” in the first half of the twelfth century; Fr. Louis quotes the contemporary Ordericus Vitalis: “Though evil abounds in the world the devotion of the faithful in cloisters grows more abundant and bears fruit a hundredfold in the Lord’s field. Monasteries are founded everywhere in mountain valleys and plains, observing new rites and wearing different habits; the swarm of cowled monks spreads all over the world.” (p. 33 in The Cistercians: Ideals and Reality). The most successful order was the most austere, the Cistercians.
· 3 Examples of 11th Century Monastic Reform Movement:
o St.
Peter Damian (1007-1072), member of monastery of Camaldoli in northern
o St.
Bruno of
o St.
Robert founded reform monastery of
§ had previously been abbot of three monasteries
§ had lived eremitical life
§ founded 40 reform monasteries as abbot of Molesme
C) The Founding of Citeaux
o St. Robert, St.Alberic, St. Stephen, St. Bernard founded Citeaux
o 1098 Robert (age 70) with 21 monks left Molesme to found novum monasterium
o Citeaux is described as a locus horroris et vastae solitudinis (Deut. 32:10) – the biblical quotation expresses founders’ desire to live a life of poverty and solitude
o name
for location, Cistercium (cis tertium lapidem miliarium – “on this
side of the third milestone” on the old Roman road from
o Characteristics of life at Citeaux: return to Rule of St. Benedict, poverty, solitude, austerity (no tithes, live by the work of their own hands, no parish work, no children), liberation from ties of feudal society (no nobility staying in monastery).
o Robert ordered by Pope Urban II to return to his old monastery of Molesme; takes 8 monks with him, leaving monastery in a precarious situation
o St. Alberic is 2nd abbot: relocated monastery closer to water, built stone church, obtained papal protection [Pope Paschal II], secured financial future, introduced undyed (“white”) tunic; virum scilicet litteraturm, in divinis et humanis satis gnarum, amator Regulae et fratrum [a learned man, well versed in things divine and human, a lover of the Rule and of the brothers]; previously prior in Molesme
o St. Stephen Harding is 3rd abbot: English, had come from Molesme, amator Regulae et loci [lover of the Rule and of the place]; forbade nobles from taking up residence in monastery on solemnities; expanded possessions and oversaw miraculous founding of new abbeys, established Cistercian tradition of learning (revised Vulgate with help of rabbis, revised liturgical texts), acquired 2nd papal bull approving and protecting Cistercian way of life, author of Charter of Charity (General Chapter, election of abbots, annual visitation of monasteries, charitable assistance for abbeys) and organizer of common Cistercian observance (all follow Rule of Benedict, all follow same observances)
o Contributions
of The Charter of Charity to the
governance of the Order: 1) system of
filiation and visitation allowed the Order to avoid the strictly monarchical
structure of
o Population of the monasteries: most vocations in the West came from the younger sons among the bourgeoisie and professional classes; lay brothers were the free tenant farmers; an unusually large number of well-educated young men and professors entered the Order in the early years – due perhaps to Bernard’s personal influence but also to the spirituality of the Order; average population of a Cistercian monastery at time of Bernard: 15 monks and 20 lay brothers; some great abbeys like Clairvaux may have had hundreds of monks
o Zirc was founded by Clairvaux in 1182
o Rapid expansion of the Order became a problem. First, not all monks in the expanding number of monasteries were there for religious reasons. Second, when whole monasteries entered, they brought with them their previous way of life, contrary even though it might have been to the Cistercian ideal – they brought their churches, tithes, serfs and other sources of income and responsibilities. Third, Bernard’s genius led him out of the monastery to help solve the problems of the Church and Christian princes. The Church and princes continued to hope for the same help and involvement from others after Bernard. Fourth, the abbots from the far-flung monasteries had a hard time making it to Citeaux for the General Chapter, and so governance of the Order was weakened. Fifth, the large number of daughter houses made the regular visitation by the abbot of the Mother House difficult. The history of the abbots of Citeaux (abbots deposed, short terms, names blotted from list of abbots – Guido of Trois Fontaines, immediate successor Stephen Harding) and the effort to halt new foundations reveal the abbots’ awareness of the problem with expansion. In 1169 Pope Alexander III reprimanded the Cistercian Order for deviating from the ideals of the Founders (strict contemplation and separation from the world).
