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Cîteaux Abbey

Coordinates: 47°07′41″N 5°05′36″E / 47.12806°N 5.09333°E / 47.12806; 5.09333
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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).

The abbey has about 35 monks.[2] The community produces a cheese branded under the abbey's name, as well as caramels and honey-based candies.

History

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Cîteaux Abbey was founded on Saint Benedict's Day, 21 March 1098,[3] 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.[4] They were led by Saint Robert of Molesme,[5] 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,[6] or alternatively from cisternae "cisterns", which in Middle Latin could refer to stagnant pools of a swamp.[7]

In the year 1111, the monastery produced the illuminated manuscript now known as the Cîteaux Moralia in Job.[8]

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 was sent in 1115 to found Clairvaux Abbey, of which he became the first abbot. Saint Bernard was influential in the exponential growth of the Cistercian Order that followed.

Cistercian monks depicted on the tomb of Philippe Pot

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. Other dignitaries were buried in side chapels, perhaps most famously the magnificent tomb of Philippe Pot, a high Burgundian official who died in 1493.[9]

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.[10]

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 1589, soldiers stormed and looted the abbey, reportedly carrying away "three hundred wagonloads of booty" and leaving the monastery in ruins. Cîteaux was left "practically abandoned for years," and it took until around 1610 for any sort of stable monastic life to be re-established there.[11]

In 1698, the abbey had 72 professed monks. In 1790, in the wake of the French Revolution, the monks were offered a pension if they agreed to return to civilian life. Fourteen of them, including Abbot Francois Trouvé, refused the offer, while twenty-nine took it. The abbey was seized and the property sold off by the government; what was left was looted by the local population. To calm the ensuing violence, a minor squad under the direction of Napoléon Bonaparte was called in.[12] Trappist monks resumed monastic life at the abbey in 1898, and are there today.[13]

List of abbots

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N° Beginning End Name
1 21 March 1098 6 July 1099 Saint Robert of Molesme
2 July 1099 26 January 1108 Saint Alberic
3 1108 September 1133 Saint Stephen Harding
4 1133 before 1134 Guy de Trois-Fontaines
5 1134 16 December 1150 Blessed Raynaud de Bar
6 before 1151 31 March 1155 Goswin de Bonnevaux
7 April 1155 September 1161 Lambert de Morimond
8 September 1161 21 April 1163 Blessed Fastrède de Cambron
9 May 1163 17 October 1168 Saint Gilbert le Grand
10 November 1168 28 July 1178 Alexandre de Cologne
11 December 1178 27 November 1180 Guillaume de Toulouse
12 before 1181 March/April 1184 Pierre de Pontigny
13 September 1184 1 January 1186 Bernard de Fontaines
14 before 1186 August 1189 Guillaume II de la Prée
15 August 1189 11 January 1190 Thibaut
16 January 1190 3 January 1194 Guillaume III
17 January 1194 March/April 1194 Pierre II
18 April/May 1194 1200 Guy II de Paray
19 September 1200 12 March 1212 Arnaud Amaury
20 March/April 1212 March/April 1217 Arnaud II
21 3 April 1217 8 January 1218 Saint Conrad of Urach
22 before 1219 1236 Gauthier d'Orchies
23 11 November 1236 1238 Jean de Boxley
24 1238 1243 Guillaume IV de Montaigu
25 July 1243 1257 (uncertain) Boniface
26 1257 1258 May 1262 Guy III de Bourgogne
27 May/June 1262 1266 Jacques de Cîteaux
28 1266 9 October 1284 Jean II de Ballon
29 October 1284 2 January 1294 Thibaut II de Saucy
30 January 1294 30 November 1299 Robert II de Pontigny
31 9 October 1294 30 November 1299 Rufin de la Ferté
32 late 1299 1303 Jean III de Pontissier de Pontoise
33 Milieu 1303 28 July 1315 Henri
34 August 1315 6 January 1317 Conrad II de Metz
35 January 1317 13 February 1337 Guillaume V
36 19 February 1337 8 June 1359 Jean IV de Chaudenay
37 9 July 1359 23 March 1363 Jean V le Gentil de Rougemont
38 late March 1363 20 December 1375 Jean VI de Bussières
39 before 1376 9 July 1389 Gérard de Bussières
40 August 1389 18 April 1405 Jacques II de Flogny
41 1405 21 December 1428 Jean VII de Martigny
42 1429 30 April 1440 Jean VIII Picart d'Aulnay
43 1440 25 November 1458 Jean IX Vion de Gevrey
44 late 1458 22 July 1462 Guy IV d'Autun
45 1462 24 March 1476 Humbert-Martin de Losne
46 late April 1476 20 November 1501 Jean X de Cirey
47 1501 25 October 1516 Jacques III Theuley de Pontailler-sur-Saône
48 1516 10 September 1517 Blaise Légier de Ponthémery
49 16 September 1517 25 April 1521 Guillaume V du Boissey
50 29 April 1521 26 March 1540 Guillaume VI Le Fauconnier
51 30 March 1540 26 December 1559 Jean XI Loysier
52 6 January 1560 19 June 1564 Louis I de Baissey
53 1/2 July 1564 23 October 1571 Jérôme de la Souchère
54 12 December 1571 December 1583 Nicolas I Boucherat
55 June 1584 21 August 1604 (uncertain) Edmond de la Croix
56 October 1604 before May 1625 Nicolas II Boucherat
57 3 June 1625 30 November 1635 Pierre III Nivelle
58 19 November 1635 4 December 1642 Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu
59 2 January 1643 1 February 1670 Claude Vaussin
60 29 March 1670 6 May 1670 Louis II Loppin
61 20 July 1670 15 January 1692 Jean XII Petit
62 27 March 1692 4 March 1712 Nicolas III Larcher
63 20 May 1712 31 January 1727 Edmond II Perrot
64 21 April 1727 14 September 1748 Andoche Pernot des Crots
65 27 November 1748 25 April 1797 François Trouvé

References

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  1. ^ "Citeaux | France". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
  2. ^ "Abbaye Notre-Dame de Citeaux". history. 2023-11-15. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
  3. ^ Edward Ortved, Cistercieordenen og dens Klostre i Norden, 1, Copenhagen 1927. Page 2.
  4. ^ "Cistercian Order | Grove Art". www.oxfordartonline.com. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T017866. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  5. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cîteaux" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 395.
  6. ^ Jens Rüffer: Die Zisterzienser und ihre Klöster. Leben und Bauen für Gott. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2008, ISBN 978-3-534-18811-6, p. 10.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ Rorimer, James J.; Forsyth, William H. (1935). "Two French Sculptures of the XV Century". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. 30 (10): 196–198. doi:10.2307/3255333. ISSN 0026-1521.
  10. ^ John Froissart, John (1395). Froissart's Chronicles Book II. Manuscript. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  11. ^ Lekai, Louis J. (1970). "The Abbatial Election at Citeaux in 1625". Church History. 39 (1): 30. doi:10.2307/3163211. ISSN 0009-6407.
  12. ^ Tobin, Stephen (1996). The Cistercians. Internet Archive (2nd ed.). Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press. pp. 177–180. ISBN 978-0-87951-654-3.
  13. ^ Bisson, Thomas N. (2000). Encyclopedia of monasticism. Internet Archive. Chicago ; London : Fitzroy Dearborn. p. 492. ISBN 978-1-57958-090-2.

Sources

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

Pictures

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47°07′41″N 5°05′36″E / 47.12806°N 5.09333°E / 47.12806; 5.09333

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