Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/48

 TRAPPISTINES

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TRAPPISTS

Caria according to Ptolemy (V, 2, 18) and Pliny (V, 109); according to Socrates (Hist, eccl., VII, xxxvi), Hierocles (Synecdemus, 665, 5), and the "Notitite episcopatuum " it was a town of Phrygia Pacatiana and among the suffragans of Laodicea until the thir- teenth century. Nothing is known of its history. Its coins testify to close intercourse with Attouda, now Assar, and its site must be sought near this town, most probably at Kadi Keui, capital of a nahie in the sandjak of Denizli and the vilayet of Smyrna. Le Quien (Oriens christ., I, 809) names six bishops of Trapezopolis: Hierophilus, prior to 400; Asclepiades, present at the Council of Ephesus (431); John, at Chalcedon (4.51); Eugenius, at Constantinople (692); Zacharias, at Nicaja (787); Leo, at Constantinople (879).

Smith, Diet, of Greek and Rom. Geogr., s. v.: Ramsay. Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia. 171 and passim; Muller, notes on Ptolemy, ed. Didot, I, 822,

S. PETRlDfcs.

Trappistines. See Cistercian Sisters.

Trappists, the common name by which the Cis- tercians who follow the reform inaugurated by the • Abbot de Rancc (b. 1626; d. 1700) in the Abbey of La Trappe, were known; and often now applied to the entire Order of Reformed Cistercians. Thus it can-

The .\bbey of la Trappe From a print published in 1795

not be said that there is an Order of Trappists; though if one were to speak of Trappist monks, he would be understood to refer to monks of the Order of Reformed Cistercians, as distinguished from the Order of Cistercians of the Common Observance (see Cistercians and La Trappe). The primitive aus- terities of the Cistercians had fallen into desuetude in practically the entire order principally through the introduction of commendatory abbots, political dis- turbances, and human inconstancy; and though many and very praiseworthy attempts at their restoration had been made in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugual, etc.. yet these were but local, or at most, national in ex-terit. That of de Ranc(5, however, was destined by Divine Providence to be more enduring and of wider scope than any other. Although the Abbey of La Trappe flourished exceedingly, even after the death of its venerated reformer, as evidenced by more than .300 professions between the years 1714 and 1790, yet the spirit of materialism and sensualism rampant in the seventeenth and eiKliteoiith centuries, did not permit the rapid extension of the reform out- side its walls; it did not even allow the entire severity of ancient Citeaux to be introduced at La Trappe, though this reform was the most thorough and perfect of the many at t empf s t hat had t hen been made. Con- sequently it founded liut a sm.all number of mon- asteries; these were: Buon-Soliizzo, near Florence (170.')), and St.Vitoat Rome (1709); Cas.amari, in the Papal States, w.as obliged to adopt the Constitutions of de Rancfi (1717), but for nearly a century there was no further expansion. It was from the time of these earliest foundations that they who embraced

de Ranee's reform were called Trappists. Too much credit cannot be given to these noble bands of monks, who by their lives demonstrated to a corrupt world that man could have a higher ambition than the gratification of the mere natural instincts of this ephemeral hfe.

At the time of the Revolution, when the monastery of La Trappe, in common with all others, was ordered to be confiscated by the Government, the people of the neighbourhood petitioned that an exception be made in their favour, and the Trappists themselves, encouraged by tliis, addressed a memorial to the National Assembly and the king considered the matter for nearly a year, but finally decided that they should be despoiled like the others. Dom Augustine de Lestrange (b. 1754; d. 1827, see Lestrange), vicar-general of the Archdiocese of Vienna, had en- tered La Trappe (1780) in order to escape the burden of the episcopate. He it was whom God had raised up to preserve the Trappists when so direly threat- ened with extinction; he resolved, therefore, to ex- patriate himself for the welfare of his order. Having been elected superior of those who were of the same mind, and with the permission of his higher superiors, he left La Trappe 26 April, 1791, with twenty-four religious, and estabhshed a monastery at Val-Sainte, Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. Here they had much to suffer besides the rigour of their rule, for their monastery (which had formerly belonged to the Car- thusians) was an unroofed ruin; they were in want of the very necessities of life, not even having the meagre requirements they were accustomed to.

In France the Revolution was taking its course. On 3 June, 1792, the commissioners of the Govern- ment arrived at La Trappe, took the sacred vessels and vestments, as well as everything moveable, and obliged the eighty-nine religious yet remaining" to abandon their abbey and find a home as best they could; some in other monasteries, and others in chari- table families of the neighbourhood. At Val-Sainte, whilst celebrating the feast of St. Stephen, the religious resolved to put into ijractice the exact and literal observance of the Rule of St. Benedict, and three days afterwards, 19 July, they began the new reform: establishing the order of exercises prescribed by the holy jjatriarch, as well as all the primitive fasts, together with the first usages of Citeaux; even making their rule still more severe in many points. They en- tered upon their new mode of life with a fervour that exceeded discretion and had soon to be moderated. Even in their exile many subjects were attracted to them, so that they were enabled to send religious to found several new monasteries: one in Spain (1793), a second in England at Lulworth the same year, a third at Westmalle, Belgium (1794), and a fourth at Mont- Brae, in Piedmont (1794). On 31 July, 1794, Pius VI encouraged these religious by a special Brief, and authorized the erection of Val-Sainte into an abbey and mother-house of the Congregation of Trappists. Dom Augustine was elected abbot, 27 Nov. of this year, and given supreme authority over the abbey and congregation. This state of quiet and prosperity lasted but six vears. When the French invaded Switzerland (1798) they compelled the Trappists to find a refuge elsewhere; "thus they were obhged to roam from country to country, even Russia and America being visited by the indomitable abbot and some of his companions," with the hope of finding a permanent home, until after almost incredible sutTerings the fall of Napoleon permitted them to return to France. The monasteries of La Trappe and AiguebcUe came into the possession of Dom .\ugustine, who divided the community of Val-Sainte between them. Other monasteries were re-established from time to time, as the inimlier of religious increased and as they were able to pureh,a.se the buildings.

From 1813 N.-D. de I'Eternit*?, near D;u-feld, West-