D) St. Bernard (1090 – 1153)
o born
of noble lineage in 1090 at Fontaines near
o entered the monastery at 23 with 30 relatives and friends – first evidence of personal appeal and unwavering will
o Bernard became one of the greatest contemplatives in the Church and at the same time very active in the life of the Church; he always believed that the Cistercian way of life was the surest way to salvation, and accepted everyone who came to the monastery from criminals to royal princes
o Western and Central Europe was in turmoil during his lifetime – and through his intelligence, moral authority and personal appeal Bernard was involved through his letters in resolving many of these disputes: papal schism (Anacletus II vs. Innocent II), succession to the imperial throne at death of Henry V died in 1125; succession t the English throne after death of Henry I in England; King Louis VII of France was too young and inexperienced to rule effectively; Italian cities and families started warring against one another
o after 2 years Bernard was sent from Citeaux to found another monastery at Clairvaux, and within 3 years Clairvaux founded its first daughter abbey, Trois Fontaines; 65 abbeys were founded from Clairvaux during his lifetime; the saying during his lifetime was that mothers hid their sons and husbands from Bernard lest they “fall victim” to his preaching and appeals
o influential author (In Praise of the Virgin Mary, Steps of Humility and Pride, On Conversion, On Consideration, Homilies on the Song of Songs)
o influential churchman: resolved papal schism (1130) between Anacletus II and Innocent II (supported by Bernard and won); saw his novice become Pope Eugene III (1145-1153); at the request of Pope Eugene III preached Second Crusade in 1147; preached against Abelard (1140 at Council of Sens) and against heretics in Southern France
o saw Order expand from single monastery of Citeaux to 333 in 1151
o St. Bernard as well as the first abbots of Citeaux supported and altered the ideal of Citeaux (poverty, solitude, strict adherence to the Rule, separation from feudal society) so that the Cistercians became more active in the world and more involved in the intellectual life.
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E) The Rise of the Trappist Order
· 17th century battle of observances
o attitude toward spirituality: is the life primarily penitential, abstinence from meat, time spent in prayer
o right to govern abbeys of their observance
· Armand-Jean de Rance (1626-1700) abbot of La Trappe, reforming abbot, aristocrat converted to monasticism, strict, intelligent, monastic life was a penance, disapproved of learning, did not want his monks to be priests; emphasized strictly contemplative life; pugnacious; sought to win papal approval of the reformed abbeys to control the non-reformed abbeys, but didn’t receive that permission
· French Revolution interrupted traditions in Cistercian Order
o Augustin de. Lestrange (1754-1827), last novice master in La Trappe, fled to Switzerland, maintained the abstinent observance of a penitential life in atonement for the violence of the French Revolution, became Abbot of Valsainte in Switzerland (no heating, slept 6-7 hours on straw mats with one blanket, 5-6 hours of hard manual labor, some 10 hours in prayer; Abbot sought to regulate every act of monks’ life
· Monasteries established in 19th century, battle between Lestrange’s observance and those following observance of de Rance
·
Monasteries established in
·
1814 Holy See appointed as “president general”
the abbot of Santa Croce in
· Two crises led to efforts to clarify the relationship among the observances:
o 1869
Teobaldo Cesari, abbot the Cistercian abbey
o 1869
· 1893 – recognition of totally independent branch of the Cistercian Family, the “Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe” thanks to the efforts of Sebastien Wyart (1839-1904) – former officer of papal army, decorated hero of Franco-Prussian War, late vocation, friend of Pius IX and Leo XIII, elected abbot of Sept-Fons, an “Old Reform” house
· 1898 – donation enabled Trappists to obtain ruins of Citeaux and rebuild it; Wyart became abbot of Citeaux
F) Bernard’s Sermon to Clerics, On Conversion
·
Geoffrey of Auxerre, student of Abelard,
secretary for Bernard and later one of his biographers, says in Book IV of the
Bernard’s Vita that he (Geoffrey) was among the crowd of students Bernard
addressed in
·
The sermon was preached to hundreds of students on
All Saints’ Day in 1139 or 1140 in Paris, only university town north of the
· Bernard preaches on conversion to prepare the clerics to become good priests, not to convince them to enter Clairvaux – though he did not object when many did follow him to Clairvaux
·