Cîteaux Abbey

Cîteaux Abbey (French: Abbaye de Cîteaux [abe.i də 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 Cistercian order. Today, it belongs to the Trappists (also called the Cistercians of the Strict Observance).

Cîteaux Abbey

The abbey has about 35 members. The monks produce 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]

The monastery produced the illuminated manuscript now known as the Cîteaux Moralia in Job in the year 1111.[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 was 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. Cîteaux was then 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 (when the monks sought refuge in Dijon), 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. The abbey was badly hit by the French Wars of Religion. The abbey then 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 sold by the government.

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

List of abbots

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

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/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000017866#oao-9781884446054-e-7000017866. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
4. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cîteaux" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 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". Google Books. Princeton University Press. 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.

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

External links

• Official site (in French)
• History of Cîteaux Abbey (in French)

Pictures

• Photo
• Abbey Stamp
• Illumination of an Abbey Manuscript