Cîteaux Abbey

Cîteaux Abbey (French: Abbaye de Cîteaux [abe.i d(ə) sito]) is a Catholic abbey located in Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux, south of Dijon, France.[1] It is notable for being the original house of the Order of Cistercians. Today, it belongs to the Trappists (also called the Cistercians of the Strict Observance).

Cîteaux Abbey

The abbey has about 35 monks. The community produces a cheese branded under the abbey's name, as well as caramels and honey-based candies.

History

Cîteaux Abbey was founded on Saint Benedict's Day, 21 March 1098,[2] by a group of monks from Molesme Abbey seeking to follow more closely the Rule of St. Benedict. The Abbey was supported by Renaud, Vicomte de Beaune, and Odo I, Duke of Burgundy.[3] They were led by Saint Robert of Molesme,[4] who became the first abbot. The site was wooded and swampy, in a sparsely populated area. The toponym predates the abbey, but its origin is uncertain. Theories include a derivation from cis tertium [lapidem miliarium], "this side of the third [milestone]" of the Roman road connecting Langres and Chalons sur Saône,[5] or alternatively from cisternae "cisterns", which in Middle Latin could refer to stagnant pools of a swamp.[6]

In the year 1111, the monastery produced the illuminated manuscript now known as the Cîteaux Moralia in Job.[7]

The second abbot was Saint Alberic, and the third abbot Saint Stephen Harding, who wrote the Carta Caritatis that described the organisation of the order. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who would later be proclaimed Doctor of the Church, was a monk of Cîteaux Abbey and left it in 1115 to found Clairvaux Abbey, of which he became the first abbot. Saint Bernard would also be influential in the subsequent rapid growth of the Cistercian order.

The great church of Cîteaux Abbey, begun in around 1140, was completed in 1193. The Dukes of Burgundy subsequently used it as their dynastic place of burial.

By the beginning of the 13th century the order had more than 500 houses and Cîteaux became an important center of Christianity. In 1244, King Louis IX of France (Saint Louis) and his mother Blanche of Castile visited the abbey.

During the Hundred Years' War, the monastery was pillaged in 1360 (the monks sought refuge in Dijon), in 1365, 1434 and 1438. In 1380, the Earl of Buckingham stayed at L'Aumône Abbey, a daughter house of Cîteaux located in the forest of Marchenoir whilst his army was quartered in the surrounding Forest.[8]

In the beginning of the 16th century, the abbey was a strong community of about 200 members. However, it suffered badly in the French Wars of Religion and slowly declined for the next century. In 1698, the abbey only had 72 professed monks. In 1791, during the French Revolution, the abbey was seized and the property sold off by the government.

In 1898, the remains of the abbey were bought back and repopulated by Trappists.

List of abbots

Beginning End Name
121 March 10986 July 1099Saint Robert of Molesme
2July 109926 January 1108Saint Alberic
31108September 1133Saint Stephen Harding
41133before 1134Guy de Trois-Fontaines
5113416 December 1150Blessed Raynaud de Bar
6before 115131 March 1155Goswin de Bonnevaux
7April 1155September 1161Lambert de Morimond
8September 116121 April 1163Blessed Fastrède de Cambron
9May 116317 October 1168Saint Gilbert le Grand
10November 116828 July 1178Alexandre de Cologne
11December 117827 November 1180Guillaume de Toulouse
12before 1181March/April 1184Pierre de Pontigny
13September 11841 January 1186Bernard de Fontaines
14before 1186August 1189Guillaume II de la Prée
15August 118911 January 1190Thibaut
16January 11903 January 1194Guillaume III
17January 1194March/April 1194Pierre II
18April/May 11941200Guy II de Paray
19September 120012 March 1212Arnaud Amaury
20March/April 1212March/April 1217Arnaud II
213 April 12178 January 1218Saint Conrad of Urach
22before 12191236Gauthier d'Orchies
2311 November 12361238Jean de Boxley
2412381243Guillaume IV de Montaigu
25July 12431257 (uncertain)Boniface
261257 1258May 1262Guy III de Bourgogne
27May/June 12621266Jacques de Cîteaux
2812669 October 1284Jean II de Ballon
29October 12842 January 1294Thibaut II de Saucy
30January 129430 November 1299Robert II de Pontigny
319 October 129430 November 1299Rufin de la Ferté
32late 12991303Jean III de Pontissier de Pontoise
33Milieu 130328 July 1315Henri
34August 13156 January 1317Conrad II de Metz
35January 131713 February 1337Guillaume V
3619 February 13378 June 1359Jean IV de Chaudenay
379 July 135923 March 1363Jean V le Gentil de Rougemont
38late March 136320 December 1375Jean VI de Bussières
39before 13769 July 1389Gérard de Bussières
40August 138918 April 1405Jacques II de Flogny
41140521 December 1428Jean VII de Martigny
42142930 April 1440Jean VIII Picart d'Aulnay
43144025 November 1458Jean IX Vion de Gevrey
44late 145822 July 1462Guy IV d'Autun
45146224 March 1476Humbert-Martin de Losne
46late April 147620 November 1501Jean X de Cirey
47150125 October 1516Jacques III Theuley de Pontailler-sur-Saône
48151610 September 1517Blaise Légier de Ponthémery
4916 September 151725 April 1521Guillaume V du Boissey
5029 April 152126 March 1540Guillaume VI Le Fauconnier
5130 March 154026 December 1559Jean XI Loysier
526 January 156019 June 1564Louis I de Baissey
531/2 July 156423 October 1571Jérôme de la Souchère
5412 December 1571December 1583Nicolas I Boucherat
55June 158421 August 1604 (uncertain)Edmond de la Croix
56October 1604before May 1625Nicolas II Boucherat
573 June 162530 November 1635Pierre III Nivelle
5819 November 16354 December 1642Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu
592 January 16431 February 1670Claude Vaussin
6029 March 16706 May 1670Louis II Loppin
6120 July 167015 January 1692Jean XII Petit
6227 March 16924 March 1712Nicolas III Larcher
6320 May 171231 January 1727Edmond II Perrot
6421 April 172714 September 1748Andoche Pernot des Crots
6527 November 174825 April 1797François Trouvé

References

  1. "Citeaux | France". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
  2. Edward Ortved, Cistercieordenen og dens Klostre i Norden, 1, Copenhagen 1927. Page 2.
  3. "Cistercian Order | Grove Art". www.oxfordartonline.com. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T017866. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  4. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cîteaux" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 395.
  5. Jens Rüffer: Die Zisterzienser und ihre Klöster. Leben und Bauen für Gott. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2008, ISBN 978-3-534-18811-6, p. 10.
  6. Watkin Wynn Williams, Studies in St. Bernard of Clairvaux, 1927, p. 75. citing Du Cange "cisternae": Dicitur de loco humili et paludoso, ubi stagnat aqua.
  7. Rudolph, Conrad (1997). Violence and Daily Life: Reading, Art, and Polemics in the Cîteaux Moralia in Job. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691026732. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  8. John Froissart, John (1395). Froissart's Chronicles Book II. Manuscript. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2015.

Sources

  • Plouvier, M. and Saint-Denis, A. (eds.), 1998: Pour une histoire monumentale de Cîteaux, 1098-1998 (Commentarii cistercienses. Studia et documenta, 8), Cîteaux.

Pictures

47°07′41″N 5°05′36″E

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